How Jacksonville is presented to the world as a destination for tourism and business travel might be in for some major changes this year.
The Duval County Tourist Development Council has begun discussing the parameters of a request for proposals for management of the county’s tourism development plan that will be issued in March.
The five-year contract held by Visit Jacksonville, the private nonprofit convention and visitors bureau for Jacksonville and the Beaches, expires Sept. 30.
At a special meeting of the tourism council Thursday, City Council President Lori Boyer said the destination marketing effort might better be served by issuing separate RFPs for various components of the plan instead of contracting with one organization to provide the range of services.
“I’m trying to get the best results for the city,” said Boyer, who is chair of the tourism group.
She proposed dividing the effort into operation of the tourist bureau, which would include visitor information centers and promotional functions; convention recruitment and sales; and marketing.
Tourism council member Barbara Goodman said changing the mechanics of marketing Jacksonville needs to be carefully considered.
“I want to know more about what’s to be gained and what’s to be lost by separate components,” she said. “I’m all about change, but change for change’s sake isn’t the answer.”
Boyer has researched how other Florida cities structure their tourism marketing plans, and said there are examples, such as Clearwater, where the visitor’s bureau works with a marketing firm that’s under a separate contract.
“I think we could lose some of the coordination aspect, but it might make us do a better job of oversight,” she said. “We have distinct services that must be performed, specific measures of performance and specific budget amounts for each.”
A possible consequence of awarding multiple contracts for the various components could be duplication of effort and even higher cost, Boyer admitted.
That could happen if both the marketing group and the convention sales group needed to attend any of the several annual meeting planner conventions.
Boyer didn’t rule out awarding all of the contracts to one entity, which would continue the arrangement with Visit Jacksonville or a similar contractor.
“Nothing says we can’t award all the contracts to one (organization),” she said.
The length of the agreement or agreements also is up for discussion.
Boyer suggested terms shorter than five years might be better if the decision is made to divide the effort into components.
Tourism council member M.G. Orender isn’t sure that would be a good idea.
“This is a large process. It’s difficult to go through it even on a five-year basis,” he said.
After the meeting adjourned, Boyer said her intent in evaluating the basics of how the city subcontracts tourism promotion is to elevate the effort, either through redefining Visit Jacksonville’s role or by entirely changing how the process is done.
“Tourism is a huge economic driver and I think Jacksonville has an opportunity to play at a much higher level,” she said.
Another RFP meeting will be scheduled next week, possibly the first in a series of weekly discussions until the formal proposal request begins going through the city procurement process.
That will include advertising the bid specifications for at least 21 days, followed by review and scoring of responses by a committee made up of the chief of procurement, director of finance, a city attorney and two members of the tourism council.
As many as three top-scoring respondents will be interviewed and a final recommendation for award of the contract or contracts will be considered by the tourism council.
“We want the bids opened by mid-May. It’s going to take some substantial effort,” Boyer said.
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