Greenbrier CVB releases its annual report

Christian Giggenbach

LEWISBURG — The Greenbrier County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau released its 2007-08 annual report last week, putting a cap on a fiscal year marred by significant decreases in revenue, but bolstered by the promises of a new home, a new look and a hi-tech Web site.

CVB Executive Director Kara Dense presented the annual report to the county commission and to CVB board members last week and will do the same next week in Lewisburg, Alderson and White Sulphur Springs.

Although 3,544 visitors walked through the CVB doors in 2007-08, those numbers decreased from last year by nearly 670. However, Dense said, this downward trend is not specific to this area. The CVB saw a 35 percent decrease of walk-ins in August.

“We have experienced a drop in visitors all year,” Dense said. “Visitors to state welcome centers were down about 21 percent, so this is a trend we are seeing all across the state,” Dense said.

Due to the decrease in bed tax revenue caused by the failure of a collective bargaining agreement at the four-star Greenbrier resort, advertising “visitors impressions” were reduced drastically from 59 million last year, to just 38 million this year. Telephone requests also saw a marked decrease of over 5,000 from last year (from 7,737 to 2,344).

County hotel/motel taxes decreased again in August causing the CVB to invoice the county commission for $4,916.79 in order to shore up the CVB’s coffers per the agreement they reached this summer. In 2007, county bed taxes yielded $79,970 for the CVB, but only $58,849 was collected this year, a decrease of about 27 percent.

But out of the doom and gloom of their financial worries, Dense also detailed several positive developments undertaken by the CVB in the last year.

“These development include the launch of a new state-of-the-art Web site that was designed to benefit both visitors and tourism partners alike, as well as a new advertising campaign for the upcoming year,” Dense said.

Dense said renovation work will soon begin on the CVB’s new digs at the 15,000-square-foot downtown Lewisburg building which will promote history and tourism in Greenbrier, Monroe, Summers and Pocahontas counties, as well as serve as the CVB’s visitor’s center.

Board member Robert Neff said a $544,000 grant for the remodeling the building, secured by Rep. Nick Rahall, D-WV, is ready for use.

Dense also mentioned the CVB’s “new brand” name which has deleted the word “county” from its letterhead, Web site and other promotional campaigns. All of the ads now say: “Greenbrier Valley.”

“When people think of a place to go to in their mind, they think of a region, like the Greenbrier Valley, instead of a county,” Dense said.

— E-mail: cgiggenbach@register-herald.com