An exercise in wishful thinking
Mono County hosts “State of the County” workshop.
In an attempt to boost morale by discussing economic and tourism trends in California and throughout the nation, Mono County hosted its first ever “State of the County” workshop on Thursday morning at the Sierra Center Mall in Mammoth.
The event was attended by more than 150 local business owners, organization and agency leaders, and elected officials from the Town of Mammoth Lakes, Inyo and Mono Counties.
Mono County Board of Supervisors Chair Tim Fesko opened the workshop, which he explained was intended to provide insight as to “where we are and where we can go” by “invigorating individual and collective efforts” to see “Mono County thrive.”
Presenters included Jeff Lucas from the consulting firm CDS (Community Development Services), Laszlo Horvath of ActiveMedia, and Caroline Beteta, CEO and President of Visit California.
Lucas surveyed a variety of local businesses this fall as an analysis of the region’s needs. He described how the Great Recession “took away our confidence, our cash flow, and our access to capital while eroding our cash reserves.”
In his estimation, business owners have more confidence this year than the previous five and advised the County, both government and individuals, to start with “visitor attraction” strategies in order to recruit new businesses, which will boost the overall economy. He said the area’s largest asset is the customer service industry where “everybody is so nice.”
With the help of the Small Business Development Center in Bakersfield, Lucas is working on providing technical assistance in the form of marketing, social media, software and forecasting based on market trends to business owners and the different Chambers of Commerce. He also described the development of technology in shale and fracking practices that, in his estimation, will keep national gas prices low for the foreseeable future—something that is “working in your favor” as a major boost to the local tourism economy.
Lucas encouraged the audience to remain confident in the economic growth of the County because “gas is going to stay low, and you’ll have visitors and there will be snow and there will be water.” Lucas did not elaborate as to where he obtained his meteorological expertise.
Next, Horvath took the stage, stating that the County’s three competitive advantages are the people, the natural beauty, and the high-speed connectivity provided through Digital 395.
With a background in strategic consulting for AOL in the 1990’s, Horvath urged the audience to “get in front of [potential visitors] wherever they are” through mobile exposure, search engine result page hits, and social media technologies. Through interactive maps, he showed the largest online tourism market for the U.S. is in Asia and he advised the County to “take advantage of the connectivity culture” by understanding that “the customer is in charge.”
Lastly, Beteta, spoke about tourism from a strategic and economic impact perspective. “You are truly an island economy,” she told the audience, although a “vibrant economy” despite the rural location. In her estimation, Mono County is critical to the four seasons travel destination strategic platform for all of California. She said visitors to California spend about $110 billion in travel expenses, or one and a half times the size of the Florida tourism economy and five times that of Hawaii. “The future looks bright as we are outpacing the nation in major indicators,” she said.
She praised the use of the TBID, a major trend in the tourism industry, in Mammoth. In terms of numbers, she said that 28,000 people are employed in the High Sierra in the travel industry, bringing in $2.4 billion annually. “These are jobs that can’t be outsourced. The product is here so the job stays here,” Beteta said. By being collaborators, instead of competitors, with Yosemite, Los Angeles, and Lake Tahoe, Beteta said Mono County is positioned well within the State’s overall tourism plan.
… Lunch the replaced Evans at the meeting. He thought the most fascinating part of the Visit California presentation was the fact that Beteta mentioned that the organization has 37 Board Members. Beteta said that Visit California’s budget is currently $50 million, about one-fifth of the tourism budget of Las Vegas.
In her presentation, Lynn Carpenter said “I cannot underscore [enough] the importance of China.
