Chambers collaborate on Mass. tourism mission

Despite their like missions, local chambers of commerce have not always gotten along. But in Bristol County, Mass., at least, necessity has led to collaboration where it previously didn’t exist.
The Southeastern Massachusetts Convention and Visitors Bureau had for several years been in financial trouble that began during the economic downturn and only got worse due to state budget cuts, an inability to raise its required matching grant funds and what some call an unfair diversion of funds to other regional tourism councils.
Rob Mellion, president and CEO of the Fall River Area Chamber of Commerce, said the real trouble began when, in 2009, the Mass. Office of Travel and Tourism closed Bristol County’s two interstate visitors centers, in Swansea and Mansfield.
Over the next few years, he and other leaders in the Bristol County chambers of commerce said, the state and business community lost confidence in the southeastern Mass. CVB, which left it in limbo and struggling to stay afloat.
An October 2012 audit of the CVB, which was incorporated in 1967, conducted for the period of July 2010 through June 2011 revealed it had failed to comply with the state’s grant-matching program and owed the state some $50,000.
It also revealed that the CVB had failed to establish proper internal controls.
In short, the organization was a mess.
“Through frustration, [we felt], if no one else is going to take up this cause, we will,” Mellion said.
The five chambers of commerce within Bristol County, Mass., announced in early April they had signed a memorandum of understanding to enter a partnership to revive the region’s tourism effort.
But they aren’t taking over the CVB, which has been dismantled.
The CVB sold the property in which it had been occupying on Second Street in New Bedford back to the state to pay its debt obligation. The small staff vacated the building in March. The five chambers of commerce – the New Bedford Area Chamber, the Taunton Area Chamber, the Tri-Town Chamber, the United Regional Chamber and the Fall River Area Chamber in March also established a 20-member board of directors comprised of local business leaders, and created a startup fund for the regional tourism council.
Each chamber and each board member contributed $400 to form a $10,000 fund.
Each chamber will utilize some of their office space for administrative purposes.
“All the chambers are very concerned about not having a regional tourism council representing our county,” said Roy Nascimento, president and CEO of the New Bedford Area Chamber of Commerce. “We feel we have a lot to offer visitors and travelers and we wanted to make sure that our region had a viable marketing plan in place, and had a viable regional tourism council that would bring in visitors with a little jingle in their pocket.”
In their agreement, the chambers plan to collaboratively develop and implement a marketing plan for the region, apply for state grants, secure private matching dollars and run administrative and operational support to the council.
“I felt that with the loss of funds that Bristol County was getting, it didn’t give us the opportunity to market some of the great destination places we have,” said Jack Lank, president and CEO of the United Regional Chamber of Commerce. “It affects a lot of small businesses in my area as well as through southeastern Massachusetts. We felt it was a service to our membership. If Bristol County prospers, so does the communities.”
Chamber leaders agree there’s a lot of work to be done to revive the regional tourism council but are confident they can be successful and that they already have been. Funds originally directed to Plymouth County have been redirected to Bristol County, approximately $60,000, according to Mellion, to develop a new website for the council.
The council also made an appearance in March at the AAA Travel Marketplace 2013 at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro.
The council is applying for grants and hopes to secure $100,000. It then would work to match that and use almost its entire anticipated operating budget of $200,000 to focus on tourism promotion, using chamber members as staff, having five visitors centers within chamber lobbies, and attending more travel shows.
With the website set to be running by May, the council also is hoping to organize a familiarization trip for travel reporters next fall.
Located within Bristol County are high-profile tourist spots such as LaSalette Shrine and Battleship Cove.
Making the collaboration work is crucial for Bristol County’s economy, according to Nascimento, who said the tourism industry accounts for 3,000 jobs and $400 million in economic impact for the county.
Lank and Mellion agreed with Nascimento that the old days of individual chambers of commerce working to promote their cities are gone. Collaboration is vitally important, they all said, to making the largest possible economic impact, even if friendly competition remains.
“We’ve evolved. I’d say we’re no longer engaged in these little turf wars,” Mellion said. “This is an interesting development that is a positive byproduct of the recession. An unintended consequence is that we’re all meeting regularly now and communicating with each other more than we’ve ever done in the past. We’re working together more than we’ve ever done in the past. Ultimately, it helps the business membership [be] focused on our best interest, which is to survive and grow.” •

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