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A
Unique Perspective on Profiting from Tragedy
The
7 October 2005 edition of the Zeitgeist e-Zine
There are
days I wake up with a rant...and then there are days I just sadly shake
my head in disbelief. Today, it's the latter.
Louisiana Governor Blanco’s recent suspension of Sales and Room
Taxes on her State hotels has me wondering what else (besides trying
to save her political behind) is going on behind those vacant eyes.
I
certainly understand her desire to "help" the displaced...but
let's understand that the taxes she has just suspended are the very
taxes that support the bonds on big tourism infrastructure programs
like CajunDome and the marketing programs of the State's CVBs.
By suspending room taxes across her State, she is neutering the very
Destination Marketing Organizations that she so desperately needs to
get the word out that much of her State is OPEN
for business. Let’s face it...it ain’t gonna be her news
conference on CNN that’s gonna get people to return. If anything,
most Americans see this individual as willing to do and say most anything
to save her political stock from sinking any lower into the toxic sludge
of the 9th Ward than it already has.
And yet, as New
Orleans, New
Orleans Northshore, Lake
Charles and the other CVBs in the region get ready to begin
welcoming the world back to their destinations, they'll be operating
with a fraction of their normal budgets...which is a fraction of what
they'll need.
This is
further compounded by the fact that FEMA and Red Cross workers that
are taking up the rest of the rooms in some destinations are already
exempt from room taxes.
Hey Governor, if waiving a couple cents on hotel rooms is such a good
idea to help those displaced by this year’s hurricanes...how come
you’re not waiving retail sales tax, too?
Uh-huh...
But, the bottom line of this post isn’t to flame Ms. Blanco’s
idiocy. It’s to suggest another way for the rest of us to lend
a helping hand. And, I’ll be right up front...it’s not my
idea. And it’s not an idea from one of our peers in the Destination
Marketing industry.
It comes from Laurie Roberts, a columnist
for the Arizona Republic.
Last week, she wrote, “Hurricanes are
good for Valley tourism. Visitors who a month ago were headed to New
Orleans are instead booking flights to the Sonoran Desert, preparing
to fling money into our economy.
“So why does it feel vaguely sickening to take it? Why does it
feel as if we somehow slunk in under dead of night and spirited away
the economic lifeblood of the Crescent City and the rest of the Gulf
Coast?
“We didn't, of course. Yet here we are, striking gold...One region's
loss, after all, is another's gain. But should it be?”
After explaining what this shift in business means to the residents
of Louisiana, Mississippi and, now, Texas, she questions whether it
is right to profit from others’ misfortune:
“So let's not. Let's not accept the bed tax and sales tax
collections that come with Katrina's devastation. Let's send that windfall
- the tax money our leaders weren't expecting and aren't counting on
- to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.
“(Scottsdale CVB CEO Rachel) Sacco said she'll explore the idea
with local officials. I hope she does. It won't make much of a dent
if Scottsdale is the only city to do it. But what if Scottsdale does
it and Phoenix were to join in? And Las Vegas? And Dallas and San Antonio
and every place that is, happily or not, reaping moola from misery?
“What if all those places decided to send along the taxes generated
by Katrina's devastation to New Orleans and the coast?
“Call it seed money to begin again....Wouldn't it be something
if we could help them get started?”
Cool idea. Are you in?
Bill
Wanna
comment on this or other topics. E-mail
Me!
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