County Board OKs

Tourism Contract

Privatized Promotion Extended

To Put ‘Heads In Beds’ Locally

COOPERSTOWN – The county Board of Representatives this morning approved a second three-year contract with Destination Marketing of Otsego County, ending months of uncertainty about the privatized tourism-promotion effort.

The contract runs from this coming Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2019.

On issue that was resolved:  DMOC had sought a five-year contract, but settled for three.

Another issue: The county board chair, Kathy Clark, R-Otego, had argued DMOC needed to promote more than Cooperstown, Oneonta and the Route 28 corridor, and the tourism effort adjusted its web site to meet those concerns.

According to the formula approved today, DMOC would received 30 percent of the total bed tax revenues of about $1.4 million to finance promotions, plus 50 percent of any year-to-year increase for the life of the contract.

DMOC’s mission has been to put “heads in beds,” and has invested its budget in social media and other promotions to appeal to tourists from Boston to Buffalo and south to New York City and Philadephia.