BUSINESS
The Interview
INDUSTRY INSIGHTS FROM NTA MEMBERS
Defunded in Delaware?
BY BOB ROUSE
Last summer was panic time for Sarah Willoughby. The
executive director of the Greater Wilmington (Delaware)
Convention and Visitors Bureau faced the imminent closure of
her office when the state legislature’s Joint Finance Committee
cut all support for the CVB. With only weeks to work a
miracle, Willoughby enlisted the help of the travel and tourism
community to preserve funding for all three of Delaware’s
state-funded CVBs. Courier connected with Willoughby to get
the whole story.
Courier: How did your funding night-
mare begin?
Willoughby: In Delaware there are
three counties, and each has a tourism
bureau. We are funded with one-eighth
of an 8 percent public accommodation
(lodging) tax. On May 30, I received a
text from our lobbyist, telling me that
our funding had been eliminated. No
questions, no discussions—just elimi-
nated as part of a move to shore up the
state budget. There was not even an
opportunity for us to testify before the
Joint Finance Committee.
Courier: What would a loss of tax dol-
lars mean to Wilmington—and to other
Delaware communities?
Willoughby: The one percentage point
from the accommodation tax represents
92 percent of our funding. If you elimi-
nate funding for these CVBs, you will
eliminate all of the marketing—plus
all the destination knowledge—in each
county. The offices in the three coun-
ties help bring in over $4 billion a year
in visitor spending, with more than $2
billion of that spent here in Wilmington
and New Castle County.
You would also lose the targeted des-
tination marketing we provide for our
attractions, hotels and restaurants. Our
county gets 2.7 million visitors a year,
and many businesses and their employ-
ees depend on us for the marketing we
do. For tour operators, it would mean
that the personal touch and special
attention they receive would no longer
be there. We heard this loud and clear
from the many tour operators who
wrote letters of support for us.
Courier: What would the cuts mean to
you and your staff?
Willoughby: The hardest part for me
was having my staff experience this,
but they wanted to be a part of the
solution. The GWCVB has eight full-
time and three part-time employees.
I’ve been here for 13 years, and one
member of our staff has been here for
20 years. We all would have lost our
jobs within six months.
I worked through various scenarios
and considered rent options and other
ways we could reduce spending so that
we could strategically use our reserves
and remaining funds. It would be very
difficult, though, to continue to operate
and follow our mission as a destination
marketing organization without our
allocation of the public accommoda-
tions tax.
Pictured top right with the Greater Wilmington CVB staff is Sarah Willoughby, executive
director. Jennifer Arrigo, tourism sales manager, is top row, second from left.
18
November 2017
Courier: What steps did you take to sal-
vage funding, and who helped you?
Willoughby: The three CVBs engaged
our members and partners: We sent
emails, made phone calls and scheduled