in search of their dream home in the
country.
“That’s where we’ve always lived
and we love it,” Howard said.
At the time, the couple owned a
chain of eight retail tire stores, Howard
Tire, located between San Francisco
and Salinas. It was Jane who handled
the advertising and marketing for the
business.
“That’s why I say, if I can sell a tire,
I can sell Gilroy,” she said.
After selling the business in 1995
to Wheel Works, the couple immersed
themselves in the Gilroy community.
Jane began volunteering her time and
talents to numerous local organizations
including, the Gilroy Unified
School District, Gilroy Chamber of
Commerce, South Valley Hospital
Board of Directors, the Gilroy Garlic
Festival, Leadership Gilroy Education
Foundation, the Gilroy Rotary Club,
and the list goes on.
“It was so great, we knew we
liked Gilroy, once we expanded into
the business community it was even
better,” Howard said.
It was that connection to the
business community that led Jane to
the center. Susan Valenta, who was
President of the Gilroy Chamber of
Commerce at the time, proposed
she take on the interim position of
Executive Director in January 2006.
Jane happily agreed. Six months
later, the board announced they were
seeking a full-time Executive Director
and Jane eagerly threw her hat in the
ring. With her past experience she was
the perfect fit for the position.
“So, I earned it, which I liked, and I
really appreciated the board had taken
the direction to evaluate the viability
and the relevance of a visitors bureau,”
she said.
That acknowledgement of the
visitors bureau’s importance first began
in 2000 when the Gilroy Visitors
Bureau, a subcommittee of the Gilroy
Chamber of Commerce, transitioned
into its own entity with the establish-
ment of a 501 (c)(6).
“It was quite small in the beginning,
we were located on Monterey Street
at the little building at the corner
of IOOF and Monterey where the
downtown business association is now
housed,” Howard said, adding that the
750-square-foot location “was tiny and
we didn’t see many visitors.”
The bureau remained there until
2011, when Jeanie Omel, former
Board Chair of Gilroy Visitors Bureau,
recommended applying for a location
at the Gilroy Premium Outlets.
“She felt the outlets were looking
more and more for partnerships with
destination marketing organizations,
[DMO’s]; that’s what we are,”
Howard said.
Jane Howard, Executive Director
California Welcome Center
The move to the Gilroy Outlets
provided a space more than double
the size of the former location and
inspired a new name. The Gilroy
Visitors Bureau was rebranded as the
Gilroy Welcome Center, which fea-
tured a retail space showcasing local
vendors including, Casa de Fruta,
Gilroy Gardens, Gilroy Garlic Festival,
Gilroy Historical Society and others.
Another major change was the
center’s hours of operation. Its doors
were open 364 days a year, eight hours
a day, with full-time coverage by the
existing staff of Howard and Gimenez.
“We were working six, seven days
a week, but we knew we had some-
thing really, really special here and we
knew we had to kick it off ourselves,”
Howard said.
The new location had a major
impact on the number of visitors to
the center. The annual number at the
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
june/july 2019
previous location totaled approximately
3,500 visitors. “We surpassed that our
first month,” Gimenez said, adding that
the number of visitors per year now
averages 45,000.
The city of Gilroy recognized that
the expanded location meant the
center’s annual budget would need to
expand as well. This realization led
to the allocation of $300,000 for the
center, with a stipulation that they find
an additional source of revenue. This
initiated Howard’s pursuit of a Tourism
Business Improvement District.
“They call them TBIDs, where the
hotels are actually coming to a DMO
saying, ‘We will pay an assessment [tax]
to your organization to help bring over-
night guests,’” Howard explained. With
the successful implementation of the
TBID, an additional $300,000 annually
was added to the center’s budget.
“That gave us the opportunity
to market in areas we could never
afford; the Canadian Market, the UK,”
Howard said. She noted that Gilroy is
best known for shopping and garlic,
especially internationally, and that
advertising money is well spent.
“China is our number one interna-
tional visitor here at the center with a
strong following from Korea, Singapore,
and Japan,” Howard said. And the
center is also receiving more and more
local visitors and customers. “We have
a number of locals who come in here to
purchase local Gilroy items to take with
them when they travel,” Howard said.
“And they’re bringing in their friends
and family. It’s that kind of experience
that is really validating we have some-
thing special to offer. So, I always tell
everyone who is interacting with any-
one visiting this community, we’re all
ambassadors for Gilroy.”
“I want our partners, our city
council, our hotels, our local residents
to understand how important tourism
is to this city as an economic driver,”
Howard said. She described how the
new designation will not only ensure
an increase in tourism but will finally
allow Gilroy to receive the respect it
deserves as a visitor destination.
“I feel really, really, passionate about
that,” Howard said, her smile spreading
from ear to ear.
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