Where's the innovative thought? Proposed visitor strategy panned by Walton tourism group

SANTA ROSA BEACH — The Wisconsin-based destination marketing consulting firm developing a three-year strategic plan for the Walton County Tourism Department has some work to do before presenting a final draft to the Tourist Development Council, the group of hospitality industry professionals and local government officials who help guide the county's tourism efforts.

Bill Geist, head of DMOproz, the firm working under a $47,000 contract to develop a local tourism strategy through 2025, guided the TDC through a draft proposal at a special meeting Wednesday.

In part, the strategic plan calls for more focus on the northern end of the county, where a 2% bed tax on visitor accommodations was instituted in a 2020 decision by voters north of Choctawhatchee Bay for tourism-related initiatives.

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A 5% bed tax has been collected south of the bay for some time, raising millions of dollars annually to pay for marketing the county to prospective visitors, enhancing beach-related infrastructure and funding a beach lifeguard program.

Beyond the call to focus on the northern end of the county, the DMOproz draft proposal suggests that, among other things, the Tourism Department continue to build "shoulder season" visitation in the months before and after the traditional vacation season of Memorial Day through Labor Day.

It also advocates for the development of destination-enhancing assets like performance venues and sports complexes; efforts to bring convention and meeting business to the county; a focus on stewardship of beaches and other natural features that attract visitors; and to facilitate the development of a hospitality workforce.

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The draft proposes a number of tactics to meet those objectives, including research aimed at understanding "the motivations of present visitors who choose experiences north of the bay;" targeting "the high-value consumer" who stays longer and spends more and respects the community and the environment, for shoulder-season stays; encouraging young people and retirees to enter the hospitality workforce; acquiring property for more public beaches; and "to encourage both residents and visitors to be respectful of the culture and environment of Walton County."

In preparing the strategic plan proposal, DMOproz administered an online survey seeking information on the community and the work of the Tourism Department. The survey got nearly 80 responses from community leaders and stakeholders and more than 600 responses from residents. Additionally, DMOproz personnel met with more than 70 leaders and stakeholders for a firsthand look at their thoughts and vision for the community as a tourism destru.

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For TDC member Scott Russell, co-owner of a vacation rental company, the draft proposal isn't much different from other strategic planning proposals presented to the Tourism Department, including the current strategic plan also developed by DMOproz.

"We can't keep coming up with these same solutions," Russell said. "A lot of the solutions ... are the same solutions that were in the last strategic plan. What can we do different, and what can we do to push it even further?"

Russell added that he found the tactics suggested for meeting strategic goals "pretty weak."

"Where is our innovative thought in these tactics?" he asked. Developing tactics to meet strategic goals needs to be "more than a check the box, we got that done" approach, Russell added.

Todd Bierbaum, a DeFuniak Springs City Council member who serves on the TDC, made the point more forcefully: "How can we bend things to our will? That's leadership."

TDC board member Andrew Czarnecki wondered how realistic it is to attract visitors to the northern end of the county, where attractions such as Morrison Spring and the historic city of DeFuniak Springs are not abundant.

"You have to have lodgings, you have to have attractions" to get visitors into a specific area, Czarnecki contended.

Walton County Commission Chairman and TDC member Mike Barker argued that millions of dollars in improvements coming to the DeFuniak Springs Municipal Airport, where a new terminal is under construction and one of the airport's two runways is being lengthened, could spur interest in that end of the county.

Barker said that developing the north end of the county to be attractive to tourists also is important in the event that visitors to the county's beaches find themselves dealing with "red tide" — blooms of toxic algae that can deposit dead fish on the beach — or some other adverse circumstance.

"What if something happens down here on the beaches, God forbid?" Barker asked. "We don't want those people to turn around and go home."

As the meeting wound down, Geist promised to have an updated draft strategic plan available to Brian Kellenberger, interim director of the Tourism Department, within a matter of days.

The TDC's goal is to approve a strategic plan at its June meeting.

This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Tourism strategic plan in Walton County leaves tourism group unhappy