Travel Juneau, the private marketing organization for the Juneau area, may soon have to market itself to the city.<\/p>\n
At Monday night’s Committee of the Whole meeting, City and Borough of Juneau Assembly members discussed whether the city’s arrangement with Travel Juneau should move to a competitive bidding process, allowing other marketing firms to pursue the work.<\/p>\n
In a 5-4 vote, assembly members agreed to move the proposal to the Lands, Housing and Economic Development Committee for a deeper dive into the question.<\/p>\n
“The discussion of the draft ordinance was, overall, positive, with many Assembly members suggesting that putting destination marketing services out to RFP was not the right path and would disrupt continuity,” said Liz Perry, president and CEO of Travel Juneau in an email to the Empire. “Travel Juneau has a 35-year track record of bringing independent travelers and meetings to our community, and has long-standing relationships with media, meeting planners, travel agents and group tour operators.<\/p>\n
“This process gives Travel Juneau the opportunity to discuss our work and successes, identify any new metrics that will help demonstrate our performance, and refine our memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the city,” Perry continued.<\/p>\n
Travel Juneau, formerly the Juneau Convention and Visitors Bureau, has operated since 1985 and is funded by city dollars. If the proposed ordinance is successful, travel marketing services will go from a grant to competitive solicitation, with the assembly maintaining control of the contract and travel marketing services.<\/p>\n