Q. How important is the tourism industry to the Wenatchee Valley?

A. Tourism is essential for the economic health of the valley.

The best measurement we have of tourism’s economic impacts are from hotel revenues and hotel tax collections. Wenatchee and East Wenatchee hotels (18 in all) generated approximately $21 million in sales during 2010. This activity produced a little over $1.1 million in tax revenue for the cities of Wenatchee ($879,000 estimate) and East Wenatchee ($266,000 estimate).

Fortunately all this economic activity is paid for by visitors, not local taxpayers. These figures don’t include the substantial purchases of food, gas or other retail expenditures by travelers.

The two cities distribute the hotel tax to fund such things as operations and debt service of the Wenatchee Convention Center, contracts with the Wenatchee Valley Visitors Bureau and the Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center. The city of Wenatchee also made a $300,000 debt service payment on Town Toyota Center from the Hotel Tax reserve fund last year.

For every tax dollar spent on marketing and advertising, at least $3 are returned in economic activity to the destination, according the state tourism office. By any measure, this is excellent return on investment of visitors’ tax dollars.

Looking at the bigger picture, Chelan County ranks sixth in the state with travel spending bringing in $343.2 million (2009) and at the same time providing 5,600 tourism-related jobs in the county. Tourism is a mainstay for Leavenworth and Lake Chelan. The Wenatchee Valley, the commercial center of the region, has awakened to tourism’s benefits as well.

Q. What’s the function of your organization in promoting Wenatchee Valley tourism? How does it perform that task?

A. The WVVB is the official destination marketing organization for the Wenatchee Valley. Our mission states: “The Wenatchee Valley Visitors Bureau promotes the Wenatchee Valley to increase tourism spending and improve the local economies.”

A large part of our job is to “put heads on hotel beds.” We are a 501 C-6 nonprofit and hold contracts with the city of Wenatchee, city of East Wenatchee and the Port of Chelan County to perform destination marketing services. Our visitor center helped about 4,000 people who came through our door last year. We distributed 104,000 pieces of information to fulfill visitor requests.

In additions, the Wenatchee Valley Sports Council (a subsidiary of WVVB) helped coordinate numerous sporting events in the area. Locals are surprised that the area hosts about 153 sports events per year with a total economic impact of about $7 million.

We also provide convention marketing services to meeting planners. We estimate 2010 convention delegate spending was just under $8 million.

We also reach out to writers who publish travel articles about the valley. Last year our editorial media efforts generated $380,000 in “ad equivalency.”

Of course, we market all the local visitor attractions to promote valley tourism: Mission Ridge Ski & Board Resort, Town Toyota Center, Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center, Ohme Gardens, Apple Capital Recreation Loop Trail, Foothills Trail, Rocky Reach Visitor Center, Art on the Avenues, Wenatchee Performing Arts Center, Bridge of Friendship Garden, Farmers Market and area wineries to name a few.

We work in concert with Lake Chelan and Leavenworth Chambers of Commerce through the Chamber Alliance group to promote countywide tourism. The three destination marketing groups understand when a visitors arrives in Chelan County they will visit multiple locations during their stay and it is in our best interest to work together to promote the “cross pollination” of visitor dollars.

Q. Will high gas prices hurt or help area tourism this coming season?

A. Even with high gasoline prices, people will want to travel. But they might not be willing to travel as far, and that could benefit the Wenatchee Valley because we are less than a half day’s drive from the metropolitan areas in the state. One tank of gas gets visitors to one of the most popular tourism meccas in the state and back home again. However, if gasoline spikes to $5, it will have a negative effect on all travel to the valley.

Q. In your interaction with visitors, what’s the most surprising impression they have of this area? Is it different than they expected? Better? Worse?

A. First-time visitors are awestruck by the sheer beauty and topographical diversity of the area — the foothills, the rivers, the lush green orchards and open spaces. Return visitors are surprised that they find something new and interesting every time they visit the valley.

One visitor from Maine was flabbergasted by our electric rates. He calculated he pays almost three times the kilowatt hours in his state compared to rates in Wenatchee. He said he was ready to move here to take advantage of the power rates.

Q. What are the best ways to get the word out about the Wenatchee Valley’s attributes and attractions? Guide books? TV and radio? Travel articles? Social media?

A. Destination marketers have to diversify their messages across as many communication channels as the budget will allow. Potential visitors include age demographics from single young adults and families to active lifestyle seniors. The marketing pitch therefore needs to be widespread yet targeted to appeal to all groups.

Here, we use visitor guides, websites, TV, radio, travel articles and social media. Since a preponderance of travel information has migrated to the Internet, a larger portion of our advertising dollars are now placed in “new media.”

Q. As a full-time resident, what’s your favorite “touristy” thing to do or place to go in North Central Washington?

A. My wife, Marsha, and I love to take our friends from the “wet-side” of the Cascades for a walk or bike ride on the Apple Capital Recreation Loop Trail, explore the antique stores in downtown Wenatchee and then relax with a glass of premium wine from one of our outstanding wineries. It’s always a joy to partake of our local events like Apple Blossom, Classy Chassis, Harvest Festival, Wings and Wheels and the Chelan County Fair.