A great debate has been taking place in recent weeks concerning the Visitor Center in Mariposa.
At times, it has turned nasty. Unsurprisingly, much of that nastiness is on social media.
But what has struck me more than anything is what seems to be a lack of knowledge on the part of many about exactly what a visitor’s center is and how it should operate.
The answer is not exact science. Models are different around the country.
But let’s get to some basic points that should define all visitor’s centers.
First — and foremost — they should be appealing to the eye. Our Visitor Center is anything but that. It looks like something out of the 1970s and is simply unappealing.
The building is owned by the local VFW and it is rented by the Mariposa County Chamber of Commerce. It appears the Visitor Center itself is sort of subleased from the chamber. That may be part of the issue.
I have traveled the country extensively in my life and when I think of a visitor’s center, what we have does not come to mind. Many have murals and decent restrooms and places for the kiddos to release some energy after being trapped in a car.
This is just one issue.
Another issue that has arisen, which is perplexing, is the role of the Yosemite Mariposa County Tourism Bureau. Many believe that organization should function as the visitor’s center.
In some places, that’s how it works. But generally, even in those cases, the tourism bureaus are behind the scenes and other staff greet visitors and guide them to their destinations.
The role of any tourism bureau stretches well beyond the walls of a visitor’s center. They typically focus on ways to bring tourists to a specific region. In this day and age, they utilize social media (in a good way) to entice visitors.
But they also travel the globe to trade shows and other events where they try to “sell” officials in foreign lands on why their people should be visiting, in this case, Yosemite and Mariposa County.
I believe our tourism bureau does a fantastic job and, in many ways, that is not a known quantity because so much of what they do is behind the scenes. I will say they are making a renewed effort to keep the local folks informed about what they are doing.
Their new monthly column in this newspaper has been well received and puts an emphasis on the impact of tourism in Mariposa County.
In this current debacle, the issue seems to come down to the bidding process which was put out by the county, the entity that funds the local Visitor Center.
By all indications, the bidding process was flawed because of how it was handled by the county. For some reason, the county put the emphasis on social media and online presence. That may be fine, but does the county not realize the tourism bureau is doing that and doing it in an impressive way?
It’s possible the county didn’t even know that because quite a few years ago, they decided to not give any funding to the tourism bureau. Sure, the bureau collects a good amount from the TBID tax charged to everyone who rents a room or home in the county.
However, the county also receives, as I reported last week, more than $25 million a year from the transient occupancy tax, or TOT. That annually puts us fourth or fifth in the state in total TOT dollars collected.
In other words, without Yosemite and the TOT taxes, we’d be up a creek without a paddle.
Many have cried poverty on behalf of the county. I say we don’t have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem. How is it we went from having one county administrative officer to now have multiple deputy CAOs to work with that person?
And we have less population.
These are fundamental questions but the even bigger picture here is the fact our “revenue problem” is actually a $25 million influx of money coming from tourists. That money funds our law enforcement, fire, public works and much more. Without that funding, where would it come from?
The taxpayers, that’s where, and you can bet we would have a slimmed down government operation.
This goes back to my point of the county and its stance to not fund any part of the tourism bureau. In my estimation, the county needs some skin in the game when it comes to its, by far, largest funding source. They need to be a part of the windfall that comes in the form of millions of dollars a year.
I give credit to the tourism bureau for bringing in tourists. Sure, it is hard to put an exact number on something like that, but it is also safe to say they are doing their jobs in luring people to this area.
Many of us who live here sometimes take for granted Yosemite. It’s this vast, beautiful place over there many of us avoid because of the crowds.
But we also forget Yosemite is in a very competitive state when it comes to tourism. San Francisco, Los Angeles, Tahoe, Wine Country, San Diego and the list is endless. People who are visiting California have many choices and it is up to us to attract them to our neck of the woods.
That is the role of the tourism bureau and not the Visitor Center. If the tourism bureau does its job, the Visitor Center will automatically have a lot of traffic.
These are complicated issues and in many ways are convoluted and cross paths.
Tourism bureau. Chamber of commerce. Visitor Center.
All three have their roles yet when it does comes to where the county puts the money, it appears not even the county is sure how it is all supposed to work.
They need to get educated.
The competition around us is growing, including Oakhurst, Groveland, Sonora and even Fresno. Those places are keeping up with the times and know that every person that decides to come their way means more money.
Meanwhile, we sit back and just take for granted these people are going to come here and spend money, which helps every citizen of Mariposa County and provides us with services most counties struggle to have.
This entire mess could have been avoided if our county leadership would have been on top of their game and reached out to the many people involved to get input. Instead, they put out a flawed request for a bid and you see the result.
It’s time they wake up and, in some ways, that we all pay attention to the fact tourism is Mariposa County.
That is simply not going to change and it should be the basis for our decisions.
Greg Little is editor of the Mariposa Gazette and can be reached at greg@mariposagazette.com.
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