Chamber of Commerce Tourism Council Meeting – July 25, 2007

The regular meeting was held at the Best Western.

Call to Order 8:00 AM

Introductions – 18 present

Updates on the Hotel Tax Advisory Board and Request Process –

Hotel Occupancy Tax Advisory Board met last Monday night at the EDC office. Many of the groups requesting funds made presentations to the Board. Letters will go out by the end of the week with the preliminary recommendations of the Board. For any group wishing to appeal the preliminary recommendations of the Board, appeals will be heard on Monday August 13th. On August 28^th, the Board will make its official recommendations to City Council.

Treats on the Town – October 12 for Key to the Hills Rod Run

 During Rod Run this program encourages Rod Run participants to shop along Main Street on Friday night. The participants have a dinner at Main Plaza and are then encourages to go into the ships along Main for shopping and dessert. Any merchant that would like to participate needs to stay open until at least 8 PM and provide dessert for customers coming in on Friday night. The CVB will create a flyer/map listing the shops that are participating in the program and will provide balloons to have in front of the stores. Bob Caran and Michael Giddens will once again provide checkered flags for shops.

Presentation from the Cibolo Arts Council on the 2007 Boerne Festival of Art & Music (October 19-21)

The Cibolo Arts Council will change up the Festival of Art and Music a little this year. The gala will be in the form of a chili cook-off and there will be a red theme. Local non-profits will be invited to participate and there will be a $1000 prize for the winner. There will more kids activities on the Plaza this year and the event will still continue into Sunday with a jazz brunch at the Ye Kendall Inn

Trolleys in Boerne? – Discussion and Next Steps

Trolleys were discussed. The idea of a feasibility study to determine ridership and cost was mentioned. Javier Smilovici with Smilovici’s Galleria is working with the Creek owner to rent their trolley for the galleries for Second Saturday Art and Wine to take patrons from gallery to gallery. Bob Caran discussed that trolleys are not just about getting from A to B, but about the journey. Trolleys were also discussed on a broader level for uses beyond tourism for the community and elderly. Next step, arts groups will meet with CVB and The Creek to work on trolley project for Second Saturdays and this can be a pilot project.

Hosting the Concierge Association of San Antonio (CASA) – Task Force for this project

Boerne would like to host CASA as these are very important people in making recommendations for day trips for San Antonio visitors. The idea of bringing CASA out has been discussed before and this is a project that would be very beneficial and would also need support from the tourism community.

Next steps – CVB attend a CASA mixer and contact John Ruiz about the possibility of hosting a CASA mixer in Boerne in the future. Possible location for hosting – Kendall Halle

Announcements/New Business

-        Chamber Membership Event – Chamber brings business together in the community

-        Hospitality Accommodations of TX, Convention Aug 26-28 in League City TX

-        Progressive Farmer Idea House – June 28-Oct28 Cool Water Ranch in Fredericksburg

-        Texas Travel Industry Association (TTIA) – Travel Summit is Sept 23-26 in Houston

-        For more information on Summit go to http://www.ttia.org/summit/ link will be posted on CVB website Tourism Council page, Summit is on of the most important travel industry educational conferences in Texas

Next Meeting – August 22^nd at the Best Western, 8AM

September meeting will have to be rescheduled due to TTIA Summit (date will be determined at the August meeting)

Meeting Adjourned