Growing confidence in a hospitality and tourism rebound convinced the Forsyth County Tourism Development Authority to approve an 8 percent increase in its budget — to $2.4 million — for fiscal 2011-12.
The authority, which oversees Visit Winston-Salem, also announced Tuesday the recipients of nearly $293,000 in arts, convention, event and sports grants.
The board's optimism comes in large part from a projection of nearly $2.1 million in revenue from the county's hotel-occupancy tax. The bureau gets more than 90 percent of its funding from the tax.
Richard Geiger, the president of the tourism bureau, said he considers the budget "very conservative" overall. He expects that a more efficient sales and marketing plan will produce an increase in overnight stays in local hotels during the next fiscal year.
The plan is "squarely focused on increasing the awareness of Winston-Salem to leisure visitors, as well as the meeting and convention markets," Geiger said. It includes increased spending on market research, website development, social-media marketing, advertising and public relations.
There was a noticeable absence of tension as the board announced the divvying up of its grants. The grants are used primarily to help offset infrastructure and logistical costs of groups that want to hold events here.
Business-development funding has been a source of controversy for the authority for nearly 4½ years. It played a pivotal role, along with a debate over the appropriate level of administrative costs, in a shake-up of Visit Winston-Salem that led to the ouster of its previous president, Bob McCoy, in December 2008 and a reduction in board members from 13 to nine.
The debate has centered on whether arts groups should receive as much, if not more, money from the fund than events that attract overnight stays, or "heads in beds" as it is called in the industry.
The authority defused the tension in part by creating separate budget sections for arts and events marketing, and for convention and sports marketing.
Applicants have to meet guidelines that measure the financial and community impact of their events. Organizations that receive money must submit the results of research that tracked attendance and demographic information of their attendees.
"Overall, we believe this more objective process performed as designed," Geiger said.
The authority approved providing $250,760 to conventions and sports events. That amount is up 30 percent from the current fiscal year. The largest grant — $40,000 — is going to the National Black Theatre Festival.
It also approved a combined $42,000 to eight arts groups. That amount is up $15,000 from last year's budget.
Overall, meetings and conventions received $164,260, with projected room nights of 42,875. Sports received $86,500, with projected room nights of 11,295.
Besides the National Black Theatre Festival, the other major recipients in the convention and sports categories are: Jehovah's Witness convention in July ($30,000) and June 2012 ($20,000); Mid-Eastern Atlantic Conference basketball tournaments in March ($25,000); Powerade State Games in June 2012 ($25,000); and Twin City Youth Soccer Association for its Friendlies tournament in January ($20,000).
For arts and events, the Piedmont Craftsman Fair received the largest amount at $8,000.
The other recipients were: RiverRun International Film Festival ($6,900); Salute! ($6,700); Six Days in November, produced by the Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County ($6,000); holiday promotions for Old Salem Museums & Gardens ($5,000); The Nutcracker by the University of N.C. School of the Arts ($4,400); Modern Masters display at Reynolda House Museum of American Art ($3,200); and the Winston-Salem Air Show ($1,800).
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