After a year-long test run of the Chicago Southland Convention and Visitors Bureau new Tinley Park-centric marketing plans, village officials said they are satisfied.
At a village board committee meeting Tuesday night, trustees agreed to renew Tinley Park’s annual membership with the regional bureau.
That membership cost will be about $175,000, village manager Scott Niehaus said. The exact amount will be determined during upcoming budget discussions, but last year’s membership cost $180,000.
Last year, Tinley Park and bureau officials butted heads after the village decided it would contribute $50,000 to the bureau and use $130,000 to promote only the village and its attractions.
That plan was tabled in June after the bureau and the village agreed to work together to market the village’s hotels and convention center. The agreement stipulated that the bureau would spend $125,000 to solely market Tinley Park, with the village’s marketing staff working with the bureau.
“They recognize that we want our money spent on us,” village marketing manager Donna Framke told trustees Tuesday night.
The tourism bureau traditionally has promoted the culture, hotels and attractions of 62 Southland towns that are members, taking a regional approach that bureau officials say is key to boosting tourism in the Southland.
But Tinley Park officials last year expressed frustration with the bureau’s efforts, insisting that it had to make Tinley Park and its convention center more of a marketing priority – especially because the village is the largest municipal contributor to the bureau.
Framke said the focus of the bureau and Tinley Park will continue to be the convention center and its forthcoming expansion.
Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services