By Marvin G. Cortner
Editor

Some tourism-related business owners – hoteliers especially – are angry with the Osceola County Commission’s priorities for spending tourist development taxes, according to George Chen, Osceola County Tourist Development Council member.

Chen, who owns the Comfort Suites Maingate and is a hotel association consultant, at a council meeting Sept. 14 said he has talked with dozens of hotel owners big and small as well as numerous restaurant owners over the last few weeks and that many of them believe the commission has put spending for other projects ahead of those that would generate overnight stays by tourists.

“Everyone is angry because they do not feel the commission understands that they (lodging and restaurant businesses) are the biggest creator of jobs in this county,” Chen said. “Fifty percent of our jobs are in the hotel-restaurant industry, like it or not.

“Unless we put heads into beds, the fundamentals of our economy will suffer; this September – traditionally one of the slowest months – has been horrible. The businesses are saying, ‘The county commissioners don’t get it.’”

Chen said industry concerns include not enough money spent on promotions of the county through the Kissimmee Convention & Visitors Bureau, not enough bureau-industry partnerships to allow local lodging businesses to have a larger presence at industry trade shows and spending that will not likely generate overnight stays, such as funding a new museum of military history at Osceola Heritage Park.

County Commissioner John Quiñones, a member of the Tourist Development Council, said he “understands” how crucial West U.S. Highway 192 businesses are to Osceola County in terms of jobs. He suggested the county hold a workshop with lodging industry representatives to “bring forth ideas.”

“It is a crisis right now what is happening on (U.S. Highway) 192,” Quiñones said. “It may look dark, but there are some positive steps the commission is taking.”

Those steps, Quiñones said, include a six-month building permit fee waiver program, county participation in a project in the Harmony community to build eight amateur sports ball fields and a time-payment program for county transportation impact fees.

“The Harmony decision may have rubbed some on the west side the wrong way, but at least this project, we know, will be built, and we have to make sure overnight stays come to Osceola County,” Quiñones said.

Besides having a bad month in terms of lodging, Chen and others at the council meeting said local businesses face a number of problems, including lack of capital to make improvements and that hotels in particular don’t have the staff, the money or the expertise to market themselves effectively internationally.

Commercial real estate agent Charles Steele said he has “never seen it this bad,” referring to how the economy is impacting businesses in the West U.S. Highway 192 tourist corridor.

“Gift shops, hoteliers and restaurants are in such deep trouble,” Steele said. “Business owners are ready to walk away.”

The Realtor also said businesses can’t pay their taxes, can’t make improvements, can’t restructure loans and can’t bring in enough customers to warrant staying open.

“There are some major restaurants considering closing; they don’t have enough business to stay open,” Steele said. “We need to encourage people to come here.”

Sonny Buoncervello, who owns a realty in Celebration, echoed Chen’s and lodging businesses’ concerns over the perceived lack of priorities by the County Commission when it comes to spending tourist taxes. The council at a workshop had recommended spending for sports facilities first.

“I thought we had a workshop and made spending recommendations to the county,” Buoncervello said. “They funded everything else first and then funded sports with what money was left.”

Buoncervello urged the council to be more outspoken in front of the County Commission because the council “deserves answers” to the industry’s concerns.

Prior to its decision to fund the ball fields in Harmony using $7.5 million in seed money, the commission approved $11.7 million funding for such things as ongoing operations at the Osceola County Center for the Arts, relocation of the Osceola County Historical Society to Shingle Creek Regional Park (along with a nature center in an existing building and a new museum) and improvements to Osceola Heritage Park and the Silver Spurs Arena.

Other council news

Besides airing concerns over tourist tax spending priorities, the council also heard several reports relating to tourism.

• The visitors bureau will shift some of its funding to marketing more heavily to Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Panama and Costa Rica.

• Tom Lang, executive director of the bureau, reported that veterans had expected to begin relocating the Veterans Tribute and Museum now located in Osceola Square Mall to the visitors bureau building at Osceola Heritage Park on Oct. 1, but that the move isn’t going to happen that quickly.

“Right now, we don’t know where we would go,” Lang said. “Would the county rent? Build? Put us in a county building? There are 100 parking spaces they will have to provide, too.”

• The council voted to recommend that the county in a year put out a request for proposals for a company to manage Osceola Heritage Park when the current contract with Philadelphia-based SMG expires.