Published: July 24, 2008 02:11 am      

TOURISM: NTCC says city is getting 16-to-1 return on investment

Niagara Tourism & Convention Corp. is reporting a 16-to-1 return on the City of Lockport’s investment in its operation.

The city turns over a share of bed tax to NTCC every year to help finance the county tourism marketing agency. The share last year was about $87,000, according to John H. Percy Jr., NTCC’s president and chief executive officer.

Percy said estimates suggest tourists returned the investment sixteen-fold as they spent in excess of $1.3 million in Lockport last year.

The city benefited from its inclusion in NTCC’s “Niagara USA” marketing effort, which promotes Niagara County as a place of four distinct regions: falls, river, lake and canal.

Marketing is by visitor and hotel/motel in-room guides; the NTCC Web site; print, radio and Internet advertising purchased in the Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio, markets; advertising in travel guides; freestanding information centers/kiosks along the Thruway and around the county; and a deal cut with Continental Airlines to show the Niagara USA promotional DVD on longer flights. NTCC also represents Lockport with attendance to trade shows and regular hosting of travel writers, and Percy said he figures about 30 percent of agency staff’s time is spent marketing Lockport specifically.

Also, NTCC splits with the city the $23,000 cost of running the Tour Lockport Trolley, a vehicle that ferries visitors between Lockport attractions in the months of July and August. Trolley trips are free to users.

Percy delivered a 2007 return-on-investment report to the Common Council in its Wednesday work session. He reported a countywide picture to the Niagara County Legislature on Tuesday, saying NTCC estimates the “impact” value of its marketing was close to $46 million spent by tourists and convention-goers countywide.

Most of NTCC’s budget, $2.8 million, is financed from Seneca Nation casino compact dollars and the City of Niagara Falls. The return on investment ratio is 16-to-one for the county as a whole, Percy said.

Mayor Michael Tucker remains skeptical of the claim Lockport gets an equal return on its contribution. The numbers tossed around in the annual report are hypothetical, he said, and they don’t prove NTCC works for the city.

“I’m still not sure that we get $87,000 worth of advertising, that we’re really getting the bang for our buck,” Tucker said.

Percy admitted impact values are guesses, based partly on the results of visitor surveys, and there is no way to state definitively how much tourists spend in Lockport as a result of NTCC promotions. All the agency can do, he said, is figure the value of Lockport-specific marketing and compare it with visitor self-reporting of spending.

Tucker said he’d like to see NTCC do more to sell Lockport as a destination, not just as a side trip suggested to Falls visitors.

“Don’t just show people a map and tell ’em they can drive themselves, start bringing people down here twice a week,” he said. “We’re working our tails off here to make this a place where you can spend a whole day. Get the people here and we’ll keep them occupied, no problem.”

Contact reporter Joyce Miles at 439-9222, ext. 6245.