Duluth mayor defends plan to outsource city promotions against harsh criticism

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I understand this is an area of ​​tension, Larson said on Wednesday, the day after his tourism proposal launched on a wall of worry. I recognize him. I still think this is the right direction.

According to his proposal, Minneapolis-based Bellmont Partners would take on the city’s marketing and promotion responsibilities, receiving a budget of $ 1.8 million in 2022, with options to continue the relationship over the next two years.

PREVIOUSLY: Duluth Mayor Wants to Revamp Tourism Efforts and Hire Minneapolis Company to Promote City

It’s a move that would appear to jeopardize Visit Duluth, the city’s only promoter since 1935, who Larson said would be retained to manage the convention and the sports-selling effort on behalf of the city, for a fraction. of its current budget.

Such a move would cost the organization three or four additional layoffs, on top of the permanent layoffs of four employees in December in the face of a reduced budget allowance, Anna Tanski, President and CEO of Visit Duluth, confirmed to the News Tribune.

She said Visit Duluth was still studying the mayor’s proposal. Visit Duluth has scheduled a press conference for Thursday at 8:30 a.m. to discuss the rapid development of dialogue around the issue.

Matt Baumgartner, president of the Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce, said his organization was closely monitoring developments and continuing to gather information on what the decision would mean for the community. Still, many members of the House are involved in supporting Visit Duluth, he said in a statement to the News Tribune.

We are very concerned that these members could potentially lose customers as a result of this decision, Baumgartner said. Therefore, we hope that whatever the end result of this development, our hard earned taxes will continue to be invested in Duluth.

Because negotiations are still ongoing, the city said the News Tribune would not be able to access the city’s 28 qualifying requests, nor any resulting documentation related to the decision-making that entered into the. shot of the mayor.

The city revealed Tuesday there were five candidates from Duluth, 15 from elsewhere in Minnesota and eight from out of state. Nine were selected for round one interviews, and five ended up making it through to round two, all from Minnesota, including two local companies, including Visit Duluth.

Former Visit Duluth communications and outreach director Maarja Hewitt wrote to city council, describing the move as a power play of the mayor and the city. Another industry leader, Mike Seyfer, CEO of Duluth-based Hailey Sault, said his company refused to apply despite the large budget of $ 1.8 million, implying that how the town was treating Visit Duluth was unpleasant.

I deeply understand that the city’s relationship with Visit Duluth is not perfect, he wrote in his public letter to city councilors. I’m afraid that over time this will be one of Duluth’s big missteps.

As city councilors prepare to weigh the mayor’s proposal starting Thursday, Larson was confident the chosen company and its administration could come up with a winning case. She said she understood that people care deeply about important decisions, but the city should always pay close attention when opening bids and assigning work to any vendor.

There are a lot of opportunities right now, Larson said, describing Duluth’s air passages to new locations and a chance to market the city to locations out of state.

It’s not just about changing things for the sake of changing things, she said. It’s about growing and expanding in measurable ways, finding new audiences and new generations of people, nurturing and finding ways to go from overnight and two-night stays to stays. of three and four nights.

She categorically said that Visit Duluth did not show the winning company’s abilities to find ways to better connect Duluth residents with their guests.

We have this current experience of ourselves as a tourist town, and we do, I think, as residents have negative feelings about what it feels like to have people coming to our town, did she declared.

Larson described the resentment and the idea that visitors derive more benefit from the city than residents as bogus and in need of correction.

The News Tribune asked her if she spoke about topics such as Spirit Mountain and city-owned golf courses, matters of consternation both recently and historically. Users and visitors gain experience at these locations, while residents may end up with less pleasurable experiences, such as taxpayer-funded rescues.

Larson took credit for being a mayor who would take care of long-standing problems that needed solutions.

It’s interesting that you bring up those two examples, especially issues that predate me and many mayors, and which required our attention, Larson said. These are the questions that lead me to this work.

Larson responded to claims in Hewitt’s letter that the mayor had not responded to Visit Duluth.

“I’ve been very sensitive to this conversation and this industry,” said Larson, describing more than a year of work in ramping up his game-changing proposition. “We’re both right on this point; it’s not really worth fighting for that. ”

Larson presented her proposal as a bold path to the future, a path she recalled she had been tasked with helping to forge.

It is an industry that literally employs thousands of people. It’s hundreds of millions of dollars in economic impact, and not just in Canal Park across town. It’s for everyone, she said. So for me, this decision is about what else is possible. I think it’s important that we ask this question of the leaders and the communities, that they can ask this question.

She was confident that management would get results.

“We should get big results; we should grow in the industry; we should see more tourism taxes collected. All of these things are expectations to go in that direction,” Larson said.

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