Explore Altoona courts support

Explore Altoona has begun its effort to persuade municipal governing bodies in Blair County not to pass resolutions in favor of decertifying the organization as the county's tourist promotion agency.

A delegation from the group on Thursday visited the Logan Township supervisors, a few of whom spoke sympathetically to delegation members.

County commissioners are seeking to decertify Explore Altoona if that organization continues to be unwilling to use some of the approximately $800,000 a year in county bed tax to which it's entitled as the TPA to add development of trails and other assets, in addition to its traditional standard tourist promotion efforts.

One of the requirements for the county to decertify a TPA is a series of resolutions approving that action from municipal governing bodies that represent at least 65% of a county's population, according to Mark Ickes, executive director of Explore Altoona.

Explore Altoona is a "fully dedicated marketing organization" that operates according to best industry practices and uses print, digital, social media, networking, trade shows and expositions to boost lodging, restaurant, retail, transportation and recreation interests in the county, according to Ickes and an Explore Altoona brochure.

In 2022, that helped drive travel and tourism visitor spending of $371 million to Blair County, according to the brochure.

Decertifying Explore Altoona would "negatively impact" the county's hotels, shopping centers, destinations like the Railroaders Memorial Museum and Fort Roberdeau, various other businesses and the employees of all those entities, because it would eliminate the exposure the organization provides with its marketing in cities like Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., said Jeff Cipriani, past president of the Explore Altoona board and general manager of the Hampton Inn.

Explore Altoona has used the hotel tax revenue it gets through the county in a "prudent and transparent manner," said Carl Crider Jr., president of DelGrosso's Park and Laguna Splash, and a member of the Explore Altoona board of directors.

"We are deeply troubled that there has been behind-the-scenes discussion about reallocating that (bed tax) revenue, especially without consulting the hoteliers," states a letter sent to the commissioners Sept. 9 and signed by 13 hotel representatives, a copy of which was provided to the Mirror.

Hotel employees and their families "would be negatively impacted" without an "organization solely dedicated to marketing Blair County as a tourist destination," the letter states.

Without Explore Altoona's efforts, the county's $30 million in hotel revenue — and the

$1.5 million in bed tax revenue it produces — would be jeopardized, according to the letter.

People like him have taken major financial risks in developing hotels, letter signee Sam

McCloskey, who owns the Days Inn & Suites by Wyndham Altoona in Pinecroft, said in an interview with the Mirror.

County representatives aren't paying attention to "people who have skin in the game," McCloskey added.

Explore Altoona is not standing in the way of park or trail development, according to Patrick Schurr, director of partnership development for Explore Altoona.

Explore Altoona can continue to do what it does best, even as another organization seeks to develop trails and other assets, which Explore Altoona would then promote, Schurr told the Logan Township board.

"It doesn't need to be one or another," Schurr said. "We can work side-by-side."

"I never realized all you did," said Logan Supervisors Chairman Jim Patterson told the delegation.

It would seem to be "crazy" for the county to disaffiliate from Explore Altoona, one supervisor said.

Explore Altoona plans to send representatives to visit other municipalities to argue against decertification, according to Ickes.

He's hoping for his group to be placed on a City Council agenda soon, he said.

"You have a fight on your hands," Patterson said.

If Explore Altoona is decertified as a TPA, the organization would be dissolved, Ickes stated in an email.

Based on a memorandum of understanding between Explore Altoona and the county, Explore Altoona receives 56% of the annual bed tax revenue of approximately $1.5 million, which is generated by the 5% tax on hotel receipts from renting rooms to transients, according to Ickes.

Act 18 limits the use of the tax revenue to promotion of tourism, so what the commissioners want isn't permissible, according to members of the Explore Altoona delegation — although Blair and counties have used their Act 18 money for asset development, under the logic that such development promotes tourism, just like standard promotion activities.

While one of Act 18's provisions allows for bed tax revenue to be used to pay for marketing tools such as "advertising, publicity, publications, direct marketing, direct sales and participation in industry trade shows," another provision allows it to also be used for "any other tourism or travel marketing or promotion program expenditure or project that does not compete with private sector tourism or travel efforts as deemed necessary by the recognized tourist promotion agency."

Blair has used bed tax revenue to pay for improvements to Peoples Natural Gas Field.

The other side

A previous set of county commissioners asked Explore Altoona to add asset development to its duties, just as the current board has done, according to Commissioners Chairman Dave Kessling, who serves with fellow Republican Amy Webster and Democrat Laura Burke — who must abstain from the Explore Altoona issue due to a conflict of interest.

"They refuse," Kessling said of Explore Altoona. "They don't want to change."

The commissioners have reached out to the group for a meeting, and the response has not been totally cooperative, according to Kessling.

"(We) tried, but they seem unwilling," he said. "We are giving them almost $1 million in taxpayer money, and therefore we believe we should have a seat at the table."

The county needs not only marketing for tourism, but additional assets to attract tourists, including trails, he said.

He's hoping that a trail authority could be part of the change he'd like to see, to help promote not only the trails that exist, but to help ensure completion of trails under construction, and development of trails being considered — along with connections between them.

Kessling's not pushing the change to divide the county and he's not saying Explore Altoona is doing anything wrong, although it takes more credit than warranted for the tourism dollars that come to the county, he said.

Regardless, things can be better if asset development is included in the work that the bed tax pays for, he said.

Like Explore Altoona, the commissioners are planning visits to municipal governing bodies, according to Kessling.

The commissioners will accept the results of the municipal vote, if it comes to a vote, he said.

He's "not getting into a pissing contest," he said.

The commissioners have proposed that if Explore Altoona doesn't come around, the TPA designation could go to the new Blair Alliance for Business and Economic Growth, which contains both Altoona Blair County Development Corp. and the Blair County Chamber of Commerce.

The plan at this point is not for Blair Alliance to be designated as the TPA, said Alliance CEO Steve McKnight.

"We're being a facilitator to set the table for dialogue ... and to work with the commissioners on developing a future focus on strategy for asset development," McKnight said.

There have been ongoing discussions between the Alliance and Kessling in his role as chair of the Chamber's Trail and Outdoor Recreation Subcommittee on how best to market the region as an outdoor recreation destination, while developing more outdoor assets, McKnight said in an email.

"More assets mean more reasons for people to visit, stay and invest, which aligns perfectly with the Alliance's overall mission," McKnight stated.

"This is all about putting more people in hotels by becoming a hub for outdoor recreation," he wrote. "If we build and expand upon our trail and park assets, people can plan multi-day visits."

Even so, marketing existing destinations and lodging properties would remain "a central priority," McKnight stated.

"We hope to have a positive dialogue in the coming weeks with key stakeholders," he added.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.