Tourism board gets right to business

Could have input on many projects and decisions

The newly formed Pahrump Tourism Advisory Board got right to business during its inaugural meeting March 5, with presentations about different tourist proposals and a discussion about priorities.

Representatives of the three Pahrump lodging establishments sit on the board -- Ryley Young, Saddle West director of operations; Debi Arnold, Pahrump Nugget hotel manager, and Kelly Buffi, Best Western Pahrump Station general manager. Other board members include Alice Eychaner, Pahrump Valley Chamber of Commerce employee and John Shea, from Pahrump Valley Disposal Co., representing the general public.

"My vision for this board would be to pick one major project to work on," said Pahrump Town Board member Jane Wisdom, who proposed the idea of a tourism board. Wisdom guided the board through much of the discussion in the meeting, which lasted two hours and 15 minutes.

Wisdom said the advisory board could have input on tourism brochures, help with a town slogan and suggest how the room tax should be spent. The bylaws and mission statement were on the agenda, but were tabled for more consideration. Buffi thought the mission statement was important, to provide some focus for the board. The board decided to meet at 8 a.m. the second and fourth Thursday of the month at the community center. The next meeting will be March 28.

Eychaner, Arnold and Shea were authorized to travel to Ely for the Rural Roundup, an annual tourism conference, April 10-12. Young endorsed the conference, saying he attended sessions last year on RV parks, using the Internet and direct mail marketing, among other topics.

Wisdom said the town advisory board needs to decide if it wants to make a presentation to the town board for funding out of general taxes, on top of room tax revenues. But she said the only expenses for the board itself would be traveling to conferences.

Wisdom said she liked the slogan used in the February insert in the Nevada Business Journal spread on Pahrump, "Welcome to the Desert." Pahrump town employee Rennie Hoffman reminded the board the Pahrump Valley Community Action Team is also working on a town slogan.

Pahrump Valley Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Kathy Pallares said board members could provide input on a brochure. However Pallares said the committee would have to review it quickly, because a grant application for printing the brochures has to be submitted March 22.

"You're all from the industry. I want your input and what questions we should ask," Pallares told the board.

Pallares said the chamber is attempting to save money on the cost of mailing out magazines, using brochures instead. Chamber board members Bob Watson and Carole Kloepfel were in the audience.

Wisdom had various suggestions on ways to market Pahrump. She held up a stack of magazines and said Pahrump wasn't advertised in any of them. Pallares said the chamber placed an advertisement last year in the RV Journal, but didn't have money to advertise in it this year. Wisdom said she once placed a quarter-page advertisement for a hotel in the Sunday edition of the Los Angeles Times, which was costly, but it yielded 3,500 responses.

"I think we need to focus on the marketing of Pahrump to people who live here," Pallares replied.

Buffi said she thought Pahrump was more of a pass-through town, not an end destination for tourists. But Wisdom said it could be used as a hub for tourists visiting area attractions. Tim Hafen commented that the increased number of hotel rooms and recreational vehicle slips built in the past two years would be a draw for tourists.

"We've been holding onto the money because we didn't know where to spend it," Wisdom said. "There's possibilities we haven't thought of yet -- we need a think tank.

"We also need to look at beautifying the entrance to our town," she said.

Among suggestions Wisdom threw out to the board: looking for a shuttle to McCarran International Airport; working through the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Bureau to place brochures for Pahrump; using Pahrump as a hub for tours of area destinations including Yucca Mountain and a toll free phone number to use for all the Pahrump hotel properties. The board will have to determine priorities it wants to pursue, she said.

"I definitely agree with prioritizing, that will determine marketing vehicles," Young said. Saddle West representatives had complained to the town board in the past about a lack of promotion using room tax money.

The board heard two presentations.

Charlie Gronda, volunteer airport planning director, gave a report on his project. A request has been submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration for a half-million dollar grant to prepare a master plan for a town airport, Gronda said. The FAA would pay more than 93 percent of the cost, he said. It would be located on Gamebird Road and Winchester Avenue in the southwest corner of the valley.

"This will take probably a year, year and a half to do the master plan," Gronda said.

Vern Van Winkle, owner of KPVM-TV Channel 41, showed the latest version of his 14-minute video on Pahrump, which he said was compiled from 82 tapes and involved 2,300 hours of post production. He said the video, which he called "a living video" because it can be continually updated, shows the good side of the valley, including facilities like the new Pahrump Valley Center and Pahrump Community Library, snowbirds playing golf, children's sporting activities and area attractions like the Spring Mountains, Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, Tecopa Hot Springs and Death Valley National Park. Van Winkle said if the advisory board wanted rights to distribute the video, available in either CD-Rom or videotape, he would ask for $20,000 in licensing fees.

Van Winkle also showed his TV By Mail business, in which he produces videos for private companies to mail out to potential customers. Van Winkle also mentioned his community calendar, launched Jan. 12, has already had 1,600 hits on the Internet at www.pahrumpinformation.com. He launched another Web site, www.pahrumprealestate.tv.

Wisdom said she'd like the chamber of commerce to make a presentation at the next meeting, which she said has been the only contact point in Pahrump for tourist information.

At a chamber board meeting March 7, Pallares indicated she will make a pitch to the tourism advisory board for funding. The tourism advisory board will make recommendations on spending room tax money. The first town budget meeting was Wednesday.

"Until we get a convention and visitors bureau we're it and we'd like to be paid for what we do," Pallares told chamber board members.

Wisdom also suggested Donna Lamm, from the PVCAT economic development team, could speak at the next meeting. The tourism advisory board should work with PVCAT and other town advisory boards like Parks and Recreation or the Fairgrounds board, she said.

Shea said it's important for the new tourism advisory board members to introduce themselves to the community, saying, "We're the new kids on the block."

"You represent the room tax money and how it's going to be spent," Wisdom said. The tourism board was separated from the economic development advisory board because, she said, "the focus is more on heads on beds than jobs in hands."

After making another suggestion near the end of the night, Wisdom admitted, "it's just another possibility. I'm full of them."

The initial meeting drew a positive response from those in attendance by the time the board adjourned at 8:45 p.m.

"I've attended some meetings before but this outline you got tonight is really beneficial," Hafen said.

"It definitely gave us a road map," Buffi said.

"I think the board did a wonderful job tonight. I'm excited about what you're doing," Wisdom said.

Advisory board members who worked on marketing their own properties, were happy to be working together and excited about the possibilities.

"Any time you bring someone into town it benefits everybody," Buffi said.


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