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Bend Resident

Member since Jul 20, 2016

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Posted by:

Bend Resident on 07/20/2016 at 6:00 PM

Re: “Too Many Tourists?”

Visit Bend is a major recipient of TRT funds and spends well over a million each year to attract even more tourists to Bend. In fact this year they are expected to enjoy (and spend) a TRT bonus bump of over 500K.

The City has a contract with Visit Bend that guarantees these funds each year - free money - YOUR money. The City has failed repeatedly to recognise that social media now plays the majority role in attracting visitors to Bend. Social media sites like Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram now drive trusted organic traffic with a global reach the hundreds of thousands of wasted TRT Visit Bend funds could never hope to touch.

Is this a smart use of taxpayer funds?

Should Visit Bend take a leadership role and scale back operations while the economy is booming?

That's a question for Visit Bends new CEO and right now Kevney Dugan is showing no signs of taking up that leadership challenge...after all when the City guarantees you free money each year plus a 500K bonus bump why would you want to accept anything less?