HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-12-19-TOUR2-minLexington Tourism Committee
Minutes of the meeting of
Wednesday, December 19, 2012 at 11:30 a.m.
Parker Room (G -15)
Members Present: Mary Jo Bohart, Bebe Fallick, Kerry Brandin, Trisha Kennealy, Dawn McKenna,
Denise Ricketts,
Staff: Masha Traber Center Committee Liaison: Fred Johnson
Guest: Rick Abrams
Absent: Lou Sideris, Jim Shaw
Updates
a. MOTT Tourism U on China 12/14
i. China is considering a direct flight to Boston.
ii. We want to make inroads to make sure we are prepared with Chinese
language materials and poise us to work with this market by having
someone from the Chinese community on the committee
iii. We need to find someone willing to translate our tour and that we have
paid guides— French and Spanish, Chinese
b. Meeting with Salem Tourism Sites 12/13 Pilgrims, Puritans and Patriots
i. The witch museum sees 200,000 people a year
ii. Destination Salem is funded with $187,000 drawn from tax levy and their
office are in City Hall. Businesses provide additional support.
c. Budget Presentation- a level service budget presented to BOS
d. Patriots Day Weekend —The Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps will be performing
on Monday afternoon; shared with Celebration Committee that we are willing to
publicize
e. Miscellaneous - an article from Boston Globe about Larry Meehan who worked
with the Greater Boston Tourism Board was shared. Tourists want much more
they want regional experiences; gave example of Marlborough bringing in people
to city because they can stay in a more affordable places. Christopher Bing is
working on A Christmas Carol. We are hoping to implement the Constant
Contact management of emails who want to be notified of events in Lexington
soon, per our prior vote.
2. Minutes Review and Approval
a. Upon motion made and seconded, the minutes of June 4 th and June 18 were
approved.
b. A draft of the minutes from October 30 were distributed for the committee to
review and approve at a subsequent meeting.
3. Antony Working Group
a. Antony Park Fundraising —have raised $20k of the $50k goal already
i. A French A Faire – February 10 discussed method of accepting credit
cards.
ii. Dinners –We are hoping to have 10, so far we have The Gamotas, March
23, the Nishimura/Kiernans Feb 23, The Brandins 3/30, the Cramptons
tbd, and Kennealy tbd. Help sought to find others willing to host.
iii. Direct Ask - Sending out a mailing when ready.
1625 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE • LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02420
b. Park Design- Having elements that represent the relationship; have determined
where flowers will be but not what they will be.
c. Upcoming meetings regarding Park
i. Design Advisory – January 2nd
ii. HDC – Dawn presented the Park to the Commission at their December
meeting. Their first impression was that not in keeping with site. They
asked about changing the location but told that it had been selected in
2010 and presented to the Antony mayor at that time. The architect will
present the project at the January 3 meeting for approval.
iii. The Selectmen will be asked to approve the design at their meeting on
January 7th
iv. Conservation Commission – tbd It does not appear to require approval
because of the steep grade between the wetlands and the Park.
4. Strategies and Funding Based on Vision and Mission Statement
a. We need to develop a policy on Trip Advisor ad and whether to set a charge for
businesses and organizations to use, as well as time limits.
b. Photographs to add to Trip Advisor – Kerry will work to update these
c. People Counter—We know that 1 million visit National Park; 100,000 voluntary
signed in at the Lexington Visitors Center. System distinguishes between adults
and children and reduces duplicates, there are other uses for a cable drop in the
Visitors Center. This would automatically upload data. The data it would
provide will be helpful in guiding policies and programs. Easily moved and
reinstalled. State is looking to collect data. This does not need an operator to
collect and distribute data; Carl has not yet been convinced there is a need. How
do we get him to sign off on this? Suggested that we obtain information from
other Visitor Centers to see how they are able to use the data.
5. Liberty Ride Operations and Marketing (10 minutes)
a. Sunday service to Alewife —Need to follow -up
b. Advertising
i. Boston Globe February 8th – 10
a) Large travel show—Silver Sponsorship —can run ad in any of the
travel magazine at any time during the year. Still have money
available. Decided that we should attend this year to get a sense
and then consider whether it makes sense next year.
6. Signage
a. Center Committee suggestions – Fred will get more information and bring it to
the meeting on January 8 We will also invite Jerry Michelson to attend.
b. Battle Green sign – have met with Christopher and has committed to get the
pictures done for this season.
c. HDC meeting on December 6 for three signs: Belfry Hill, Mass Ave at Visitors
Center, and Bikeway behind Visitors Center. They were generally supportive and
we will attend the January meeting with additional detail on size and wording for
approval.
7. Tourism Strategic Review
a. Visitor Center Programmatic Review – Upon motion duly made and seconded, it
was voted unanimously to request that the Selectmen place an article on the
warrant at the request of the Tourism Committee for the funding of the design
money for the Visitors Center.
b. Public input - We will be collecting information and will be updating the
programmatic report accordingly.
c. Some of the questions we need to answer are: Why can't we use the meeting
space at the Depot? Why do we need the 2nd story space? Why do we need to
sell merchandise for Tourist? Why do we need more space for merchandise?
8. Visitors Guide - this was deferred
9. Next meeting is January 8, 2013 at 11:30 am
Adjourned at approximately 1:55 pm
Respectfully submitted, Trisha Kennealy
Documents available at the meeting:
1. Committee Membership list 11.21.2012
2. Tourism Committee minutes 6.4.2012
3. Tourism Committee minutes 6.18.2012
4. 12.19.2012 Draft Tourism Committee minutes of the meeting of 10.30.2012
5. List of Friendship Dinners for Antony
6. Visitors Guide draft of 12.3.2012 9:30 pm