A new effort is under way down in Napa to pull together the county’s cities, including Calistoga, into a countywide “destination strategy” that would ramp up tourism promotion throughout the valley.

Upvalley business leaders are taking what one called a “cautiously optimistic” attitude toward the plan — pushed by the Napa Valley Conference and Visitors Bureau — until they know the particulars and how it might affect Calistoga.

Calistoga historically has resisted countywide tourism promotion programs, and often for good reason: This town is different. It has always been hard to prove — and may still be hard to prove — that Calistoga would benefit much from a broader marketing program that might focus disproportionately on high-end tourism.

Calistoga is the remaining town in the valley that hasn’t gone — or, in the case of Napa, is aggressively going — upscale. And that makes some business leaders here wonder how a countywide promotional program, presumably emphasizing the valley’s high-end attractions, could benefit Calistoga.

“The valley might get more bang for the buck,” a local business leader told us, “but would it work effectively for Calistoga? That’s the question.”

One of the impediments is the fact that Calistoga’s business community hasn’t yet reached a consensus on what direction it should take. Among the various views are two at the opposite ends of the spectrum: the status quo — quirky, old-fashioned and with an ambling pace — versus a radical transformation to upscale attractions.

The status quo seldom works in any situation because it represents isolation in a changing world. And a radical transformation could also have its drawbacks — making Calistoga too much like its neighbors, destroying what sets the town apart from its competitors. We’d prefer a more moderate, carefully conceived plan for sprucing up Calistoga’s business district but retaining its unique characteristics, perhaps with an expansion of its vaguely Western theme. Physical facilities — buildings, sidewalks, alleyways — need to be improved and some businesses need to upgrade their offerings, at least modestly, to align them with the higher-end accommodations that now exist or are on the way.

The campaign for a countywide marketing program will open on Friday, April 18 when representatives of the Napa Valley Conference and Visitors Bureau and the county’s incorporated cities meet for what is billed as “a three-hour strategy session.” City Manager Jim McCann and Bob Beck, chairman of the Chamber of Commerce board of directors, are scheduled to represent Calistoga.

David Turgeon, the Visitors Bureau’s interim executive director, said the representatives would be asked “to envision the rebirth of an effective Napa Valley Conference and Visitors Bureau.” The bureau will soon have a new executive director and will be asking the meeting representatives to decide how to execute its newly-completed Branding Project Strategic Plan. The meeting participants will also help decide the structure of the future organization, which Turgeon said could be like it is now, similar to how it is but “enhanced,” or entirely new.

Charles Henning, a member of the Conference and Visitors Bureau board of directors, said the bureau’s new leadership and new strategic plan are an opportunity for it to be “infinitely more reflective of the communities” in the valley. One way to do that, it seems to us, would be to broaden the representation on the board of directors. Calistoga has no business representation on the 12-member board although Henning, who is managing director of the Culinary Institute of America, lives in Calistoga.

Turgeon said that historically there has been a “disconnect” in the valley’s various marketing efforts, and the bureau hopes to close that gap. “In the past,” he said, “we haven’t done as good a job as we could have if we had reached out to the communities, and we’ve learned that lesson. That is the core of our new mission.”

The move to strengthen the valley’s marketing programs comes against a backdrop of modest gains in the tourism business and a wave of new lodging units that are due to come on line in the City of Napa. Occupancy rates still lag below their pre-2001 levels, and tourism leaders want to capitalize on the fact that overnight visitors on average spend 3.5 times as much as day visitors.

As the program is envisioned by people interviewed by The Weekly Calistogan, each city in the valley would continue a marketing program tailored to its specific needs, and any program run by the bureau would be an overlay. The advantages would be greater resources and increased communication and coordination, advocates say.

But a Calistoga business leader said that a workable countywide plan would have to include a mission statement for each of the valley’s cities, recognizing and promoting each community’s unique characteristics and attractions.

Would Calistoga fit in? Would it benefit from this regional marketing concept, or is it so different that it must do its own thing? The April 18 strategy session will offer some clues, but the answers won’t come until Calistoga decides what path to the future it wants to follow.

Print this story   |   Email this story | Browse today's articles in this category: |