Officials Report OC Tourism Group Improving Synergy

OCEAN CITY – The Town of Ocean City’s new Tourism Group is looking forward to working together in turning ideas into reality this year.

Prior to last summer, the division of Special Events moved from the Recreation and Parks Department and joined the town’s new “Tourism Group.”

City Manager David Recor formed the Tourism Group, which is combined of Special Events, the Roland E. Powell Convention Center and the Tourism Department, to create better synergy.

Recreation and Parks Director Susan Petito recalled Special Events originally was the responsibility of the convention center director over 20 years ago.

At that time, the Town of Ocean City put on a few special events, such as Springfest and Sunfest operated by the convention center director, and Recreation and Parks operated independently but had initiated some of its own special events, such as Winterfest of Lights, Jamboree in the Park on 4th of July and a few concerts.

As convention center business and the number of special events grew, the town hired a special events director, which eventually led to the Special Events division joining the Recreation and Parks Department.

“To try to align the Tourism Group and have more synergy between Tourism and Special Events the thought was Special Events would relocate to the new Tourism Group, and relocate to the convention center where the Tourism Department, the convention center and Special Events would be housed in the same place and create this synergy,” Petito said.

Special Events Director Frank Miller officially joined the Tourism Group on May 1, although his office remains within the Recreation and Parks Department at Northside Park. There are plans for Special Events to relocate to the convention center early in the New Year.

“The idea has been tossed around for a number of years in putting Special Events back with Tourism. David Recor’s solution with the input from City Council was to create what he calls the Tourism Group, which is the convention center, the Tourism Department and Special Events, because in reality … convention center business and Special Events help drive tourism in times when we need it,” Miller said.

The Tourism Department drives destination marketing in an effort to increase the number of visitors in Ocean City during the summer season, while the convention center and Special Events focus on driving business to the resort during the shoulder seasons and winter months, which is the concept where Spingfest held in May and Sunfest held in September were derived, but now that Ocean City’s busy time has been extended some the summer season has come to encompass those events as well.

Miller recognized a physical move may not be necessary. However, it will help create the synergy Recor is seeking.

“It will create a lot more energy and opportunity to interact daily. The busyness of an office space gets in the way of communication if you are not face-to-face. Relocating to the convention center could really help us spark up some new ideas and push forward on new ideas faster,” Miller said.

Despite the actual move not taking place, Miller has noticed better opportunities on getting ideas off the drawing board. He pointed to OCtoberfest that started off as a private event but developed such a strong partnership with the Town of Ocean City the event has grown to include several different activities, such as a beach maze and a parade on the Boardwalk, therefore resulting in greater success.

“2015 will have a smaller promotional effort but it will grow to spawn actual events from concepts, so it definitely has streamlined the process from getting things off the table and into the public,” Miller said.