Organization hopes to bolster local tourism

Visit Yuba-sutter seeks public’s feedback on survey

Visit Yuba-sutter, a new organization aiming to bolster tourism, is seeking feedback on a survey as they ramp up efforts to showcase the area and attract visitors.

Last year, a local tourism business improvement district formed and began assessing a fee on overnight stays in Yubasutter. The money will be used for regional tourism efforts.

“The biggest thing, is that we see tourism, and tourism efforts, as an untapped resource in our area. We’re excited to have a dedicated funding source to attract more people,” said Darin Gale, spokesman for Yuba City. “It’s a really great opportunity getting the lodging partners involved to see what the best way is to allocate the funds.”

The Yuba-sutter Lodging Association is tasked with developing and maintaining an effort to increase visitor traffic to Yuba-sutter, said Briana Struckmeyer. The association is comprised of local lodging representatives.

She said it took 80 percent of the lodging entities in Yuba-sutter to agree to the assessment for it to take effect. There’s now an eight-person board comprised of six people who own or operate lodging facilities.

Gale said for the past several years, Yuba City has dedicated about $400,000 to attract people to the area.

“Originally, it started with the (Yuba-sutter) Chamber of Commerce, and we were successful in that and, now, the city of Yuba City is the lead on this new program,” Gale said.

Struckmeyer said it was uncommon for a chamber of commerce to also handle tourism efforts, and this new entity will focus solely on bringing people to the area to stay overnight – not organizing specific events.

“The (Yuba-sutter)

Chamber of Commerce and YSLA negotiated a deal to take over the Visit Yuba-sutter brand,” she said. “The goal of the district is to increase overnight stays, so a lot of the work we will be doing will be seen outside of the area.”

Lee Jones, owner of the Harkey House Bed & Breakfast and a board member, said they benefited from the financial investment made by Yuba

City.

She said the regular revenue through the lodging assessment will help many areas of the economy – not just hotels.

“Later, we plan on reaching out to the restaurants and other businesses,” she said. “Tourism has a positive impact on many areas of the economy because people need to fill up their gas tanks, eat food and visit other businesses in the area while they’re here.”

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