Palm Springs Mulls Cuts, Could Spare Tourism

PALM SPRINGS – The Palm Springs Bureau of Tourism are looking to trim $300,000 from next year’s budget. They presented the cuts to the City Council Wednesday, but the council wants to find a way to keep the bureau fully funded.

“[We’ll need to] identify what might be a valuable program and bring that back…They want to hear about it and if they can find a way to fund it, then they will certainly try and do that,” says Jim Dunn of the Bureau of Tourism.

The city has made special execptions in the past. They gave an extra $100,000 to the bureau shortly after September 11th to attract people who could drive to Palm Springs in a time when people feared flying. And they hope to attract similar commuters, now, during these tough times.

“They understand how it integrates into the whole community and they want to support that and they understand this is a way to do that,” says Dunn.

The bureau brings in millions of dollars into the city. Another source of revenue the city could cut is special events. They’re toying with the idea of eliminating all events except the Festival of Lights and the Palm Springs International Film Festival. Cuts force departments around the city to get creative. The Bureau of Tourism has tapped into social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. It worked from Spring Break, and they hope tough times won’t keep others from visiting.

“People can only feel that way for so long before they feel like they need a break,” says Dunn. “And so what we want to do is kinda send the message out there that we’re close, we’re a value destination, it’s not hugely expensive.”