BRANSON, Mo., February 4, 2014 – Truth in Branson TCED Tax Electioneering
Opinion by Gary J. Groman a.k.a. The Ole Seagull
Truth or Fiction?
In its totality, the following is the on line testimonial endorsing the re authorization of 1% Branson Tourism Community Enhancement District (TCED) Retail Sales Tax from Steve Critchfield, Commercial One Brokers and a board member of the Branson Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce & CVB (BLACVB), an organization that receives a $1.5 million dollars per year marketing contract from the proceeds of that tax said:
“Branson has moved from a little known leisure travel destination to a top tier and nationally known family vacation destination. This all happened since the passage of the tourism tax giving Branson the ability to compete in the national market for awareness and visitors.”
Let’s look at it sentence by sentence:
“Branson has moved from a little known leisure travel destination to a top tier and nationally known family vacation destination.” Obviously, a matter of personal opinion, but how do you think Branson stacks up as a “top tier and nationally known family and vacation destination?” Is it up there in the “top tier” with New York, Las Vegas, Orlando etc.? Click here for where it stands on one list of the Top 20 USA Vacation Spots. It is however, and has been for decades, a wonderful family vacation destination that the Ole Seagull vacationed at for ten years before moving to Branson 28 years ago.
“This all happened since the passage of the tourism tax giving Branson the ability to compete in the national market for awareness and visitors.” Some would say that Branson was a pretty a well-known tourist destination well prior to the TCED Retail Marketing Tax being passed in 2006. It had 7.330 million visitors in 2005, the year before the tax went into effect. After about 6 years and $40M of TCED Taxes being spent under the marketing partnership between the Branson Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce and CVB and TCED Branson had 7.337 million visitors in 2012. Does that indicate that “passage of the tax” and execution of the marketing purchased with the proceeds of that tax had much impact on Branson becoming “a top tier and nationally known family vacation destination?”
Truth or Fiction – What Do You Think?