By Mike Sunnucks | Rose Law Group Reporter
The town of Gilbert is looking to jumpstart its tourism promotion efforts.
The Gilbert Town Council is being asked to allocate $107,560 from its General Fund toward tourism promotion efforts.
The money is the same amount Gilbert is slated to receive its next allocation from Proposition 302 revenue. Proposition 302 are voter approved taxes on hotels and rental cars with revenue used to promote tourism.
Gilbert is slated to get $107,560 from the state via those taxes but the allocation will not happen until the town’s budget process has closed.
To get moving with tourism promotion, the council is being asked to give the Gilbert Office of Economic Development early. The General Fund will then be reimbursed when Gilbert gets its Prop. 302 money.
Gilbert has popular restaurants in its Heritage District as well as the 110-acre Riparian Preserve to promote. The town has previously focused on the local Phoenix market, Los Angeles, the Bay Area, Chicago, and Canadian markets.
The COVID-19 pandemic, closures of bars, and social distancing requirements at restaurants have impacted Gilbert’s popular restaurant row. Before COVID, Gilbert was looking at ways to diversify the Heritage District beyond restaurants and have more mixed-use developments.
The Gilbert Council will consider the early tourism money at its meeting today (August 25th).
