(Bel Air, MD) – - Harford County will host the 2013 and 2014 U. S. Youth Soccer Region I championship. The national tournament will be held at the Cedar Lane Regional Park.
“This is a major achievement for the people of Harford County,” stated Harford County Executive David R. Craig. “The soccer tournament should bring thousands of visitors to Harford County and more than $20 million dollars in revenue to the area during the two-years the tournament will be hosted at Cedar Lane Park,” the county executive remarked.
The Harford County Office of Economic Development has been working with Terry Hasseltine, director of the Maryland sports marketing office, in an effort to help further develop sports marketing and tourism initiatives for Harford County. Harford County Office of Tourism manager Wini Roche will work with Hasseltine and the soccer tournament officials to help ensure the players and families have a ...Continue Reading
Annapolis, MD—The Maryland Tourism Council and Maryland Destination Marketing Organizations have organized Tourism Day, Friday, Feb. 5 in Annapolis to connect tourism professionals with their elected officials in the legislature to heighten the awareness of tourism’s economic impact in the State and to ask for full funding of the $6 million mandate for the Maryland Tourism Development Board to market the State’s tourism products, services, and industry.
The Maryland Office of Tourism is responsible for marketing the State’s many tourism assets and building the State’s visibility as a desirable tourism and meeting destination and for the last year has operated on a budget of just $2.7 million, the lowest marketing budget since the early 1980’s. Maryland not only competes with surrounding states for tourism and travel dollars but tourism within Maryland is a significant job and revenue provider which is challenged when there are not sufficient funds ...Continue Reading
I am introducing HB 669, a hotel tax for Harford County. We are the only county in Maryland without this vital tax stream. Each year the county loses tax revenues not paid for by Harford Countians but usually paid for by those living outside of Harford County.
The following chart shows the amount of tax dollars we lose each year:
At present, we have over 2,750 hotel/motel rooms available in Harford County. In the next two years, over 300 additional rooms will come on board. With easy access to I95, Aberdeen Proving Ground and BRAC, Ripkin Stadium and other tourist attractions, Harford County is a hotel magnet.
Loss revenues due to the lack of a hotel tax, can be used to address:
(Bel Air, MD) – - The Bel Air Armory was the host for nearly 80 tourism business leaders who gathered September 21 for the third annual Tourism Marketing Network Breakfast. The event was sponsored by the Harford County Office of Economic Development, Office of Tourism.
Harford County Executive David R. Craig provided opening remarks for the group and took time to proclaim “Super Heroes Day” in Bel Air on Saturday, September 26, 2009 as a means of helping to heighten the awareness of childhood cancer. Buontempo Brothers manager David Anderson was on hand to receive the county proclamation.
Shannon Rogers of Web.Advantage of Havre de Grace gave a presentation regarding the cost effective ways businesses can promote tourism thorough sites such as Twitter and video blogging.
The Harford County Office of Tourism has recently gained momentum in its marketing efforts with the launch of “Where’s Wini” a video blog or ...Continue Reading
During its Monday night work session, the Aberdeen City Council discussed what its legislative priorities would be for the Harford County delegation to seek in Annapolis this upcoming General Assembly session.
Those legislative priorities (the proverbial ‘bacon’ the Aberdeen mayor and city council would like to see the delegation bring home) included: “Municipal Revenue Source Protection,” “Support for Water Project” and “Hotel Tax/Tourism.”
There’s no denying Aberdeen has some water problems and could use a room fee to help offset the continually Ripken Stadium losses, but are there other issues the city should have prioritized?
We all remember the curious fate of the Hotel Tax last year, so out of Aberdeen’s three priorities this year, which do you think has the greatest chance of success in Annapolis?
Aberdeen Mayor and Council Work Session
November 17, 2008
4:30 PM
(Bel Air, MD) Harford County Tourism and Marketing Manager, Wini Roche, attended the Travel, Events and Management in Sports (TEAMS) Annual Conference and Expo held in Pittsburgh, PA at the end of October. Ms. Roche joined other tourism leaders from around the state to promote Harford County and Maryland to the national sports travel industry.
“Harford County can compete on a national level when it comes to sports” stated Ms. Roche “World class golf courses, Ripken Stadium, and the new Cedar Lane Sports Complex are attracting major events to our area which is big business for our local tourism industry”.
The new Sports Marketing Director for Maryland, Terry Hasseltine, led the Maryland team during the TEAMS Conference.
“The TEAMS Conference and Expo was a huge success for all our Maryland partners who were in attendance”, Stated Mr. Hasseltine. “Seven counties were present and met ...Continue Reading
