June 11, 2007
Pushing Vacationland | A conversation with Patricia Eltman, the newly appointed director of the Maine Office of Tourism
By Whit Richardson
In late January, John Richardson, the new commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development, named Patricia Eltman as the new director of the Maine Office of Tourism. At the time, the appointment created a ballyhoo among opponents of Gov. John Baldacci's administration and was held up as cronyism at its worst: The South Portland native had never worked in tourism before, but she was a well-known face in the Legislature, where she had been chief of staff for former House Speakers John Martin and Elizabeth Mitchell, and for former House Majority Leader John Diamond. (For the past eight years she has worked as a lobbyist for Public Affairs Group, the Augusta-based government affairs wing of law firm Curtis Thaxter in Portland.)
But in her first four months on the job, Eltman believes she has proven herself capable of the task at hand and that most reservations about her lack of experience have faded away. For one, Eltman says she makes up for her lack of tourism experience with her ability to spark collaboration and accomplish tasks, which may be a reason Richardson gave her the job. Tourism is the state's bread and butter, but the tourism office has been shadowed by some bad press in the past ˆ such as former Director Dann Lewis's public tiff with Searsmont critic and blogger Lance Dutson ˆ that might have taken away from the tourism office's effectiveness.
To move the office forward and tackle the challenges facing the tourism industry, Eltman has spent her first few months traveling throughout the state, familiarizing herself with the issues and the industry. She already has embarked on some initiatives to organize and expand the presence of the state's largest industry, including a new tourism subcabinet recently created by Gov. John Baldacci. "The industry itself needs to be seen as the industry that it is," Eltman says. "They are the largest industry in the state so they surely should be feeling that way."
Mainebiz spoke with Eltman about her first few months on the job, the challenges facing the state's tourism industry and how to accommodate those hobbyists-cum-tourists ˆ bird watchers.
You've only been on the job four months, but in that time Gov. John Baldacci has established a tourism subcabinet. Did you have a role in that?
Yup, I did. I talked to the administration about it and the governor was very receptive and he thought it was a great idea.
We've had our first meeting and the first project we're going to work on together is a state-of-the-art pavilion for us to take to travel shows that we do throughout the country. Because when we go to these shows, we go ˆ the Office of Tourism ˆ and then Maine Fisheries and Wildlife, sometimes the Department of Conservation goes, and [Department of] Agriculture will go to the biggies. So now we'll have one state-of-the-art pavilion that the state can share.
See, the thing is, tourism is the number one economic engine in the state. [Former DECD Commissioner] Jack Cashman tells me in any given year it's 15% of the total economy of the state ˆ it's 176,000 jobs, and it's a $13 billion industry, so it made sense for us. You know we have an 11-to-one match to any advertising money we spend [on marketing Maine] ˆ it's amazing. It's an industry we need to grow and everybody is pumped up about it and excited, so that's good.
Why do you think you were picked to lead the Office of Tourism?
I have strengths. I can bring people together. I actually am from Maine and I worked in the Legislature for many years and I know how state government works. I've worked with the people in these other departments for years, they're my family, sort of ˆ [Department of Conservation Commissioner] Pat McGowan and [Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Commissioner] Danny Martin, I could just go on and on. When I worked in the Legislature they were legislators. So we grew up in the business, we're all friends. My strengths are probably bringing people together and getting things done.
How much experience do you have in tourism, and if not much do you find that a particular challenge?
I didn't have any experience in tourism. I was part-owner of a sporting camp in Portage, but I think I've just learned from people. I've always been a traveler and I've enjoyed that. I've done meetings all over the country and conventions ˆ I've actually put them on. I never felt that I was at a disadvantage because I didn't have experience in the industry. And I know there was some hesitancy at the beginning, but I think I proved that I can handle this job and do a good job at it.
The tourism office has received a fair amount of bad publicity in the past, from giving the state's advertising contract to an out-of-state firm to former Director Dann Lewis' public tiff with blogger Lance Dutson. Did you feel like a part of your job was crisis control?
No, I didn't. I just wanted to move the office forward and the industry forward. All the contracts are being looked at. I have about three or four [requests for proposals] out right now and I have the ˆ I don't want to say power ˆ but I have the right to call in contracts, even the three-year contracts that are in place. I have the right as director to renew them every year or call them in for review. And I've called them all in, but one, for review.
We're looking at everything with fresh eyes.
How about the big one? The advertising contract with New York-based Warren Kremer Paino?
That's going to be out to bid later this summer.
That was a three-year contract?
It was. It wasn't up. I reviewed it and want to advertise it.
What have you identified as main challenges that you are looking to take on?
The opportunities ˆ as I like to call them ˆ are that we need to expand our markets. Our market right now is southern New England, and I think in order to grow our tourism industry we have to look at emerging markets. I'm thinking the Midwest. We're so lucky; It would make me very sad to live where there's no ocean, so I want to be able to share with those Midwesterners the ocean. There's a lot of people out there and once you get them to Maine they always come back ˆ who wouldn't?
Nature-based tourism clearly needs to be looked at. We have to work on our product, there's no question about it. The whole tourism experience ˆ we have to look ahead with vision because things are changing, people are changing. I mean there's ecotourism, there's arts and cultural tourisms, there's culinary tourism to look at.
When talking about targeting these niche markets and expanding Maine's marketing reach, one of things that must be tying your hands is a lack of funds. Maine comparatively doesn't spend as much on marketing as other states, right?
We're 38th in the country [in marketing spending], or something like that ˆ we're pretty pathetic. But we use our dollars wisely. We're Mainers, you know how that is. The Yankee ingenuity helps us.
The way we're funded, we get five percent of the seven percent of the meals-and-lodging tax from the previous biennium, so next biennium we're supposed to get a little bit more money and we actually just had a legislative fight about the fact that [lawmakers] want to take a million dollars out of the increase. So we had a full-blown battle with the Legislature about leaving our money alone, and so far they have, God love them. But you know you're never safe, as they say, when the Legislature's in session. So we'll be looking at that and try to use some of that money wisely to expand our market.
When the money is tight, how do you go about expanding marketing without giving short shrift to tried-and-true markets like southern New England?
We have to look at what areas are saturated. We have to take a fresh look at the numbers. We have a lot of research that Longwoods [International in New York] does for us and we target our marketing with those numbers. We live in such a technological age that we have to look to the future and have some vision of how we're going to do our marketing.
Do you know what the number one leisure time activity is in the country? Bird watching. The second leisure time activity is gardening. Those are the niche markets we are talking about. There's a wild bird center in Yarmouth ˆ I haven't been there yet and I'm dying to go, but Sen. [Beth] Edmonds has told me about it. The gentleman who owns it, I guess, is just an awesome guy and he says he gets 25,000 hits on his website when there's been a rare bird sighting in the state.
So we're working on looking at having a bird trail in Maine because we don't have an official birding trail. That's a really big chunk of business there.
How are you finding out what people want from Maine tourism?
We mail out a quarter of a million Maine Invites You, which is our official travel guide, every year. We look exactly at where the requests are coming from. We have 1.2 million visits on our website every year and we look and see where they are coming from and what they're actually thinking about.
Xerox, the big mother Xerox company, is doing a pilot project ˆ they did something similar in British Columbia: When someone calls our call center for Maine Invites You, they're sent a map of Maine and asked what they want to focus on. Most people, when they go on vacation, usually want to go and do something like biking, hiking, canoeing. Of 30,000 people that request the Maine Invites You, we're going to send 15,000 out with just Maine Invites You and the map, and then we're going to send out 15,000 ˆ picked at random ˆ personalized brochures, which would say something like, 'Dear Whit, thanks for calling and here is all the information about hiking in the state.' So we're going to do more targeting by the activity.
Where do you stand on the proposed increase of the meals-and-lodging tax?
Well, we're against it. The administration is of course against an increase in the meals-and-lodging tax until it's part of a larger and more comprehensive tax reform package. So that's where we are with that. They've got to close the budget and then I think they'll be concentrating on tax reform.
We're headed into summertime and gas prices seem to be going up. How will that effect the tourism industry and is there anything the industry can do about it?
Well, I don't think there's much we could do about it. But I think historically the higher gas prices have not stopped travelers from coming to Maine. I think the tourists are smart and they count on their trips costing more and they plan accordingly. Now, I've got to tell you, if [Memorial Day] weekend was any indication we're going to have a great summer. The biggest threat we have is the weather. In this technological world we live in, people can check the weather in a second and change their travel plans rather quickly.
Gas prices are clearly an issue, but I think people plan accordingly, they need to enjoy themselves. And we're a drive-to destination. We've got a couple new airlines. AirTran is coming into the Portland Jetport next week and the Portland Jetport will have over 50% of their flights be discount flights. So you've got to think people may be flying more than driving.
But in her first four months on the job, Eltman believes she has proven herself capable of the task at hand and that most reservations about her lack of experience have faded away. For one, Eltman says she makes up for her lack of tourism experience with her ability to spark collaboration and accomplish tasks, which may be a reason Richardson gave her the job. Tourism is the state's bread and butter, but the tourism office has been shadowed by some bad press in the past ˆ such as former Director Dann Lewis's public tiff with Searsmont critic and blogger Lance Dutson ˆ that might have taken away from the tourism office's effectiveness.
To move the office forward and tackle the challenges facing the tourism industry, Eltman has spent her first few months traveling throughout the state, familiarizing herself with the issues and the industry. She already has embarked on some initiatives to organize and expand the presence of the state's largest industry, including a new tourism subcabinet recently created by Gov. John Baldacci. "The industry itself needs to be seen as the industry that it is," Eltman says. "They are the largest industry in the state so they surely should be feeling that way."
Mainebiz spoke with Eltman about her first few months on the job, the challenges facing the state's tourism industry and how to accommodate those hobbyists-cum-tourists ˆ bird watchers.
You've only been on the job four months, but in that time Gov. John Baldacci has established a tourism subcabinet. Did you have a role in that?
Yup, I did. I talked to the administration about it and the governor was very receptive and he thought it was a great idea.
We've had our first meeting and the first project we're going to work on together is a state-of-the-art pavilion for us to take to travel shows that we do throughout the country. Because when we go to these shows, we go ˆ the Office of Tourism ˆ and then Maine Fisheries and Wildlife, sometimes the Department of Conservation goes, and [Department of] Agriculture will go to the biggies. So now we'll have one state-of-the-art pavilion that the state can share.
See, the thing is, tourism is the number one economic engine in the state. [Former DECD Commissioner] Jack Cashman tells me in any given year it's 15% of the total economy of the state ˆ it's 176,000 jobs, and it's a $13 billion industry, so it made sense for us. You know we have an 11-to-one match to any advertising money we spend [on marketing Maine] ˆ it's amazing. It's an industry we need to grow and everybody is pumped up about it and excited, so that's good.
Why do you think you were picked to lead the Office of Tourism?
I have strengths. I can bring people together. I actually am from Maine and I worked in the Legislature for many years and I know how state government works. I've worked with the people in these other departments for years, they're my family, sort of ˆ [Department of Conservation Commissioner] Pat McGowan and [Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Commissioner] Danny Martin, I could just go on and on. When I worked in the Legislature they were legislators. So we grew up in the business, we're all friends. My strengths are probably bringing people together and getting things done.
How much experience do you have in tourism, and if not much do you find that a particular challenge?
I didn't have any experience in tourism. I was part-owner of a sporting camp in Portage, but I think I've just learned from people. I've always been a traveler and I've enjoyed that. I've done meetings all over the country and conventions ˆ I've actually put them on. I never felt that I was at a disadvantage because I didn't have experience in the industry. And I know there was some hesitancy at the beginning, but I think I proved that I can handle this job and do a good job at it.
The tourism office has received a fair amount of bad publicity in the past, from giving the state's advertising contract to an out-of-state firm to former Director Dann Lewis' public tiff with blogger Lance Dutson. Did you feel like a part of your job was crisis control?
No, I didn't. I just wanted to move the office forward and the industry forward. All the contracts are being looked at. I have about three or four [requests for proposals] out right now and I have the ˆ I don't want to say power ˆ but I have the right to call in contracts, even the three-year contracts that are in place. I have the right as director to renew them every year or call them in for review. And I've called them all in, but one, for review.
We're looking at everything with fresh eyes.
How about the big one? The advertising contract with New York-based Warren Kremer Paino?
That's going to be out to bid later this summer.
That was a three-year contract?
It was. It wasn't up. I reviewed it and want to advertise it.
What have you identified as main challenges that you are looking to take on?
The opportunities ˆ as I like to call them ˆ are that we need to expand our markets. Our market right now is southern New England, and I think in order to grow our tourism industry we have to look at emerging markets. I'm thinking the Midwest. We're so lucky; It would make me very sad to live where there's no ocean, so I want to be able to share with those Midwesterners the ocean. There's a lot of people out there and once you get them to Maine they always come back ˆ who wouldn't?
Nature-based tourism clearly needs to be looked at. We have to work on our product, there's no question about it. The whole tourism experience ˆ we have to look ahead with vision because things are changing, people are changing. I mean there's ecotourism, there's arts and cultural tourisms, there's culinary tourism to look at.
When talking about targeting these niche markets and expanding Maine's marketing reach, one of things that must be tying your hands is a lack of funds. Maine comparatively doesn't spend as much on marketing as other states, right?
We're 38th in the country [in marketing spending], or something like that ˆ we're pretty pathetic. But we use our dollars wisely. We're Mainers, you know how that is. The Yankee ingenuity helps us.
The way we're funded, we get five percent of the seven percent of the meals-and-lodging tax from the previous biennium, so next biennium we're supposed to get a little bit more money and we actually just had a legislative fight about the fact that [lawmakers] want to take a million dollars out of the increase. So we had a full-blown battle with the Legislature about leaving our money alone, and so far they have, God love them. But you know you're never safe, as they say, when the Legislature's in session. So we'll be looking at that and try to use some of that money wisely to expand our market.
When the money is tight, how do you go about expanding marketing without giving short shrift to tried-and-true markets like southern New England?
We have to look at what areas are saturated. We have to take a fresh look at the numbers. We have a lot of research that Longwoods [International in New York] does for us and we target our marketing with those numbers. We live in such a technological age that we have to look to the future and have some vision of how we're going to do our marketing.
Do you know what the number one leisure time activity is in the country? Bird watching. The second leisure time activity is gardening. Those are the niche markets we are talking about. There's a wild bird center in Yarmouth ˆ I haven't been there yet and I'm dying to go, but Sen. [Beth] Edmonds has told me about it. The gentleman who owns it, I guess, is just an awesome guy and he says he gets 25,000 hits on his website when there's been a rare bird sighting in the state.
So we're working on looking at having a bird trail in Maine because we don't have an official birding trail. That's a really big chunk of business there.
How are you finding out what people want from Maine tourism?
We mail out a quarter of a million Maine Invites You, which is our official travel guide, every year. We look exactly at where the requests are coming from. We have 1.2 million visits on our website every year and we look and see where they are coming from and what they're actually thinking about.
Xerox, the big mother Xerox company, is doing a pilot project ˆ they did something similar in British Columbia: When someone calls our call center for Maine Invites You, they're sent a map of Maine and asked what they want to focus on. Most people, when they go on vacation, usually want to go and do something like biking, hiking, canoeing. Of 30,000 people that request the Maine Invites You, we're going to send 15,000 out with just Maine Invites You and the map, and then we're going to send out 15,000 ˆ picked at random ˆ personalized brochures, which would say something like, 'Dear Whit, thanks for calling and here is all the information about hiking in the state.' So we're going to do more targeting by the activity.
Where do you stand on the proposed increase of the meals-and-lodging tax?
Well, we're against it. The administration is of course against an increase in the meals-and-lodging tax until it's part of a larger and more comprehensive tax reform package. So that's where we are with that. They've got to close the budget and then I think they'll be concentrating on tax reform.
We're headed into summertime and gas prices seem to be going up. How will that effect the tourism industry and is there anything the industry can do about it?
Well, I don't think there's much we could do about it. But I think historically the higher gas prices have not stopped travelers from coming to Maine. I think the tourists are smart and they count on their trips costing more and they plan accordingly. Now, I've got to tell you, if [Memorial Day] weekend was any indication we're going to have a great summer. The biggest threat we have is the weather. In this technological world we live in, people can check the weather in a second and change their travel plans rather quickly.
Gas prices are clearly an issue, but I think people plan accordingly, they need to enjoy themselves. And we're a drive-to destination. We've got a couple new airlines. AirTran is coming into the Portland Jetport next week and the Portland Jetport will have over 50% of their flights be discount flights. So you've got to think people may be flying more than driving.
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