Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation to operate Visit Cape starting at the end of June 30

The City of Cape Girardeau has negotiated the terms of its contract with the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce to operate the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau/Visit Cape.

The Parks and Recreation Department will now operate the bureau starting at the end of the fiscal year, June 30. According to a letter from the Chamber of Commerce, the chamber held its contract with the city for the last seven and a half years.

“The Cape Chamber has employed staff and provided administration and oversight for the promotion and growth of tourism in our community,” the letter stated.

The letter also stated that the growth in revenue in the Transient Guest Tax fund was a “primary metric” for the evaluation of Visit Cape’s performance. According to the chamber, “the total tax collected increased by $314,236 between the fiscal years 2017 and 2023” and reflects a 42.59% increase in annual generated in the last seven years.

The letter signed off by board chair Alex Ogburn and president Rob Gilligan stated the city was able to collect and retain more than $540,000 in additional revenue above their projected budget goals in the seven years.

The chamber's board of directors approved a plan to conduct a strategic planning process for the Visit Cape organization, according to the letter. The chamber made the following suggestions to the city regarding Visit Cape:

“I. Creating of a Tourism Advisory Board to guarantee participation from the largest stakeholders of the transient guest tax and empowering the newly expanded board with more direct oversight and guidance for operations to mirror other successful mission-based organizations in our community. II. Establishing guidelines for the allocation and use of transient guest tax dollars providing a structured process for review and approval of allocating funds under the revised and expanded Tourism Advisory Board. III. Invest resources to engage with a Destination Marketing Agency to lead us through the strategic planning. This process would have broadly engaged local and regional stakeholders,” the letter stated.

The chamber stated they will still collaborate with the city of Cape Girardeau and Visit Cape along with stockholders and others to increase the number of visitors coming to the city.

Efforts to contact city manager Ken Haskin and Mayor Stacy Kinder for comment on Friday, May 10, were unsuccessful.