Tourist visits here up in July

Talk about it

The number of tourists visiting the Buffalo City in July was up 15 percent from 2011, according to Nina Sneider, executive director of the Buffalo City Tourism Foundation.

“We’re good with our numbers right now,” Sneider said during BCTF Executive Board’s monthly meeting Friday.

Jamestown tourism’s future outlook is bright as well, according to board President Dave Smette.

“We’ve had a good summer already, but we’re looking at a few major events coming to town here in the future, which means more fantastic opportunities for Jamestown,” he said.

Smette pointed to events such as Sept. 27-29’s North Dakota Roughrider Association state rodeo finals and October’s Caravanserai Moroccan arts program as examples of such opportunities to attract more visitors.

Board Treasurer Scott Hare’s monthly report indicated the city’s total tax revenues for July and August are up more than $1,200 from the same time last year.

Friday’s meeting also heard from Linda Moehn from Schauer & Associates, which completed BCTF’s 2011 audit — something required of the foundation every three years.

The audit indicated BCTF was up about $79,000 in total support and revenue in 2011 from the budgeted amount of $420,000 to the actual amount of $499,000.

The majority of that increase came from lodging and restaurant taxes.

In other business, the board approved three grant requests:

*$6,000 to the Jamestown Fine Arts Association for promotion of October 2012 and April 2013’s Caravanserai program featuring art and artists from Morocco

*$1,395 to the Stutsman County Park Board’s Trail Builder Group for implementing signs along the new biking and hiking trails “Split Rock” and “Overlook”

*$7,500 for the advertising and promotion of the North Dakota Roughrider Association state rodeo finals on Sept. 27-29 at the Jamestown Civic Center

The next BCTF Executive Board meeting is at noon Sept. 21 on the second floor of the Csi Franklin School building.

Sun reporter Brian Willhide can be reached at 701-952-8454 or by email at bwillhide@jamestownsun.com

Tags: local news, news, tourism, travel, local