The New Shoreham Tourism Council is funded by a portion of the hotel taxes collected on Block Island, but the exact percentage can vary according to the whims of those who make the state budgets each year. The uncertainty makes it hard to plan a budget on the local level, and Tourism Director Jessica Willi has been exploring alternative sources of funding that will be more reliable than a sometimes fickle state – especially with changes like having a new governor.
While Rhode Island’s newly sworn-in Governor Dan McKee hasn’t made any pronouncements on the matter, Council member John Cullen put it best when he said that in all the years of his serving on the Tourism Council there was a “constant fear.”
Willi arranged for a presentation by Tiffany Gallagher for the Council’s latest meeting on Tuesday, March 23. Gallagher is the eastern U.S. branch manager for Civitas Advisors, a legal and consulting firm out of Sacramento, CA. Gallagher works out of Syracuse, NY, where she has experience in hotel management and currently sits on the board of directors for the New York State Hospitality and Tourism Association.
Civitas specializes in the assistance of developing “tourism (or
