The Village of Pleasant Prairie will end its relationship with the Kenosha Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and create its own tourism bureau by Jan. 1.
The village, which approved the move this week, will use the room tax from its hotel and motel rooms to pay for the new non-profit Pleasant Prairie Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Pleasant Prairie currently has five hotels. A sixth, a four-story, 108-room Fairfield Inn and Suites was approved Monday. It will be built just north of the Pleasant Prairie Premium Outlets.
State law allows an 8 percent hotel tax of the gross receipts collected by lodging facilities. Of those hotel tax revenues, 90 percent must go to a sanctioned, nonprofit, convention and visitor’s bureau to be used to promote travel and tourism.
Pleasant Prairie’s hotel tax revenue currently goes to the Kenosha Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. The village anticipates it will collect $563,703 for the Kenosha Area CVB in 2017.
Last year, the village sent $520,868 to the Kenosha Area CVB.
“While the Village of Pleasant Prairie greatly appreciates the past support and efforts of the Kenosha Area Convention and Visitors Bureau in supporting Pleasant Prairie related events and businesses, the Village Board believes the village itself now has the capacity to promote its own amenities and businesses through the new PPCVB,” said a statement released Tuesday by the village.
Representatives from the Kenosha CVB could not immediately be reached for comment.
Pleasant Prairie representatives said the Kenosha Area CVB has done a great job with promotion, but over the past few years, the village has questioned if it is receiving the full benefit of the organization.
“(We’re) feeling that many Pleasant Prairie events, attractions and businesses were not getting the equal marketing support from the KACVB, thus reducing Pleasant Prairie’s visibility,” the statement released Tuesday said. “As a community with continued growth, the village believes it’s time to forge ahead with its own CVB to market, promote and showcase the village and its amenities.”
Those amenities include events at the RecPlex municipal recreation center, Premium Outlets and the businesses along Highway 50.
