While California’s campgrounds continue to set new records for occupancy and revenue this year, other segments of California’s travel and tourism industry continue to struggle, which has prompted Dyana Kelley of CampCalNOW RV Park and Campground Alliance to join her colleagues on the board of directors of the California Travel Association (CalTravel) in advocating for increased state funding for tourism promotion.
“It’s the right thing for us to do because California’s camping and RV industries also benefit from the state’s marketing efforts,” said CampCalNOW President Kelley in a press release. She also serves on the California Travel Association’s government relations committee. “My involvement with CalTravel also helps raise the profile of the camping and RV segment of California’s travel and tourism business.”
The state’s Legislature has already given the thumbs up on $95 million in stimulus funding for tourism marketing. CalTravel is requesting another $45 million specifically for Visit California, the state’s tourism marketing arm.
Kelley, for her part, joined several other CalTravel representatives at meetings Friday, May 6, with Assemblyman Kevin Kiley, a Republican who represents Placer, Sacramento, and El Dorado Counties, and with Rob Olmstead, the chief of staff for State Senator Jim Nielsen of Red Bluff, who represents the northern San Joaquin Valley. The meetings took place in connection with CalTravel’s “Tourism Advocacy Day” in the offices that both Kiley and Nielsen maintain in Roseville, a Sacramento suburb.
“Normally, we would go to the Capitol to have these meetings. But because of COVID,” Kelley said, “we had the meetings in the representatives’ satellite offices.”
In addition to requesting Kiley and Nielsen’s support for an additional $45 million in tourism marketing funding for Visit California, Kelley and the CalTravel board encouraged state representatives to support new legislation, including Assembly Bill 2075 and Assembly Bill 2890.
Assembly Bill 2075 would create a State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, which would oversee and ensure consistency in electrical vehicle (EV) standards in California.
The bill would require the California Building Standards Commission, as part of each triennial California Building Standards Code rule-making cycle that commences on or after January 1, 2023, to host a workshop or other collaborative process on EV charging infrastructure standards. It would also require the Energy Commission, as part of its participation in the workshop or collaborative process, to incorporate the most recent update to a specified statewide assessment of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, any relevant electric load forecasts, and the statewide transportation electrification goals.
Meanwhile, Assembly Bill 2890 would clarify language used in defining property and business improvement districts, which generate revenue that can be used to promote and improve communities, including tourism destinations.
In addition to conducting legislative outreach, Kelley said CalTravel has quarterly board meetings, the next of which takes place July 13 in San Jose. Kelley said she would attend the meeting and use the occasion to discuss the growing economic impact of the outdoor hospitality segment of California’s travel and tourism business.
Featured image courtesy of Dyana Kelley.