Orlando CVB, County Sign Contract

Ten years ago, the Orlando Convention & Visitors Bureau signed a two-page contract with Orange County to promote the area's appeal as a leisure and business destination.

This month, the ink is drying on a significantly longer contract between the CVB and county. It ensures more reporting practices from the private destination management organization that uses private and public funding.

"We are going to give quarterly reports to the county," said Danielle Courtenay, the CVB's senior vice president of global publicity and public affairs. The CVB already prepared the reports and presented them to the bureau's board.

"Unfortunately, there's been some issues with CVBs across the country," Courtenay said of the contractual changes. In the past year, Palm Beach County (Fla.) Convention & Visitors Bureau and Fresno (Calif.) Convention & Visitors Bureau both have had scandals involving financial mishandling. Courtenay said Orange County commissioners wanted to put oversight measures into place.

"It's something we expected," she added. "We think this makes good business sense."

The most significant reason for the change is the increase in bed tax funds that the bureau receives since the county increased taxes last year.

"We used to raise 52 percent of our budget (through private funds)," Courtenay said. Now, bed taxes make up the majority of the budget.

"We are going ... to be as transparent as possible without a competitive disadvantage," she added.

The commissioners approved the contract for five years and will vote whether to renew it for another five years in 2012.