Beckley, West Virginia— Visit Southern West Virginia has completed its consolidation of the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention and Visitors Bureau in a move to save money and to stop duplicating efforts.
Raleigh County Commissioners recently approved the merger, which will save money for both the county and the city of Beckley, where the Beckley-Raleigh County CVB is based.
Visit Southern West Virginia operates the Beckley-Raleigh County CVB, although the two organizations maintained separate boards and separate budgets. Some of the cost savings will come from no longer having separate insurance and separate accounting firms for the organizations, Visit Southern West Virginia Director Lisa Strader told commissioners.
However, changes will be minimal in the day-to-day operations. Visit Southern West Virginia employees will continue to run the Beckley-Raleigh County CVB as they did before the merger since the CVB did not have its own staff. The $100,000 that Visit Southern West Virginia receives from Raleigh County and Beckley’s lodging tax will continue to be earmarked for the two municipalities, just as they were pre-consolidation.
The board of the Beckley-Raleigh County CVB will become a marketing committee that will still have a role in Visit Southern West Virginia, according to a February 21 article in The Register-Herald.
Visit Southern West Virginia promotes eight other counties besides Raleigh County, including Mercer, Fayette, Greenbrier, Monroe, McDowell, Nicholas, Wyoming and Summers counties, according to the article.
For more information, visit visitwv.com.
