1. Brigantine City Council abolished Tourist & Business Development Commission.
First off, most Brigantiners never knew this commission existed. With the Summer of 2013 almost here, can someone explain why NOW was a good time to ditch a much needed expertise for our island economy? Not sure who came up with the bright idea to have this commission abolished, but we can take a few good guesses. We also wonder why the local newspapers didn’t dig deeper into this insane action. Please forgive us if a brand new, super spectacular committee is now handling tourism & marketing for the City of Brigantine.
Committee = no one specifically is responsible = massive fail. READ: Brigantine Tourist Committee
2. Does Brigantine smartly leverage awesome beach for revenue?
The city expects both beach tag sales and 4×4 permit sales to drop this year. Why would they think or even say that? Giving up so soon? Whatever consultant, committee member or sooth-sayer said that…. should be immediately branded with a giant red X on their forehead. Stay away from this person. They’re bad for Brigantine business. READ MORE HERE
3. Brigantine’s golf course; cryptic and poorly branded / named ‘The Links’.
The Brigantine Golf Course had a 2012 operating deficit of $42,980. Some say that’s a result of the economic downturn. We say it’s due to the fact that no one knows what the heck “The Links” is. Even if visitors finally figured out that the ‘The Links at Brigantine’ was a golf course, they would need search dogs and a military grade GPS tracking device to find the place.
Do ‘outsiders’ know that ‘The Links’ can cater affairs up to 125 people? Yup. Weddings, parties and other events can be hosted there. That’s revenue being left on the table when marketing of ‘The Links’ is virtually non-existent. Placing an poorly designed ad in the local newspaper is not helping one of Brigantine’s greatest under-utilized assets. Quick! Somebody form a committee to solve this problem.
4. Wages and salaries equal approximately 63 percent of the municipal budget. What more can you say?
5. Why do we highlight insects? Funny, we never see Atlantic City celebrate their high murder & crime rate. We never see Ocean City promote their claustrophobic placement of one home on top of another. We also never witnessed Wildwood remind tourists of their crazy-wide beaches that need trams to get folks to the water.
These shore communities know they have issues, but they prefer to focus on the positive.
Funny thing about Brigantine: we think it’s cool to call our sports teams – ‘The Greenheads’. We think it’s a hoot to decorate our 4×4’s like a bug. Some love being photographed about the occasional bug bite.
Some have suggested that a small handful of Brigantiners actively discourage tourism. Hmmmmmm……
At last year’s 4×4 beach event, the Brigantine Chamber of Commerce seemed to be supportive of allowing vehicles to be decorated in themes that celebrated bugs and dumping on 2nd home owners.
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I too was shocked when I heard the Council approve this move at the 3/6/13 meeting.
I agree with the writer that voiced concern…. BRIGANTINE could be reaping major financial benefits from BIG sponsors for the triathlon, and many other events. These events, bring in major sponsors that pay good money to advertise their companies. MARKETING is the key. BTW- you cannot leave a response on this article #1 so I copied and pasted…
1. Brigantine City Council Abolished Tourist & Business Development Commission.
First off, most Brigantiners never knew this commission existed. With the Summer of 2013 almost here, can someone explain why NOW was a good time to ditch a much needed expertise for our island economy? Not sure who’s the bigger pinhead, those that voted to have this commission abolished, or those that ignored this insane action. Please forgive us if a brand new, super spectacular committee is now handling tourism & marketing for the City of Brigantine.
Committees = no one is responsible = massive fail.
5. Why do we highlight insects? Funny. We never see Atlantic City celebrate their high murder & crime rate. We never see Ocean City promote their claustrophobic placement of one home on top of another. We also never witnessed Wildwood remind tourists of their crazy-wide beaches that need trams to get folks to the water. These shore communities know they have issues, but they prefer to focus on the positive.
Funny thing about Brigantine: we think it’s cool to call our sports teams – ‘The Greenheads’. We think it’s a hoot to decorate our 4×4′s like a bug. Some love being photographed about the occasional bug bite.
Some have suggested that a small handful of Brigantiners actively discourage tourism. Hmmmmmm……
I particularly dislike the vehicle with the “shoobie” (as the ignorant call the people paying the bills). Nothing like killing the hand that feeds you. The name is no longer relevant. Calling groups of people names is just ignorant. If it wasn’t soooo ignorant the 70%ers could certainly come up with some great names for those using this reference. It is only a small number of the Full-time residents that have this “low-class” mentality. It’s a shame on them….
Brig should capitalize on the Greenheads hatching . Have a “Greenhead Days Festival” weekend when they hatch in July . Have a Greenhead art and poetry contest , a Greenhead parade , a Greenhead weigh in contest for the biggest greenhead caught , a Greenhead beauty pagent , Greenhead skits , etc . Make it festive and artsy and it will draw lots of tourists .
I was laughed out of a city council meeting 30 years ago for those same suggestions Augie. I used the success of the frog jumping contest in California as an example of how tourist respond to off the wall events. Those in charge have always been so short sighted. I have a hundred ideas how Brigantine tourism could explode starting with elimination of the beach badges entirely.
Let me know about the new super spectacular committee for tourism…. I may be willing to assist you if there is a place for me.
All good points. I have a second home in brigantine and have been vacationing here for 45 years. Do you know what I tell people? You come over the bridge and stress goes away. Drive into ocean city. Traffic stress lines. I feel safe in brigantine and I can ride my bike without feeling I doing to be run over.
Brigantine has a major volleyball tournament early in the summer, I am always surprised that I never see any advertisments about it. It still draws a big crowd though. Imagine if it was marketed properly.