Q & A with Coronado Tourism Improvement District Director Todd Little

In 2010 the Coronado City Council unanimously approved the formation of the Coronado Tourism Improvement District (CTID).

The CTID is a nine-member board made up of the four largest hotels in town (, , the  and the ), a representative from MainStreet, the Coronado Historical Association, the and two at-large representatives from the business community. The two at-large members, Mary Ann Berta and David Spatafore, are also Coronado residents. 

The mission of the CTID is to boost tourism and put more feet on the street and in the stores, which ultimately enhances the City's coffers.

The approval of the CTID also required hiring an executive director to manage the district's day-to-day operations. The board chose Todd Little, whose background is in marketing and includes time with the Big Bear Lake Resort Association and the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club. 

Little married a local girl, which is what brought him to the island. He now lives in Coronado with his wife and new baby.

Read on for a status update on the CTID and a primer on its goals.

Coronado Patch: Can you please tell me a little bit about your background and what brought you to this position? 

Todd Little: I’m very proud of my business background and believe it benefits our goals with the Coronado Tourism Improvement District. Through my career I’ve spent a great deal of time branding, marketing and promoting products, services and destinations.  Most recently, I worked with the Big Bear Lake Resort Association to better position it as a four-season destination (not just for winter activity). I led a team who worked closely with Snow Summit and Bear Mountain to bring more skiers/snowboarders to their resorts.

My background also includes work in media, nonprofit organizations and sports marketing. All of that pales in comparison to working and living in Coronado.

Patch: How are thing going so far? What has surprised you the most about this job?

Little: Our nine-person board has accomplished a great deal very quickly but knows there’s so much more to be done. In addition to creating a brand that benefits Coronado businesses, the CTID has invested wisely in marketing campaigns. These strategies come at no cost to businesses, residents or the City of Coronado. The funding comes from a .05 percent assessment on guests at the four CTID hotels (Hotel del Coronado, Loews Coronado Bay Resort, Glorietta Bay Inn and Marriott’s Coronado Island Resort).

In this economy it was important to do something. Hoping and wishing isn’t going to “move the needle” for our retail districts. The campaigns are designed to bring visitors from across the bridge and across the country. Our primary focus is the softer (slower) seasons such as fall and winter.

Patch: Is the CTID best described as a marketing tool or an economic development tool for Coronado?  

Little: The CTID shouldn’t be positioned as just a marketing agency. We have a responsibility to businesses and residents alike. Our primary goal is to effectively market Coronado to both overnight guests and day visitors, but we have also given over $10,000 in grants to community groups that improve tourism.

With each fiscal year it is my personal goal to have the CTID take on new initiatives that go beyond advertising and directly impact our community and city.

Patch: Little Italy’s success in many ways is connected to the mix of improvement districts they have. They have property-based business improvement districts and standard BIDs, among others. With governments in dire financial straights for the foreseeable future, do you see improvement districts as playing larger roles in local government? 

Little: For the CTID, we are very proud that we have not used city dollars to pay for our marketing strategies or administration. Perhaps our situation is unique, but we hope the CTID continues to be self-sufficient, thus creating less government. 

Our board is fiscally responsible, and if humanly possible, we plan on “paying our own way.” The best part is that we share our assets. Our efforts should improve business for businesses big and small.

Patch: I understand your board decided on a brand and slogan for Coronado. Can you share that with us here? 

Little: Our tagline is “A Bridge Away.” This was developed as the result of a SD ConVis research project. Of course, the Del and Coronado Bridge are what people first think of when asked about Coronado. “A Bridge Away” positions Coronado as a charming, magical destination that feels like a million miles away from “the everyday.” In reality, everything Coronado promises (fun, history, romance, etc.) starts with a journey across that 2-mile bridge. That’s why our branding subcommittee chose to include the bridge in both the logo and tagline.

Patch: The public deliberations on whether to form this district were long and thorough (in full disclosure, I sat on the committee). One of the questions that regularly came up was what will this branding campaign look like? Some folks were worried Coronado’s current brand as a historic, quaint Navy town may be replaced with an exclusivity element, like La Jolla or Rancho Santa Fe. Do you think Coronado residents will be satisfied with the outcome? 

Little: So far the response has been very positive because the CTID has worked very hard to reflect all of Coronado’s attributes in our campaigns. We have very carefully surrounded the Coronado logo with text and photos that profile the MANY great things we offer to tourists: incredible beaches, restaurants, history and recreation. The campaign is perfectly titled, “Where Main Street Meets Bare Feet.”

Patch: What is your relationship with the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau? 

Little: We are strategic partners. Working with them gives Coronado greater leverage within their already-established marketing platforms and relationships. Their work is producing results for our hotels and local businesses, especially with media and public relations. They are very bright, well researched and many of their team members have professional or personal ties to Coronado. 

Patch: Does the city benefit from the CTID? In other words, are tourists good for Coronado?  

Little: Everybody benefits. Whether you work, own property or live in Coronado.  Tourism keeps businesses open and saves jobs as well. Consistent tourism maintains that “quality of life” that Coronado residents enjoy, including an amazing array of restaurants and stores that could not survive without tourists.

More tourists mean more sales tax. That tax goes into the city’s general fund that pays for city services, which, in turn, pays for the quality of life we expect here. 
And if you own property or a home in Coronado, tourism keeps our city a desirable location for relocation. That maintains property values. 

Patch: How is your board preparing for the spring and summer tourist seasons?

Little: Our spring marketing campaign will include everything from radio spots to print ads to online banners to inserts in newspapers. Lots of variety, lots of economic impact, and there’s no cost to local business, residents or the city.

The CTID meets monthly to regularly evaluate opportunities for use to either improve overnight stays or build business in our retail districts. Among the topics we plan on discussing are how we can increase the grants we hope to give in spring. Last year we distributed $12,000, and I’m convinced our board will want to do even more in the next series of grants.

Patch: Your board appears to be evenly divided among the hotels, civic groups and community at-large members. However, the hotels are a minority. With the hotels ponying up the bulk of the cost for the CTID, do you foresee them getting frustrated and folding the district if two years from now they realize, between the at-large members and the civic groups, their interests are not being met? 

Little: A great deal of planning went into the creation of the CTID to establish a board that is well-balanced and the results benefit everyone, from a small business owner to the Hotel del Coronado. Our board members go beyond the call of their volunteer duty to represent all businesses equally. It’s important to point out that we also monitor our efforts, so each of the retail districts are promoted equally.

Patch: Coronado arguably has three business districts: 1) downtown (from the Del to the Village Theatre), 2) the corridor between First and Second streets, and 3) the Ferry Landing. Do you see marketing and benefiting all these areas as a challenge? For example, the Ferry Landing is a great spot, but a lot of its visitors don’t leave that campus and visit say, Costa Azul for a Margarita.

Little: The revenue of every tourism-based business is important to me, regardless of which district is theirs. In all of our marketing efforts, there is a concerted effort to spread the coverage, including important nonprofit organizations, such as Coronado MainStreet, Coronado Historical Association and the Chamber of Commerce. 

We are as passionate about the Coronado as we are about Orange Avenue.  The small businesses on the lesser-traveled streets and blocks mean a great deal to us.

Patch: Are you guys looking to attract Daycationers or Staycationers? 

Little: Both. Coronado’s primary feeder markets are Arizona, Texas and California. In short, we are concentrating our marketing efforts and budget within those states, fishing where the fish are. Perhaps someday there’ll be national campaigns, but right now we are being fiscally responsible by advertising in areas that are most likely to deliver tourists to Coronado.

Patch: Traffic in Coronado is always a hot topic, and many residents have expressed concern with the major increase in cars on the roads these days. Won’t the CTID be furthering the traffic problem by pulling in more people into the city? 

Little: The bulk of our marketing efforts focus on improving tourism during the slow, off-season months between Labor Day and Memorial Day. In order for the city to thrive, we still do need a strong summer tourist season, but the CTID is positioning Coronado as a four-season destination that could actually lessen summer traffic by encouraging visits during the shoulder seasons.