A week after reports of a $350,000 re-branding campaign by the Carlsbad Tourism Business Improvement District surfaced, the Director of Carlsbad’s Convention and Visitors Bureau, Kurt Burkhart has announced that he is leaving Carlsbadistan to take a job in his home state of Virginia, according to a Barbara Henry story in the North County Times.
I don’t think there’s anybody that could put their heart and soul in (to the job) like Kurt did,” bureau board Chairwoman Nancy Nayudu as she discussed the many tourism-related boards and commissions that Burkhart has served on in his eight years as the bureau’s leader.
We’d say we were going to miss Kurt, but we’ve never really noticed anything he or the Convention and Visitor Bureau has ever done.
[Link: North County Times]
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Kurt did plenty! He just wasn’t a publicity hog like so many so-called leaders in Carlsbad. Everytime we tried to give him public kudos he shied away from them. He will be sorely missed in this town. It’s sad that only his departure will show what a great community leader he has been.
What’s missing in comments here is the fact that the bureau is the only organization who’s job it is to promote Carlsbad throughout the country. The city brings in some 14 million dollars in TOT from visitors and the bureau does a great job getting the word out to potential visitors that our beach city is the one to visit – instead of the hundreds of other beautiful southern CA beach cities. The bureau worked to get ads placed in the best publications that it could afford in order to promote Carlsbad and to bring travel journalists to town so they could write about the city which keeps Carlsbad’s name in the mind of visitors. Take a look at the Visitors Guide, this is sent to thousands of people who want to know more about Carlsbad, http://www.visitcarlsbad is a great site with plenty of information to help people find out about the city. The bureau operates a visitors center that provides valuable assistance to people coming to town who want to know where to eat, where to shop, where to play and where to stay. Show me anyone in town who does that job! The local community has plenty of leaders and Mr. Burkhart was a member of several civic and community organizations. I’ve heard it’s better to work as a group instead of going for individual glory.
So, if you have not heard anything about what Mr. Burkhart has done, at least now you know something of what he and his staff has accomplished.