Bad Image Blossoms In Wenatchee Recent Crimes Could Hurt Tourist Business, Some Say

Still reeling from last summer’s devastating fires, Chelan County tourism and Chamber of Commerce officials are fighting another kind of image problem after a series of high-profile crimes.

A child sex-abuse scandal and several shocking murders have gotten big play in the national media, culminating in a three-page article detailing the area’s travails in the May 8 edition of Newsweek magazine.

“We do feel like there has been an impact,” Wenatchee Chamber of Commerce President Melanie Shaw said Friday.

“I don’t know if it’s a conscious thing, where people are thinking, ‘I won’t go to Wenatchee.’ But it is an insidious thing that eats away and erodes confidence in an area.”

Telephone inquiries from prospective visitors have declined as much as 25 percent at the chamber office, she said.

Bookings are down 30 percent for out-of-town parade and festival officials planning to observe the annual Apple Blossom Festival this weekend, said manager Ron Gladney at the WestCoast Wenatchee Center Hotel.

He attributes the drop to recent negative publicity and says he was told some people are afraid to come to the city.

“When you are choosing ways to spend money and where you’re going to spend your time, you’re going to be drawn to a place with a pleasant image,” Shaw said.

“And we don’t have that right now.”

Tourism is an estimated $190 million-a-year business in Chelan County, with the bulk of activity coming in the warm months from May to October.

“It is very far-reaching,” Shaw said. “If you look at the dollars spent getting visitors, you may only get 15 seconds of someone’s time to get their attention. If it was a news blurb on crime here, that’s bad exposure.”

Businesses are still recovering from losses incurred during last summer’s fires, which wiped out about a month’s worth of sales and spawned false rumors that some favorite recreational spots had been destroyed.

Since the fires, more than $100,000 has been spent by the chamber and tourist-industry promoters to lure visitors back this spring and summer.

The current situation recalls the face-saving days after the fires, said Mark Urdahl, manager of the Port of Chelan County.

“Whenever there is a discussion of negative publicity, it has to have a negative impact,” he said.

The port plans to spend $145,000 this year promoting tourism.

Shaw said it is difficult to measure how much the sex scandals and murders have hurt Apple Blossom Festival attendance. Other factors, such as weather, also may be playing a role in the drop of hotel-motel occupancy levels and visitor inquiries.

Applarian Chancellor Jerry Trandum said there could be many reasons for the drop in attendance this year.

“It could be the economy. It could be politics. Who knows? It’s just an off year,” Trandum said. “But the bad press doesn’t help.”