By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor

This week the Tourism Committee of the Economic Development Board goes digital.

Committee members will hear a review of the VisitBenicia.org website and offer comments and suggestions to keep the site current, correct and creative, acting Economic Development Manager Mario Giuliani said.

The website has been up since 2009-10, he said, and along with a Facebook page and a Twitter account helps interested visitors — and locals — keep abreast of updates and goings-on.

Among the big goings-on with which the committee is concerned, Sunset Celebration Weekend is just a few weeks away, and discussion of that showcase event will comprise another big chunk of Thursday’s meeting.

The city was featured in the June 2011 issue of the regional periodical, and that year Benicia was invited to the magazine’s annual weekend event in Menlo Park for the first time. This will be the second year the city participates in setting up a booth and “selling” Benicia to a large prospective regional audience.

The event is June 2-3, and the Sunset Celebration Weekend subcommittee will give an update on preparations.

In other matters, the committee also will hear a status update on the Visit Benicia Spring 2012 contest.

The contest offers visitors a chance to win prizes, with an added incentive for city merchants: If the winning form is filled out at their place of business, they win, too.

“Hopefully we’ll get some feedback. It has to resonate with the merchants,” Giuliani said. “They really have to go out and push it.”

In-progress tour coordination will also get a hearing Thursday. Among the topics: better communication with bus tour companies that have brought groups into Benicia in the past, as well as the establishment of special tour packages.

“The idea behind the Tours Committee is that they’re packaging different types of visits, visitor itineraries,” Giuliani said.

If, for example, a visitor wanted to spend the day exploring only the historical aspects of the city, a list of things to explore would be available, he said.

Pat Ryll also will give an update on the upcoming Art Walk, a tour of downtown galleries that begins June 9 and is slated to take place every second Saturday through the end of 2012.

If You Go
The Tourism Committee of the Economic Development Board meets Thursday at 8:45 a.m. at the Benicia Community Center, 370 East L St.

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