Frankenmuth

While many communities do have both a Chamber of Commerce and a Convention & Visitors Bureau, not all operate in such a unified way. It's been this way since the inception of each organization in Frankenmuth due to the inordinate amount of "working together" that happens throughout Frankenmuth. Collaboration has been a natural occurrence here long before it was a trend nationally. Chambers of Commerce are typically business networks and business advocacy groups. They were historically also referenced as a Board of Trade and sometimes are now referred to simply as "the Chamber." The Frankenmuth Chamber of Commerce was established back in 1906 as the Town Booming Association, then was called the Board of Trade, before eventually settling on Chamber of Commerce. The Frankenmuth forefathers were quite visionary even over 100 years ago. Chambers of Commerce are generally membership based organizations and the Frankenmuth Chamber currently has over 360 dues paying members. Convention & Visitors Bureaus, also known as "CVBs," support the local hospitality and tourism community with long-term development and marketing of a destination. They go by many different names across the country and internationally such as Visitor Bureau, Tourism Board, Tourism Authority and are also considered to be DMO's or Destination Marketing Organizations. Most CVBs are funded through various lodging taxes or assessments in the area, which is true for the Frankenmuth CVB as well. The Frankenmuth Chamber of Commerce and Convention & Visitors Bureau's mission is to "Promote Frankenmuth and the Prosperity of all Businesses in the Community through a Unified Organization." The organization is governed by a Board of Directors and led by professional business and marketing staff who execute an aggressive work plan with a full-time team of six. While the CVB is focused on using the most current technologies to market, advertise and tell the Frankenmuth story to potential visitors, the Chamber of Commerce stays focused on business networking, advocacy and educational events as well as working on community-wide collaborations to help address community needs and quality of life issues. Together, the organization provides many services to the visitors, their members and the community or residents at large. A complete list of programs, activities and marketing efforts can be found online by visiting frankenmuthchamber.org, selecting "Our Chamber" and viewing the 17-18 Annual Report publication. A few highlights are also called out on the right. The Frankenmuth Chamber and CVB is a resource for anyone reading this publication, whether you are seeking information on upcoming events, a business reference, connection to a local service club or any other random question. The staff at the Visitor Center gets hundreds of questions on some of the most obscure things related – and not related – to Frankenmuth, so don't hesitate to contact them if you need anything. If they do not have the answer, they will do some digging to help you find one! Members stop to chat while attending the cocktail reception at the 2019 Annual Meeting & Kickoff Dinner ANNUAL REPORT SNAPSHOT 200,000 V I S I T O R G U I D E S D I S T R I B U T E D 85,000 C O U P O N B O O K S G I V E N O U T 156,000 F O L L O W E R S O N S O C I A L M E D I A 1.38 Million S E S S I O N S O N F R A N K E N M U T H . O R G 364 M E M B E R S O F T H E C H A M B E R 105 C L U B / O R G A N I Z AT I O N M E M B E R S Over 20 N E T W O R K I N G E V E N T S H E L D F O R M E M B E R S P E R Y E A R 11,986 W E L C O M E PA C K E T S G I V E N T O G R O U P S & M E E T I N G S Voted Best Small CVB B Y M I C H I G A N M E E T I N G S + E V E N T S M A G A Z I N E Frankenmuth CVB advertises for the area on many different medias including Pandora Radio, TV Commercials, billboards on I-75, Facebook and Instagram, in popular magazines like Good Housekeeping and AAA Living, and with the well- known Pure Michigan campaign. 17

• Cover