Lorin Stewart

Talk about humble offices and lofty expectations. At a time when San Diego’s visitor business is slowing, Lorin Stewart steps in as the first executive director of the financially muscled San Diego Tourism Promotion Corp., a body slated to distribute millions of dollars to worthy hotel-room-filling causes and improve the situation.

As the corporation’s sole employee, Stewart works from a $600-a-month, windowless 850-square-foot office in Mission Valley. “We want to keep our expenses as low as possible,” he says, joking about the “beautiful picture on the wall” he bought. Fortunately, his nine bosses are executives of some of San Diego’s nicest hotels, so there’s always a nice place to meet.

Stewart’s supervisors also represent the 160 hotels that voted a 2 percent tax on themselves, chagrined pressing municipal needs were leaving only $8.8 million of the $161 million in bed tax dollars collected to fund San Diego’s main destination marketing agency. The result was the city-overseen San Diego Tourism Marketing District. Created last year, it took effect as a taxing agency in January with Stewart’s group officially being blessed by the City Council in April.

The tougher tourism situation already has reduced fees to be collected, with the city now projecting about $29 million as opposed to the nearly $32 million once expected.

ConVis, the region’s main marketing organization, benefits most, with its budget rising to more than $12 million. San Diego North ConVis will receive more than $2.4 million. Both organizations also can apply for additional funds. (The city put the $10.5 million it would have spent back into the general fund.)

Eight other organizations are guaranteed some initial payments in the contract with the city, which collects the funds, disbursing the dollars after bills are submitted. Additional groups also are expected to apply for the funding, and be required to prove they will bring visitors to San Diego. The application deadline is Oct. 24 with the results announced, after a series of public meetings, in late December or early January. Monitoring the resulting expenditures will be Jere Batten, an auditor and certified fraud examiner.

Stewart, who managed and grew Old Town Trolley over 19 years into a multi-state operation, took the job, convinced he could help stem the slide in visitors he was experiencing every day. “It is important for the hotel industry to take control and get the program back to where you don’t have to apologize for marketing the city,” he says.