Economic and Tourism Development Strategic Plan Services

The vendor is required to provide economic and tourism development strategic plan services for include:
- Business attraction & competitiveness
• Conduct research to provide a data-based rationale for 3-5 priority sectors.
• Include relevant data summaries in the plan, including a comparison of county to peer counties to identify competitive advantages and gaps in business attraction.
• Based on the above, the vendor will propose relevant goals and action plans to support businesses' attraction and competitiveness as impacts these priority sectors, which may include recommendations for infrastructure, zoning, or permitting enhancements; prospect engagement strategies; and other business climate enhancements such as policy or process improvements that reduce friction for new businesses.
• Strategies and action plans should include reference, wherever possible and appropriate, to successful approaches from similar jurisdictions and should reference resources needed to accomplish recommended actions.
- Business retention & expansion (BRE)
• Assessment of current business and retention strategies, and identify challenges (e.g., workforce, permitting, infrastructure, etc.) in the current landscape.
• Based on prioritized gaps as identified from data and the assessment above, as well as stakeholder engagement, the vendor will propose relevant goals and action plans to support a strengthened BRE framework, examples of which may address local supply chain mapping, business visitation strategies, growth support for businesses, or means to improve county responsiveness and communications with businesses.
• Strategies and action plans should include reference, wherever possible and appropriate, to successful approaches from similar jurisdictions and should reference resources needed to accomplish recommended actions.
- Tourism development
• Identify and assess lodging, amenities, wayfinding, recreation, and visitor services as well as high-value visitor groups based on data and stakeholder engagement.
• Recommend relevant goals and action plans to further strengthen tourism in the area, examples of which may include strategies related to tailored marketing; development of new or enhanced attractions, events, trails, waterfront experiences, cultural offerings, etc.
• Strategies and action plans should include reference, wherever possible and appropriate, to successful approaches from similar jurisdictions and should reference resources needed to accomplish recommended actions.
- The plan should use these elements to inform the vision, mission, strategy, and action plans:
• Assessment of county’s identity and competitiveness
• Strategies to strengthen economic development practices
• Integration of existing studies and data
• Data from tourism impact studies (14 years), Esri data, USDA ag census, quarterly census of employment and wages, eastern shore business sentiment surveys, and light cast reports (available through economic and tourism development).