Marina del Rey : Tourist Promotions Sought

The Small Craft Harbor Commission agreed Wednesday to support an increase in the county’s hotel room tax from 10% to 12%, but only if the increased revenue is used to promote tourism at Marina del Rey.

The advisory commission acted after Marina del Rey’s largest leaseholder, Abraham M. Lurie, urged the panel to establish a three-year pilot program to promote the county-owned marina.

Lurie told the commission last month that his Marina Beach, Marina del Rey and Marina International hotels continue to suffer substantial losses because of low occupancy rates and a lack of promotion of the marina as a destination for travelers.

The commission’s recommendation will be forwarded to the county Board of Supervisors, which has already approved the hotel tax increase for all unincorporated areas, including Marina del Rey. It is uncertain whether the supervisors will agree to allocate the additional revenue raised at the marina to promote tourism there.

The tax increase is expected to generate an additional $600,000 a year once the new Ritz Carlton Hotel opens for business.

Lurie asked commissioners to support efforts to devote some of the existing hotel tax to advertise the marina. He complained that $600,000 would not be adequate. “It’s going to take a lot of money” to change “the image or lack of image of the marina,” Lurie said.

He argued that the county would benefit from an increase in rents on marina businesses and sales taxes.

But David Naftalin, attorney for the Marina Tenants Assn., objected to the plan, calling it a gift of public funds that will benefit private businesses. “We seem to have lost sight of the fact that the lessees are agents of the County of Los Angeles, operating as concessionaries on public property,” Naftalin wrote in a letter.