Palm Springs Will Promote New Look That’s in the Works

When the wind is howling in Chicago this winter, disc jockeys from three of the Windy City’s biggest radio stations will be broadcasting live from warm Palm Springs.

The sunny picture of Palm Springs these radio hosts will be paid to present may be a far cry from reality. The Palm Springs tourism heyday is a mirage. Many wealthy tourists now head to hipper resort towns--such as Palm Desert or even Los Cabos. And the recession is eroding the city’s tourism.

In an attempt to bring back tourists and bolster its image, Palm Springs is about to begin an aggressive, $1.5-million campaign aimed at recruiting tourists from outside California and creating an identity separate from nearby desert cities. As a first step, the city Thursday awarded its ad business to the Los Angeles agency Fotouhi Alonso Advertising.

But as far as Sonny Bono, the city’s high-profile mayor, is concerned, the upcoming marketing hoopla will promote a product that’s not quite there.

“Everybody is nervous, desperate and scrambling for immediate solutions,” Bono said. “But there is no immediate solution. We have to alter the product, and that’s going to take at least four years.”

Bono said Palm Springs needs two major resort hotels inside the city--such as a proposed $650-million resort under review. There is even a proposal for a golf course adjacent to the city’s downtown. Only projects such as these will attract major retailers, he said. “People want to be dazzled. We’ve got to buff up the town and bring it into the ‘90s.”

Bono knows firsthand how bad tourism in Palm Springs is. When he sold his namesake Italian restaurant four months ago, its business was down 50%, he said. But he said he sold it because he wanted to devote more time to his family and his job as mayor.

At the Palm Springs Marquis hotel, business has steadily declined since 1985, said the hotel’s comptroller, Robert Rycroft. With $50 per room midweek summer rates, “If we lower rates any more, we’ll be paying people to come here,” he said.

Indeed, the city’s 1991 room occupancy is at a painfully low 42%, said Murrell Foster, executive director of tourism. “That is unacceptably low,” Foster said. “We have to promote, promote, promote.”

Its new ad agency plans to do just that. In addition to the Chicago disc jockeys whose trip was arranged by Fotouhi Alonso, the agency’s upcoming ads will specifically promote the advantages of Palm Springs--such as its intimate hotels and village atmosphere, said Farida Fotouhi, agency president.

Marketing experts agree that the city must act now. “They clearly need to do an image overhaul,” said Lee Kovel, chairman of the Los Angeles office of Lord, Dentsu & Partners. “People don’t know what there is to do there other than play golf.”