Hotels ought to step up

Burbank may be the “media capital of the world,” but talks of creating a plan to market the city as a tourist destination is a bit reaching.

We do have Bob Hope Airport generating a steady supply of incoming travelers, but their destination typically falls outside this city’s boundaries, especially for leisure — Anaheim, Hollywood, Pasadena and the beaches all dominate in this category.

While it’s a noble idea to try and capture a piece of those tourist dollars, this is a plan that falls squarely with the hotels that would benefit most from its success. The only form of taxpayer assistance should be in the form of help from city officials. Beyond that, let the money for funding a marketing plan come from self assessments among the hoteliers and other stakeholders.

Burbank may have escaped the painful budget cutting seen in other cities, but we’d like to think that’s due somewhat to conservative spending policies. Everything should be done to nurture business development here, but there are times when the main beneficiaries need to throw down their own stakes.