Island CVB director sets sail for something new
After more than 13 years as executive director of the Convention and Visitors Bureau at South Padre Island, Dan Quandt is moving on.
The CVB is the city entity whose mission is to attract visitors to the Island through marketing, branding and advertising. Quandt, a native of Fargo, N.D., announced Jan. 5 he was stepping down, effective Jan. 6. Previously he served as director of CVBs in Grand Forks, N.D., and Lincoln, Neb. Quandt’s tenure at the Island was marked by economic ups and downs as well as two major calamities: the collapse of a span of the Queen Isabella Causeway on Sept. 15, 2001, and Hurricane Dolly, which struck the Island on July 23, 2008.
Quandt said those two experiences — which thrust him into the role of public spokesman where local and national media were concerned — were the most challenging of his tenure.
“I ended up learning more about high tide and all of the things we could do without a bridge than I ever wanted to know,” Quandt said of the causeway collapse, which killed eight people.
The causeway reopened after two months, though the physical effects of Hurricane Dolly have taken longer to repair. The Bahia Mar, a full-service hotel on the north end of South Padre Island that received heavy damage, is still closed. The SPI Beach Resort, formerly the Holiday Inn Sunspree, is still closed, though Schlitterbahn may have plans for it, according to a spokesman.
At any rate, 2007 was the Island’s biggest year on record and 2008 was shaping up to be even better, Quandt said. Then came Dolly. The loss of hotel rooms as a result of the storm took a toll on the CVB budget, funded largely by the by the Island’s hotel occupancy tax, he said.
“We lost roughly a third of our revenue,” Quandt said. “There were lots of hotels and condos that didn’t open for quite a while.”
Things still haven’t returned to pre-Dolly levels in terms of hotel occupancy, he noted. Compounding the effect of the hurricane was the recession, then violence in Mexico, then high gas prices, then red tide. And don’t forget Hurricane Alex, which appeared to be making a beeline for the Island just before the big July 4 weekend in 2010. It missed by more than 100 miles but still devastated the Island’s hotel receipts thanks to cancellations.
“It’s a constant kind of slamming in your face,” Quandt said. “It makes it tough for the Island to respond to that. The Island is an outdoors destination. When you’ve got problems with the outdoors, people go somewhere else.”
Still, he thinks 2012 will be the year the Island closes the gap and the hotel occupancy rate returns to pre-Dolly levels. Quandt said the highlight of his career with the CVB was working with the staff, whom he called “true professionals” and “dedicated public servants.”
After more than 13 years, it’s time to try something else, he said. Quandt admitted he’s not sure what comes next career-wise, though it will probably be in public relations or some similar field. In addition to his CVB experience, Quandt has a degree in broadcast journalism and four-plus years in TV news.
“I’m not going to be become a farmer,” he said. “You’ve got to go with your strengths.”
