June 2015
www.cvbizjournal.com
JUNE
2015 VOL 10 • NUMBER 10
Business Journal CENTRAL VALLEY
1
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STOCKTON • TRACY • LODI • MANTECA • LATHROP • ESCALON • RIPON MERCED • LIVINGSTON
MODESTO • CERES • TURLOCK • OAKDALE • PATTERSON LOS BANOS • ATWATER
Tourism reaches a new high Green greens? Valley golf courses strategize to conserve water.
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Valley cities see higher revenue, more tourism jobs By PATRICIA REYNOLDS Business Journal writer preynolds@cvbizjournal.com
Hot career TV chefs make cooking look cool. Find out what it’s really like.
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Tech Top 5 How to keep data safe when you’re mobile.
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WHAT’S INSIDE Publisher’s Notes.............Page 2 On the Web.......................Page 4 Briefs......................Pages 42, 43 Legals.....................Pages 44, 46
STOCKTON — California’s tourism industry enjoyed an upswing during 2014 and the Central Valley contributed its part to the growth. Stanislaus, San Joaquin and Merced counties all experienced increased revenues, tax receipts and jobs resulting from travel to the region. “Tourism is increasing in our area. The Modesto market is poised to have its best year since about 2007, so before the recession,” said Jennifer Mullen, executive director of the Modesto Convention and Visitors Bureau. The economic recovery brought with it a resurgence in all travel including business, conventions, sporting events and leisure trips. The influx of visitors drove bookings for hotel rooms up enabling the area’s average daily
The Hilton Stockton said it saw an influx of business and leisure travelers in 2014.
rates for rooms to increase, a trend consistent with markets throughout the United States. “It’s a matter of demand that allows us to lift rates and allows all the hotels in the market to be able to lift their rates,”
said Hilton Stockton General Manager George Kaplanis. Making up for travel foregone during the economic downturn, corporations began booking meeting space and rooms again during 2014.
BUSINESS JOURNAL PHOTO
“As we come out of the recession companies are beginning to travel again and catch up on meeting their customers and also on training,” said Please see TOURISM Page 10
Water Board accepts farmers’ water cut offer SACRAMENTO — California farmers with some of the strongest water rights will voluntarily curtail their use by 25 percent under an agreement with the State Water Board. The farmers offered to make the cuts to avoid deeper, mandatory cuts. “This proposal helps Delta growers manage the risk of potentially deeper curtailment, while ensuring signifi-
cant water conservation efforts in this fourth year of drought,” said State Water Board Chair Felicia Marcus. Growers who participate in the program have two choices, the Water Board said. They can reduce water diversions under their riparian rights by 25 percent, or fallow 25 percent of their land. In both cases, the reductions would be from 2013 levels.
Riparian water rights holders who choose not to participate in the program may face enforcement of riparian curtailments later this year, though the Water Board said risk of curtailment would not be any greater than it would have been if the program were not approved. Farmers who wanted to participate in the program had until June 1 to submit their plans. The Water Board said it would
conduct spot checks throughout the growing season to confirm compliance. Agriculture came under fire earlier this spring when Gov. Jerry Brown called for mandatory water use cuts for Californians but exempted agriculture, even though farming accounts for 80 percent of human water use in the state. The state is in the fourth year of the driest period on record.
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