Biz Buzz: Caregiver for disabled buying travel magazine

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• Options scraps magazine in favor of other fundraisers

  Options scraps magazine in favor of other fundraisers

  Local nonprofit organization Options Family of Services has ceased publishing the Central Coast franchise of TravelHost, a glossy travel publication distributed to San Luis Obispo County visitors through local hotels.

  That means the Central Coast edition of the magazine — which as of 2009 was placed in more than 5,500 rooms in 80 local hotels and was supported by more than 150 advertisers — is now defunct.

  The magazine, which is featured in cities across the country, started its local franchise in 2003. The rising cost of print had pushed previous publisher Ferris Ferdon to shut down operations in mid-2009.

• Savor a second time: Food-and-wine extravaganza returns to Central Coast

  Savor a second time: Food-and-wine extravaganza returns to Central Coast

  As San Luis Obispo County’s $1 billion tourism industry remains one of the main drivers of the local economy, organizers of Sunset Savor the Central Coast say the second annual four-day food-and-wine event is the most recent — and high-profile — attempt to increase awareness of the region.

  The event, which organizers say generated $1.7 million in tourist spending to the local economy in 2010, kicks off Thursday.

  “Visitors may choose to come to Savor, but the reality is they are probably spending dollars outside of Savor, too,” county Visitors & Conference Bureau executive

• Tourism holds strong in SLO County

  Tourism holds strong in SLO County

  Tourism, one of the county’s top economic drivers, fared well this past summer — a sign that it’s helping to lead the local economic recovery, experts said.

  Several cities — including San Luis Obispo, Pismo Beach, Paso Robles, Arroyo Grande and Morro Bay — reported year-over-year increases in transient occupancy tax revenues (bed taxes), which were welcome news to hoteliers.

  “Tourism is doing well and consumer spending overall has been coming back, and I don’t think San Luis Obispo County has been any exception,” said Jordan G. Levine, an economist and director of economic research for Beacon Economics, a Southern California-based forecasting firm that presents the county’s annual economic forecast.

• Letters to the Editor 9/5

  Letters to the Editor 9/5

  Giving it away

  Well, I see the current mayor and City Council majority in Morro Bay has decided we’re just too rich to accept fees from their friends, the builders and speculators. At the last meeting, the council voted to extend to three years the elimination of building fees, as though the builders really need the savings.

  If you check with most if not all cities in the county and the county itself, you’ll find their charge to builders to be somewhere between $15,000 and $20,000 to cover water and sewer buy-ins and other city services.

• No big bump expected in holiday hiring

  No big bump expected in holiday hiring

  As the holiday shopping season gets under way, some local retailers say they’re hiring seasonal workers — but not a lot.

  Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an outplacement consulting firm, predicts hiring nationwide will remain the same or slightly lower than last year’s 620,000 new hires.

  Locally, three major retailers with stores in San Luis Obispo County say they’ll hire seasonal workers though they declined to disclose the number here.