SANTA CRUZ -- Local travel agent Scott Pinheiro finds himself competing with the Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce once again.

When the chamber announced an eight-day trip to Greece in March for $2,185 with Pacific Harbor Travel of Santa Cruz, Pinheiro figured he could come up with a deal just as good, if not better.

His company, Santa Cruz Travel, is offering a nine-day trip to Greece in April for $1,439.

"I got winter pricing for spring," Pinheiro said.

Airfare is not included as it is in the chamber offer. Pinheiro said he will arrange for a group discount on flights for the group, noting travelers often prefer flexibility to visit family, friends or other countries. The departure date is six weeks later than the chamber trip, when the weather turns sunnier, he said, and with the trip a day longer, the drives to visit historic sites are not as long.

"Travel companies need to get people in seats and in planes," Pinheiro said, citing the impact of the recession. "As far as value goes, this is the time to travel."

The U.S. Department of Commerce Friday issued a forecast predicting an 8 percent drop in international visitors to America this year, with an upswing in 2010. Travel by Americans to other countries was down 6 percent as of July 31.

What irks Pinheiro is seeing the chamber, of which he's a member and once served as president, undercut his business after telling the IRS its purpose is to advocate for and provide support

to the local business community.

He's not alone.

Bill Maloney, who heads the American Society of Travel Agents, posted a statement online in June saying, "The fact that chambers of commerce would be selling travel in direct competition with its members is an outrage. Chambers of commerce exist to help local members get more business, not to compete with them."

A majority of ASTA members have annual sales of under $2 million catering to leisure travelers. A member survey found 39 percent made a profit last year, down from 53 percent in 2007.

The Santa Cruz chamber got into group travel two years ago when Citslinc, a Southern California firm, proposed a nine-day trip for $1,499 to China in advance of the Beijing Olympics.

Bill Tysseling, the chamber's executive director, expected 200 people would sign up, but close to 900 went to China. Travel brought in $700,000 in revenue in 2007, a year when membership and special events tallied less than $250,000.

When Tysseling followed up with a tour to Eastern Europe arranged by a Fresno firm, Pinheiro countered with a cruise to the same destination for the same price, pulling in more travelers.

Tysseling contends he's responding to what the community wants.

"We used the survey of our 870 past chamber travelers to identify the features that seemed most interesting to them," he said, calling the trip with Pacific Harbor Travel "a first-class value that really matched just what they asked for."

Rick Hofstetter, president and chief executive officer of Lighthouse Bank, contends the chamber should not engage in business activities that compete with members.

"While I recognize the financial motive to do so may be appealing, it opens the classic Pandora's Box," Hofstetter wrote chamber president Pete Prindle a year ago. "What today is travel might be business insurance tomorrow, followed by employment recruiting services thereafter and so on."

If the chamber's viability requires competition with its own members, the organization "would best be disbanded," Hofstetter suggested.

He said Lighthouse Bank was a chamber member in 2008 but did not renew for 2009.