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HomeMy WebLinkAboutM080817Tourism Coordinating Council — Jefferson County Minutes of the Meeting of the Coordinating Council August 8, 2017 (DRAFT) The Aug 8, 2017 meeting of the Tourism Coordinating Council (TCC) for Jefferson CALL TO ORDER County, was called to order at 10:04am by Chair Bill Roney, noting a quorum present. Voting Members present were: Bill Roney, Debbie Wardrop, Cleone Telling, Aaron Terada, Joe Alfano, Crystie Kisler, Marsha Massey TCC friends present: County Commissioner Kathleen Kler, Christina Pivarnik, Lorna Mann • TCC Marketing Coordinator present: Steve Shively Minutes from previous meeting were reviewed. Chair Bill Roney, called for approval of TCC minutes from the meeting conducted on June 13, 2017. Motion APPROVAL OF to approve by Debbie Wardrop, seconded by Cleone Telling. Minutes MINUTES unanimously approved. Steve reviewed the TCC YTD July 2017 financials. Noting that Jefferson County Treasurer reports General Sales Tax topping YTD budget by 7.7%, and Lodging Tax again at record highs for the period, outperforming YTD 4 -year averages for the same time by 47.83% and current actual over 2017 budget by 27.4%. Steve shared his conversation with County Treasurer, Stacie Prada, regarding Lodging Tax and the "Community Marketplace" accommodations (i.e. Airbnb specifically and VRBO and Home Away to lesser degrees), in response to a city of Port Townsend inquiry. Despite Airbnb being merely an aggregator on behalf of the approximately 50 Jefferson County accommodations subscribing to their booking platform - and not a stand-alone business - the Treasurer will not share the value of their contribution to current JeffCo. Lodging Tax revenues since remittance began in December of 2015. Only to confirm that they are remitting. TCC members shared insights that WA Hospitality and state DMO's all agree that the Community Marketplace segment of accommodations needs to be watched. Kathleen shared news that the WA State Legislation is having explorational redirecting of lodging tax funding discussions. TCC's allocated spending for 2017 continues to be expended as anticipated against budgeted year-round campaigns. Motion to approve by Debbie Wardrop, seconded by Cleone Telling. July Financial report unanimously approved. Commissioner Kier echoed and agreed that the County and City of Port Townsend have had discussions related to lodgings growth and perceived impacts on housing inventory. This conversation is not unique to Jefferson County as growth management across the region is gathering to address the challenging intersection of raising housing costs and increased tourism activity. Jefferson BoCC is considering declaration of "housing emergency" in order to authorize "home opportunity fund" levy on future voter's ballot. APPROVAL OF TCC FINANCIALS COMMISSIONER'S UPDATE TCC discussed observations of Olympic Peninsula's hospitality and our cumulative less -than -ideal "welcome" as it has been impacted by increased Hood Canal bridge span openings and traffic impacts from Lavender Festival and other peak summer events. All agreed that improved traffic coordination is needed. Entitled visitor mentality clashing with finite capacity to host added guests have resulted in extra busy dining rooms —for those entrepreneurial enough to extend hours or be open on Mondays — and frustrated visitors traveling without advance moorage, campground, or room reservations. Kathleen noted that growth in marijuana tourism, i.e. "Bud & Breakfast" specialized lodging increases, yet WA State is retaining more tax revenues than County had been promised. This is being investigated. New Business Bill reported that TCC's representation to OPTC (Olympic Peninsula Tourism Commission) will be modified so that Bill Roney, TCC Chair, will be the sole signatory of any OPTC contracts in the future, and will vote with a single representative vote on behalf of TCC at OPTC. Debbie Wardrop is the alternative TCC voting representative to OPTC. This authority is consistent with TCC by-laws. Bill and Steve shared the rational which lead to recommending TCC approve a draft 2018 marketing budget to JeffCo LTAC of $150,000. An 11.11% increase over current 2017 allocations. Motion to approve recommended budget about made by Cleone Telling and seconded by Marsha Massey. Requested 2018 allocation amount unanimously approved Christina reported that WA legislation approved $500,000 for development of a WTA UPDATE marketing plan and issuance of an RFP seeking vendors to provide state-wide services. Elements of proposed state marketing plan is to provide economic impact analytics beyond those generated by the annual Dean Runyan & Associates study. Determination of what role the Department of Commerce will play in the management of the marketing RFQ will be critical. Legislative bills HB1123 / SB5251 are still alive and will be moved forward next session. Current status remains `stay -tuned'! Marsha reported on various mid -summer OPTC highlights, including: OPTC REPORT Highway 101 construction around Lake Crescent is in full force. Olympic NPS has been good about providing closure updates and details. National Forest has OK'd Navy's permit for electronic warfare training. Geo -tours' second season and reprint of Waterfall brochure are both underway. OlympicPeninsula.org website RFP work continues, along with progress on Conversion Study vendor research. Olympic Peninsula Tourism Summit is October 26-27. City of Port Angeles is host as well as lead in event planning. Mary Brelsford, OPVB/OPTC's long-time Communications Manager is stepping down. Marsha is currently fielding applications for a full-time marketing and communications manager to —attempt —to replace Mary. TCC Marketing Report - Steve reviewed with TCC on going marketing work accomplished on behalf of Council, highlights included: • Strong social media reach continues to help communicate the Enjoy Olympic Peninsula message to fans and visitors. • Web analytics indicate a continued increase in both planning horizon as well as average trip durations • Steve reiterated the research findings for top accommodation booking platforms continues to be generated by "Community Marketplace", i.e. Airbnb, Vrbo.com and HomeAway. Airbnb has launched a new lifestyle magazine in an effort to tap into the critical mass of this Community Marketplace channel, Steve will continue to monitor it as a potential vertical market for advertisement investment in the future. • Also detailed from the "Community Marketplace" research is the growing number of traditionally Independent (e.g. Old Alcohol Plant) or Branded (e.g. Wyndham's Discovery Bay condominium's) which are also leveraging on-line reservations on Airbnb and other Community Marketplace availability platforms. Resulting in blurred market segment lines and even more complicated Lodging Tax revenue source reporting. • Fall marketing campaign will mirror OPTC's media buys in 6 channels and independently market Jefferson County in Edible Seattle, Sinclair Media, and the new NW Tennis Magazine and Olympic Peninsula's `Apple & Cider Festival' weekend. Area Update Sharing: Port Ludlow: Debbie briefly referred us to their website, portludlowresort.com/upcoming-events, for event details of the many special events happening at Port Ludlow. Special mentions include: • Popular Yoga offerings have been expanded beyond Sunday's 8-9AM to include Wednesday 313M —outside at the totem pole • An Evening in Provence with author Susan Wiggs, partnering with the Fireside's cellar master, and Provence expat Virginie Bourgue, August 13 • A number of upcoming brewers and winemakers' dinners. • Beach or Boat -in Movie Night, August 27 • Tall Ships in port August 23-27 • And a whole lot more! Quilcene Museum — Cleone share news of the Worthington House Museum including: • Wine tasting event featuring 3 wineries, 1 brewery and 1 distillery. • Contracted with Bootstrap Marketing to coordinate their marketing efforts. • Paint is ongoing with Larry coordinating historic furnishings collection. Gateway VIC —Bill reports: • Gateway is within 30 visitors of past YTD statistics o Survey results at the Gateway VIC enjoy an impressive 25-29% rate of visitor participation. Detailing that TCC MARKETING COORDINATORS REPORT AREA UPDATES ■ 59% are day trippers, ■ 20% staying hotel / motel, ■ 3% using vacation rental, ■ 2% resorts, ■ 8% friends and family, and ■ 8% camping. TCC affirmed Bill's survey capture and agreed that the percentages correctly mirrored the high information added value (in the case of resorts) or low/ none (in case of day-trippers), coming onto Olympic Peninsula with or without tourism details. Fort Flagler: Aaron share details of various Park activities. Including: • Munzee a "freemium" scavenger hunt game where places have to be found in the real world. Similar to Geocaching but using QR code technology, in addition to device GPS location, instead of a physical logbook, to prove the find is springing up at Fort Flagler. • Busy mid -summer continues, credit to 9 -month advance reservation bookings. • Dry, with burn ban — needed — and coming soon. Tri -Area, Chimacum — Crystie reported the following summer happenings: • Hosting of WA Wine Commission and Wine Enthusiast magazine's international staff retreat with a special culinary feast prepared by Chef Tom Douglas was "magical". (Yet props to cooking of Chef Dan at Ludlow that can't be rivaled!) • Accessibility visit recently hosted • Sales are up approximately 25% • Looking forward to: o Jefferson Co. Land Trust dinner o Jefferson Co. Farm Tour Busy! Port Townsend Marketing — Christina shared that busy Summer continues in Port Townsend, including: • Good media coverage continues • Winter starts early with "Love Port Townsend in Summer -- "Come back & visit in fall & winter." flyers and postcards helping market fall and winter right now. Mainstreet and Port Townsend VIC are distributing postcards throughout. • /Fall Fun page added to the www.EnjoyPT.com site • Bus ads will again follow on heels of OPTC / TCC's campaigns. • Film Festival, Centrum's concerts and festivals and Wooden Boat all continue • Highlights include calling Lorna every Friday to inquire "Are we sold -out yet?" is becoming a more frequent mantra this busy summer. JC Visitors Center — Lorna shared that the Hadlock Block party went well. New series of activities adding to the traditional parade gave visitors lots to do. AREA UPDATES (Continue) August 27 Movie Night at Port Ludlow will have a Jefferson Co. Chamber photo booth. AREA UPDATES Young Professional network is taking off with nearly 600 members. Growing Young Profession group expanding from Kitsap. (Continue) West End — Marsha gave a shout -out to "John's Beach Combing Museum" in Forks. John acknowledge increased international tourism resulting from past FAM tours hosted by OPTC. Proof that our past efforts do work! Adjournment - There being no further business, Bill thanked everyone working on behalf of TCC with their time and collaboration. Thanking each of them for ADJORN their strong, united help, in marketing Jefferson County. The TCC meeting was adjourned at 12:12 pm, Next meeting of TCC is scheduled for September 12, 2017 10AM at the Andrew's Suite, Inn at Port Ludlow.