Hosting Illinois DMOs

Transcription

1 QUARTERLY REPORT JANUARY 2017 REPORTING FISCAL YEAR ND QUARTER OCTOBER DECEMBER 2016 Hosting Illinois DMOs The 40 destination management organizations (DMOs) and other members of Illinois Council on Convention and Visitors Bureaus (ICCVB) meet three times a year for educational sessions, business meetings, networking and idea-sharing. On October 12 14, Visit Champaign County hosted a successful ICCVB Fall Conference at the Hyatt Place. Membership meetings traditionally consist of various niche meetings for Tour, Sports, Meet, Finance & Administration and Market, as well as a joint session prior to CEO meetings. For the fall conference, the ICCVB Board of Directors in conjunction with Visit Champaign County strived to alter the format to provide more time for education for all attendees through engaging topics and speakers. TABLE OF CONTENTS CEO Letter... 2 Visitor Inquiries... 2 Here, There & Everywhere Hotel/Motel Information... 4 Sales & Marketing Efforts Website Statistics... 6 Visit Champaign County took the lead in creating a program that would interest and educate the majority of DMO s across Illinois. Attendees participated in educational sessions focusing on: Illinois: Are You Up for Amazing? Illinois Office of Tourism Director Cory Jobe Servicing: Who Does it Best? Roundtable FLSA Regulation Changes and 2016 Changes to Illinois Employment Statutes David Krchak at Thomas, Mamer & Haughey Art Lives Here! David Wilcoxen, Public Art League; and Kelly White, 40 North 88 West The Impact of Film on Your Destination Christine Dudley and Louis Ferrera, Illinois Film Office; Brett Hays, Shatterglass Films; and Terri Reifsteck, Visit Champaign County/Champaign County Film Office Project Time Off Cory Jobe, Illinois Office of Tourism Additionally, niche meetings were held with the Tour Illinois meeting featuring a tour of the Virginia Theatre and the Sports Illinois meeting featuring a tour of Memorial Stadium. Attendees were treated to a delicious dinner and night out at Pear Tree Estate with Champaign County themed beverages, and escape room from C-U Adventures in Time and Space, and caricatures by Dan Wild. Following the event, attendees headed to downtown Champaign for a Savor the Flavor, redeeming their tickets at various downtown bars and restaurants. The second night of the conference featured the CEO dinner at Willow Creek Farm, a unique on-farm dining experience for our counterparts across Illinois. It was followed up the next day with an exceptional panel on Advocacy Becoming a Priority Instead of a Casualty featuring Deborah Frank Feinen, Mayor, City of Champaign; Chapin Rose, Illinois State Senator, 51st District; Laura Weis, President & CEO, Champaign County Chamber of Commerce; moderated by Tim Hennessy, Consulting4Biz. The meeting was met with tremendous positive feedback from our counterparts and allowed the team at Visit Champaign County to showcase why our community is Outside of Ordinary! I am sure everyone on your staff invested a great deal of time into the programming and evening events, and it showed. Both dinners were truly special. It was fun to participate in the Culinary Crawl promotion you run. We enjoyed stopping in a couple local establishments to get the flavor of downtown Champaign. It s nice to see it s busy around town. The Willow Creek Farm was a beautiful setting and the back story is so inspiring. The meal was wonderful too. The sessions on the arts and film offices were both fascinating and applicable for all the CVBs in attendance. The Advocacy panelists were also terrific. Tim did a nice job serving as the moderator. I always enjoying visiting college towns. There is something about the vibe that is very enticing and it s evident in Champaign. Maureen Riedy, President, Visit Lake County

2 NOTE FROM OUR CEO The second quarter of each fiscal year is my favorite weather-wise, followed by the holiday season! People tend to be more giving and grateful for connections all around them, often resulting in synergistic efforts. Destination management brings people together for synergy targeted to specific market segments and providing services for those segments. If environmental, cultural and economic impacts of tourism destinations are managed with the right balance, many benefits can be realized both for local communities and visitors who choose to experience these destinations. During the ICCVB Fall Conference, we brought together our statewide tourism colleagues for education and networking. I was really proud of our program line up and already have experienced follow-up synergy happening with other communities, specifically related to film, the arts, and advocacy. On a national level, Joe and I co-presented Destination 2020: Recreation & Tourism Trends at the NRPA National Congress in St. Louis. The discussion in the room with colleagues around the USA centered on the value of parks and tourism working together to build destinations. So let s build synergy and send people home with memories. Another synergistic effort occurred with the Champaign County First Lobby Day on November 29 to Springfield. Our group of public and private business members met with Illinois Dept of Natural Resources, IL Dept of Transportation, IL Dept of Commerce & Economic Opportunity and with each of our state legislators. Truly a great day of synergy for success. Back to talking about the holidays, our VCC Board and team celebrated at Urbana Country Club and our VCC Foundation Board at V Picasso. There were many other holiday celebrations that once again remind us that we truly live in an outside of ordinary community. We extend our thanks to our destination management partners and hospitality industry job force who support VCC efforts and we look forward to your continued involvement. It takes a unified effort to invest in a destination s economic growth and community wellbeing. We are making good progress! Jayne DeLuce 40 North Update The annual ACE Awards, hosted by 40 North, held October 27 at the City Center honored seven individuals and organizations contributing to the arts and culture of Champaign County. The winners included: Mike Ingram, Advocate; Deke Weaver, Artist; Pecha Kucha Night C-U, Volunteer; Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District, Business; Stacey Gross, Teacher; Saskia Bakker, Student; and this year s Lifetime Achievement Award went to longtime ballroom dancing teacher, Aurora Villacorta (Miss V.) New Office Manager Visit Champaign County welcomed Jen Peddycoart as our new Office Manager starting November 21. Jen comes to us after several years at Champaign Unit 4 Schools. She hit the ground running her first week with IHSA State Football Championships serving up hundreds of bags of popcorn. We re excited to have her on our team! CUDO Pro Show The Champaign Urbana Design Organization (CUDO) annually hosts their Pro Show at Gallery 217, highlighting local graphic artists and designers. Visit Champaign County submitted their new Outside of Ordinary branding, featuring bus boards, billboards, retargeting ads, social media graphics, print ads and the Champaign County Area Visitors Guide. We were excited to be among many talented artists from around Champaign-Urbana! VISITOR INQUIRIES 1 st QTR 2 nd QTR Web, Mail, Phone Welcome Center TICs & Local Bus.* 16,087 12,746 Grand Total 16,674 13,382 We collect data on how many information requests we receive via our various methods of communication: web, mail, , phone and Welcome Center walk-ins. *TICs (Illinois Interstates, Market Place Mall, Willard Airport, Illinois Terminal) are off-site locations where we distribute Visitors Guides. Additionally, Visit Champaign County weekly supplies local businesses with guides. This number reflects the combined amount of Visitors Guides distributed. 2 January 2017 visitchampaigncounty.org

3 Here, There & Everywhere IHSA FOOTBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) State Football Championships returned to Memorial Stadium after a year away. Sixteen teams arrived to compete and while only eight would go home champions, Champaign County was the biggest winner of them all with an estimated $3 million in economic impact. Over 22,000 football fans descended on Champaign County during Thanksgiving weekend to cheer on their team and take part in Tent City. This year s event took place in Grange Grove with a new setup, making it easy to access Visit Champaign County s entertainment tent and Memorial Stadium. To further engage attendees, we hosted a live Instagram feed on the scoreboard with over 2200 photos using #IHSAState! Thank you to all board members and volunteers who assisted with preparing popcorn, cotton candy, coffee and hot cocoa. ACO TOURNAMENT The American Cornhole Organization (ACO) visited Champaign County November for their first successful Midwest event! 120 competitors travelled from over a dozen different states to compete in cornhole also known as bags at the Titan Warehouse in Champaign. The tournaments hosted registered ACO competitors and locals interested in throwing against the best in the nation. This new event has tremendous potential to grow after a first year of success, with it bringing in over $50,000 in estimated economic impact. GROUP TOUR VISIT Five motor coach buses from Burke Christian Tours stopped in Champaign County on November 14 for a day trip to Hardy s Reindeer Ranch, William Staerkel Planetarium and Museum of the Grand Prairie. Leah and Ryan met the buses at Hardy s Reindeer Ranch as they assisted in giving Reindeer Tours, serving as step-on guides, and helping serve/clean-up the Western-themed BBQ lunch. This was the highest number of buses that Hardy s Reindeer Ranch had ever accommodated at one time and Visit Champaign County was thrilled to be a part of it! The buses brought in about 250 people who were travelling from Chicago to French Lick. On behalf of Loyola Academy, thank you for your hospitality and help this past Saturday at the State Football games in Champaign. While our boys did not get the win on the field and while they are still licking their wounds and feeling a little sorry for themselves, I know they will soon look back on their experience and realize how cool and fun it was. It takes a lot to pull off a day like Saturday and your efforts really go a long way in making the experience for our school community so rewarding. Patrick Mahoney, Director of Athletics, Loyola Academy The set up you have is absolutely tremendous! I was really impressed with having a person assigned to us. He stayed with me from the time I showed up, until I left that night helping with every possible detail. I was impressed with the help with security provided in the stadium. I was really impressed with tent city. That is a fabulous idea. My parents really enjoyed that space and the award was nice too! My team was well taken care of with facilities and the atmosphere for the game was outstanding. I will always remember the constant support throughout this whole week. Ron Lear, Athletic Director, Plainfield North 3 January 2017 visitchampaigncounty.org

4 Arthur FAM Tour The village of Arthur joined Visit Champaign County as a regional partner in mid-2016, adding to the many attractions we showcase to visitors. In order to educate our team on what makes Arthur special, we spent half a day in Arthur on October 16 with their tourism director, Christy Miller. Christy brought our team to several hidden gems including Wilson s Kitchens, Amish furniture shop Daz Holz Haus, Green Meadow Farm, a buggy manufacturer, various shops in Downtown Arthur and a delicious, hearty lunch at Yoder s Kitchen! These authentic attractions and shops greatly appeal to visitors around the world and the VCC team is excited to promote them! University of Illinois All Staff Resource Expo On October 18, Terri and Cody participated in the annual University of Illinois All Employee Resource Expo at the Illini Union. Visit Champaign County was one of 75 resource booths present to welcome nearly 700 attending employees from academic, civil service, and faculty positions. One of the biggest resource top hits was our newest Regional Marketing Partner Arthur s materials! Year after year, Terri and Cody share something new with everyone they chat with, including the classic Champaign County resident of 20+ years who claims they know about everything there is to do and see in this area. Making University of Illinois employees aware of what this area has to offer is essential in growing our brand ambassadors. SALES & MARKETING EFFORTS Small Market Meetings Leah attended the Small Market Meetings tradeshow September 31 October 2 in Huntsville, Alabama, where she had appointments with 24 meeting planners. This tradeshow was geared toward planners that host meetings in Tier 3 cities, comparable to Champaign County. The show was a great investment, as we walked away with six RFPs and a number of interested groups. We look forward to attending the show again next year in Indiana! HOTEL/MOTEL INFORMATION 1 st QTR 2 nd QTR Occupancy Rate 59.2% 53.7% Average Daily Rate $80.57 $93.01 This data is collected and reported by STR. SALES NUMBERS 1 st QTR 2 nd QTR Meetings, Conventions, Sports BOOKED Meetings, Conventions, Sports LEADS Inbound Motorcoach & Other Leisure Groups BOOKED 4 6 Total Sales Contacts (Sports, Meetings, Group) Events, Groups & Leisure Serviced Trade Shows/Meetings Attended 1 5 Important note: These sales numbers reflect business generated by Visit Champaign County and are not representative of the entire Champaign County community. Indy Sales Blitz Leah and Ryan joined hotel partners from Eastland Suites, I Hotel and Conference Center, Homewood Suites and Home2 Suites for a twoday sales blitz in Indianapolis, November 1 2. Collectively, the group conducted over 35 sales calls to planners within the sports and fraternal markets, followed by an evening reception giving planners the opportunity to mingle. This was the first time Visit Champaign County hosted a blitz in Indy and the experience was a great success! Ee will look at hosting our second blitz in fall of We all loved the latest copy to the magazine/ news from VCC exceptional in my opinion. Timothy Bartlett, Urbana Park District 4 January 2017 visitchampaigncounty.org

5 Willard Welcome Center As the I Fly CU campaign continues to drive new and repeat traffic through Willard Airport, Visit Champaign County looked to better serve visitors arriving by air. In a partnership with the airport, a new Welcome Center was created in between the baggage claim area and the escalators. The space replaces a desk, creating a vibrant backdrop as visitors enter or leave the airport. The area features Visit Champaign County s Outside of Ordinary branding as well as shelving for the Visitors Guide and other area attraction brochures. A Fly CU desk is also available for volunteers and a touchscreen will soon be installed to allow easy access to area information. Social Takeovers Communication channels are constantly evolving, which is why Visit Champaign County dabbled in social media takeovers this quarter. Social media takeovers provide an unbiased, unique perspective which boosts Visit Champaign County s brand equity. This quarter, Maddie Rice, a University of Illinois student, took over our recently-added Snapchat account. Since the primary users of this platform are high school to college aged students, we felt that the voice and perspective should come from one as well, especially as we grow our initial following. Within a few short months, Maddie added over 125 followers (85% increase) to this platform! In addition, Visit Champaign County facilitated their first ever Instagram takeover. This takeover was through the perspective of Russian native and extended-stay traveler, Dmitiri Ratanov. Dmitri is a professional photographer who has devoted his entire life to the arts since he was 9 years old. Since this takeover, we have received requests from others to take over, which we are planning for the future. READER RESPONSE FROM ADVERTISING 1st QTR 2nd QTR Visit Champaign County advertises in various publications with lead generation campaigns that result in direct requests for information on Champaign County. STORY COVERAGE Placements 1st QTR 2nd QTR MEDIA CONTACTS 1 QTR st Releases Sent 5 Top Social Media Posts 2 QTR nd 3 5 January 2017 visitchampaigncounty.org Instagram Great Pumpkin Patch in Downtown Chicago, 183 likes Twitter Illini Basketball, 10,100 impressions, 31 likes, 5 RT s Facebook 17 Places You Should Go in Illinois, 3,521 Reach, 28 shares

6 VISITCHAMPAIGNCOUNTY.ORG WEB STATISTICS & FIGURES WEBSITE REPORT 33,718 Visits 18,341 Visits from Mobile Device 75,327Page Views 73.09% New Visits 02:22 Avg. Length of Visit TOP VISITED PAGES Calendar of Events Things to Do Food & Drink Parade of Lights Shopping SOCIAL MEDIA 3,680 Followers 4,800 Followers 2,287 Followers VISIT CHAMPAIGN COUNTY PARTNERS FOUNDING PARTNERS City of Champaign PLATINUM PARTNERS University of Illinois GOLD PARTNERS Busey Champaign County City of Urbana Village of Savoy SILVER PARTNERS Illinois American Water Parkland College Village of Rantoul BRONZE PARTNERS Carle Village of Mahomet Village of St. Joseph Urbana Park District REGIONAL PARTNERS Allerton Park & Retreat Center Monticello Chamber of Commerce Arthur Tourism Council HOTEL PARTNERS ORANGE PARTNERS: Best Western Monticello Gateway Inn Eastland Suites & Conference Center Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham Hilton Garden Inn Hyatt Place I Hotel & Conference Center Illini Union Hotel Wyndham Garden Urbana Champaign BLUE PARTNERS: Candlewood Suites Comfort Suites Courtyard by Marriott Drury Inn and Suites Econolodge Fairfield Inn & Suites Hampton Inn Holiday Inn Express Home2 Suites by Hilton Homewood Suites LaQuinta Ramada Inn Residence Inn by Marriott TownePlace Suites by Marriott Wingate by Wyndham For information on our Tourism Industry Partner Program and how you can support our mission visit: OUR MISSION Advance the overall visitor destination experience for the greater Champaign County area, in collaboration with community stakeholders, to strengthen the local economy and quality of life BOARD OF DIRECTORS Mike DeLorenzo, Chair, University of Illinois Shayla Maatuka, Vice Chair, Dodd & Maatuka Rob Kowalski, Treasurer, City of Champaign Jayne DeLuce, Secretary (ex-officio), Visit Champaign County Laura Weisskopf Bleill, University of Illinois Research Park Rachel Coventry, Curtis Orchard Richard Helton, Village of Savoy Jesse Hines, Horve Hospitality Management Natalie Kenny-Marquez, City of Urbana Max Mitchell, Champaign County Board Annie Murray, Pear Tree Estate Tracey Pettigrew, CU Mass Transit District Jody Quiram, Gordyville USA Dennis Robertson, Market Place Shopping Center Bryan Snodgrass, Busey Greg Stock, Champaign City Council VISIT CHAMPAIGN COUNTY TEAM S. Neil St., Champaign, IL Jayne DeLuce, President & CEO Terri Reifsteck, Vice President of Marketing Leah Longueville, Director of Sales Ryan Reid, Sales Manager Cody Dees, Community Relations Manager Jen Peddycoart, Office Manager Leslie Lundy, Finance Manager Visit Champaign County Foundation Charter Partners Adams Outdoor Advertising :: Don and Suzi Armstrong of Northwestern Mutual :: BankChampaign :: Barefoot Lizard, Inc. :: BPC :: Carter s Furniture Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District :: ciliving from WCIA :: CliftonLarson Allen :: Cozad Asset Management :: Jayne & Joe DeLuce :: Marci Dodds The Downey Group Farnsworth Group :: First State Bank :: FRASCA International :: Gordyville USA :: Hickory Point Bank & Trust :: Illini Fire Service LLC Martin, Hood, Friese & Associates :: Martin One Source :: McDonald s :: Midland States Bank :: The News-Gazette, Inc. :: RE/MAX Realty Associates Robeson Family Benefit Fund :: David B. Sholem of Meyer Capel Law Offices :: University of Illinois Community Credit Union :: UpClose Marketing & 6 Printing January :: Urbana s 2017 Market visitchampaigncounty.org at the Square :: V. Picasso/Willow Creek Farm