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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTDC Feb 2023 MinutesST. LUCIE COUNTY TOURIST DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL MEETING Wednesday February 8, 2023 ◊ 12:30 P.M. MINUTES Members present: Chair Chris Dzadovsky, St. Lucie County Terissa Aronson, SLC Chamber of Commerce Lisa Cataline, Ocean Village Vacation Rentals Donna Qvarnstrom, Cobbs Landing Paul Taglieri, New York Mets Members Absent: Commissioner Jeremiah Johnson, City of Fort Pierce Cathy Matos, Homewood Suites Councilwoman Stephanie Morgan, City of Port St. Lucie Staff present: Katherine Barbieri, St. Lucie County Attorney Charlotte Bireley, St. Lucie County Tourism Katherine Cordero, St. Lucie County Tourism Tayler Hardison, St. Lucie County Tourism Also present: Jessica Kadie Barclay, Manatee Center Josh Brown, Sinclair Broadcasting/CBS12 Emily Curtis, Residence Inn PSL Jennifer Davis, City of Port St. Lucie/ CRA Jimmy Freitas, Bonner Bar Services Doretha Hair Truesdell, Original FL Hall of Fame Highwaymen, Inc. Shyanne Harnage, City of Fort Pierce Rick Hatcher, Play Treasure Coast Ronnie Nichols, Residence Inn PSL Larry Winter, Fort Pierce Vacation Rentals 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Chris Dzadovsky called the meeting to order at 12:34 PM. 2. ROLL CALL Katherine Cordero called roll. 3. SELF- INTRODUCTIONS & WELCOME Tourist Development Council Meeting ◊ February 8. 2023 Page 2 of 5 4. PUBLIC COMMENT No public comment. 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Terissa Aronson made a motion to approve the minutes from December. Donna Qvarnstrom seconded. 6. Reports from Municipalities a. No reports were provided. b. No reports were provided. 7. Reports from Tourism Staff a. Financial Report: Charlotte Bireley announced the revenue for October 2022 was $454154, a 23.7% increase vs October 2021 and November’s was $474,796, a 4.9% increase vs November 2021. Year-to-date the overall TDT is up 13.4%. b. Tayler Hardison summarized the digital & social reports. She informed the overall Visit St. Lucie site performance is up significantly from last year, specifically December 2022 as it has almost doubled vs December 2021. Based on the acquisitions, 12% of site visits are coming from email marketing, but most of the visits come from organic searches. The webcams page is still the number one visited page, followed by “Things to do” and “Beaches.” Social media fluctuated slightly due to the different paid campaigns that were running in December which were focused on holiday events and January focused on winter “bragging”, a.k.a. beach content/Florida weather content. Commissioner Dzadovsky suggested working with ERD to get their live webcams on the site as well, to which Charlotte and Tayler informed the Commissioner that Visit St. Lucie is currently working with ERD to help market their guided hikes and will look into adding their webcams. Tayler informed the council that due to Meta’s change in analytic reports, impressions are no longer available. Tayler also highlighted the two live sunrises posted on YouTube Live which made the average watch-time increase by 739% and the plan to continue doing the live sunrises. Tayler’s reported 4 visitor emails were sent, multiple industry emails, and others which lead to 620 requests of inspiration travel guides. c. Earned Media: Katherine Cordero reported the earned media is over $2 million year- to-date. She highlighted the Wallstreet Journal’s digital article on St. Lucie and the hopes to get those earned media results. She also presented the Florida Farm & Family Spring 2023 magazine which wrote an article on Fort Pierce and passed it around to the council. She reported as spring training nears, articles about things to Tourist Development Council Meeting ◊ February 8. 2023 Page 3 of 5 do in Port St. Lucie and Clover Park are increasing and provided $20,750 in media value. Sandpiper Bay Resort was also highlighted in an article, and as they continue the launch of their rebranding, more articles about the resort are expected. Commissioner Dzadovsky informed the Visit St. Lucie team that the EDC will be hosting a tour of the Adams Ranch and perhaps Visit St. Lucie should be part of it. 8. Regular Agenda a. PSL Project Update – The Port & City Center Jennifer Davis, Community Redevelopment Area Director for the City of Port St. Lucie provided an update and presentation on The Port & City Center. b. City of Fort Pierce Downtown Master Plan Shyanne Harnage, Economic Development Manager for the City of Fort Pierce provided a presentation on the Master Plan. c. Visit St. Lucie/NY Mets Advertising Agreement Charlotte Bireley updated the council regarding the facilities-use agreement between St. Lucie County and the New York Mets. Written into the agreement are a list of opportunities for Visit St. Lucie to advertise to the Mets fanbase in New York as well as at Clover Park in St. Lucie County. As media changes, the list has changed and Charlotte asked the council to review a memo explaining what the changes entail as well as a draft list of the media items to be agreed upon. County attorney Katherine Barbieri stated the agreement could be approved in concept and if any major changes were made, it would have to be brought back to the board. After a motion is made, it will still be brought to the BOCC to approve. Terissa Aronson made a motion to continue negotiations of the draft agreement and advise the board of county commissioners to consider approval. Lisa Cataline seconded. d. Staff Updates i. 2023 St. Lucie Inspiration Guide Charlotte announced the 2023 St. Lucie Inspiration Guides are now available and encouraged hotels and attractions to grab some boxes for their guests. ii. 2023 Travel Shows – Florida’s Treasure Coast Charlotte provided an update on travel shows Florida’s Treasure Coast has attended which include New York, Chicago, Boston, Washington D.C. with Atlanta upcoming. iii. Nature & Wildlife Pass FAM Tour Update Katherine reported the pass has over 621 people sign up from October 2022 to December 2022, with 108 people actively using the pass, with 513 unused passes. She also reported push notifications are sent out using the mobile pass Tourist Development Council Meeting ◊ February 8. 2023 Page 4 of 5 to remind users to continue the pass. Port St. Lucie, Fort Pierce, and Jensen Beach are the cities with the most passes. She informed the council a FAM tour centered around the pass is in the process of being formed, and will include 5 journalists whose main focus is nature, wildlife, etc. iv. Visitor’s Study – Hotel Participation Charlotte encouraged hoteliers and attractions in the room to participate in the study to ensure the most accurate results are obtained as well as the different ways to participate in the study. At the time of the meeting, no hotels had actively started participating. Commissioner Dzadovsky asked if vacation rentals will be participating to which Larry Winter responded he is participating and helping Visit St. Lucie have a presentation at Ocean Village. 10. Other Business Paul Taglieri passed out a spring training handout. He announced pitchers and catchers will be reporting on February 15th and February 12th Clover Park will be hosting the 2nd annual Swing into Spring Training 5K with almost 250 runners. The first full team practice is February 20th with the opening game on February 25th against the Miami Marlins. There will be 16 home games for spring training. Presale numbers are above 2020 as this will be the first “normal” spring training since the pandemic. Paul also presented the new fields and the bullpens off the field this year which has been praised by the players. Terissa Aronson announced St. Lucie Leadership Alumni Night will be on Tuesday, February 28th and Charlotte Bireley will be part of the donut eating contest Terissa will be MCing. Rick Hatcher announced Play Treasure Coast Sports has 18 events in February with 12 taking place in St. Lucie County including a US adult baseball event, umpire training school, and look forward to hosting a large high school baseball tournament at the Lawnwood Baseball Complex. A new king fish tournament will be taking place at the Fort Pierce City Marina in late April which will also be broadcast. Jim Freitas announced The Rusty Putter has a few golf tournaments coming up including the First Tee tournament as well as the United Way tournament. Ronnie Nichols reported Residence Inn continues to see numbers rebound from pre- COVID with rates being a target that has been concentrated this fiscal year. The booking window still remains narrow with a 5-7 day window. Doretha Hari Truesdell announced the Highwaymen Festival will be February 18th on 7th Street in Fort Pierce at a new location. The festival will include 3 tours of the Highwaymen trail and the future museum. Terissa Aronson announced the Chamber spotlights student athletes on their Covering the Bases with the Mets show, and asked the council to send any nominations/suggestions to her. Tourist Development Council Meeting ◊ February 8. 2023 Page 5 of 5 Charlotte Bireley reported Guy Fieri was in St. Lucie County in late January filming a pilot show for a new series called, Best Bite in Town. 11. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 1:52 PM.