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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTDC Apr 2023 MinutesST. LUCIE COUNTY TOURIST DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL MEETING Wednesday, April 12, 2023 ◊ 12:30 P.M. MINUTES Members present: Chair Chris Dzadovsky, St. Lucie County Terissa Aronson, SLC Chamber of Commerce Commissioner Jeremiah Johnson, City of Fort Pierce Cathy Matos, Homewood Suites Ronnie Nichols, Residence Inn by Marriott Port St. Lucie Donna Qvarnstrom, Cobbs Landing Paul Taglieri, New York Mets Members Absent: Lisa Cataline, Ocean Village Vacation Rentals Councilwoman Stephanie Morgan, City of Port St. Lucie Staff present: Charlotte Bireley, St. Lucie County Tourism Katherine Cordero, St. Lucie County Tourism Tayler Hardison, St. Lucie County Tourism Also present: Josh Brown, Sinclair Broadcasting/CBS12 Craig Campbell, SLC Tax Collector Emily Curtis, Residence Inn PSL Lauren DeAcetis, St. Lucie Mets Ed Griffin, Hutchinson Shores Jean Johansen, Fort Pierce Art Club Alison Palko, Sunrise Sands Fort Pierce Melissa Sahin, The Lucie Ryan Strickland, Play Treasure Coast Joe Sweat, Sunrise Theatre Larry Winter, Fort Pierce Vacation Rentals Maria Bordonaro, Sandpiper Bay Resort 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Chris Dzadovsky called the meeting to order at 12:30 PM. 2. ROLL CALL Katherine Cordero called roll. 3. WELCOME Tourist Development Council Meeting ◊ April 12, 2023 Page 2 of 4 4. SELF- INTRODUCTIONS 5. PUBLIC COMMENT No public comment. 6. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Terissa Aronson made a motion to approve the minutes from February. Commissioner Jeremiah Johnson seconded. 7. Reports from Municipalities a. City of PSL. No report was provided. b. Commissioner Jeremiah Johnson reported this year is the 100th year anniversary of the Fort Pierce Police Department as well as the 100th anniversary of the Sunrise Theatre. He also reported development continues as more applications and requests continue to come through the City of Fort Pierce. Commissioner Johnson also reported that the City of Fort Pierce also had a joint meeting with the County Commission. 8. Reports from Tourism Staff a. Financial Report: Charlotte Bireley announced the revenue for December 2022 was just over $496,000, a 1.2% decrease vs December 2021. January 2023 was just over $750,000, a 13.7% increase vs January 2022. February 2023 was just over $912,000. Year-to-date the overall TDT is up 14.7%. Revenues are performing well; all actuals came in well over budget. b. Tayler Hardison summarized the digital & social reports. She informed the overall Visit St. Lucie site performance is up significantly from last year, specifically March 2023 as it has more than doubled with 93,463 visits vs March 2022 at 47,493 visits. She also reported the average time someone visits the site is 1 minute 40 seconds, which is a healthy amount of time and Ohio and Virginia are now part of the top 5 states visiting the website. Year over year, the website’s organic traffic is up by 71%. The webcams page is still the number one visited page, followed by “Things to do” and “Beaches.” Social media numbers are steady. Tayler reported Instagram and Instagram ads have been used more and are seeing positive results. Tayler let the council know that moving forward, Facebook and Instagram will be reported at Meta as they are the same company now and will be referred to as such in future TDC meetings. In the email marketing report, Tayler stated 8 visitor emails were sent as well as 5 industry emails, and over 100 inspiration guide requests were made in response to the emails. Tayler informed the council Tourist Development Council Meeting ◊ April 12, 2023 Page 3 of 4 Visit St. Lucie has QR code decals throughout the county and state that leads to the inspiration guide. Since January 2023 there have been over 275 unique scans with people spending an average of over 5 minutes reading the guide. Tayler reported the Don’t Come Here podcast has over 6300 downloads. A recent episode had the podcast host at various locations throughout the Treasure Coast interviewing visitors asking what they love about the area. The podcast can be found on YouTube and the average views for the videos are about 400. Charlotte informed the council the podcast has won a Magellan Award from Travel Weekly. c. Earned Media: Katherine Cordero reported the earned media is almost $3 million year-to-date. She highlighted Travel & Leisure’s digital article on St. Lucie by Terry Ward that has been viewed by over 34,747 people at the time. Travel & Leisure has an average of 50 million readers, and the team expects the number of readers to continue to rise. She also reported their recent FAM trip is expected to bring more earned media. 9. Regular Agenda a. Play Treasure Coast Sports Tourism, Quarterly Update Ryan Strickland, Vice President, Play Treasure Coast Sports provided an update and presentation on Play Treasure Coast Sport’s first and second quarters. b. Legislative Updates Charlotte Bireley reported on House Bill number 7053. She summarized the bill to the council and the possible outcomes it would have to Visit St. Lucie if it were to pass. Charlotte reported the St. Lucie County Board of County Commissioners have opposed the bill as has the Chamber of Commerce. d. Staff Updates i. Florida Turnpike Service Center Activation Charlotte recapped the first-ever Florida Turnpike Service Center Activation. Five hotel partners participated in this free event and there was great foot traffic. ii. Nature & Wildlife FAM Tour Katherine provided a summary on the recent Nature & Wildlife FAM tour. The writers have posted some great content to their social media platforms during and following the tour. iii. May EDC Luncheon Charlotte announced that on May 2nd the EDC luncheon will be all about tourism. The Vice President of Marketing for VISIT FLORIDA will be the keynote speaker, county tourism, the Mets, and PGA will be there speaking on Tourist Development Council Meeting ◊ April 12, 2023 Page 4 of 4 tourism as well. Charlotte encouraged the council to attend. Katherine announced Visit St. Lucie will also be speaking at the Chamber of Commerce’s Networking Breakfast on May 9th. 10. Other Business Joe Sweat, from the Sunrise Theatre will holding it’s 100-year anniversary celebration on July 29th. Alison Palko announced she has just been hired as the Events Manager for the Sunrise Sands and looks forward to more meetings. Maria Bordonaro briefly spoke about the transition of ClubMed becoming the Wyndham- flagged Sandpiper Bay Resort. Terissa Aronson announced the Young Floridian Awards will be taking place at the Sunrise Theatre and will be giving away a Mets scholarship to a deserving student athlete. Paul Taglieri announced Spring Training was very successful and brought in $2.9 million in ticket sales and over $900,000 in merchandise sales, beating all previous records. Jeremiah Johnson announced Freebee has officially launched in Downtown Fort Pierce and is doing well. Larry Winter reported that Charlotte and Katherine came out to Ocean Village to speak about St. Lucie’s tourism as part of the Visit St. Lucie Speaker’s Bureau. Jean Johansen reported to the council that she and other Fort Pierce Art Club members are working to keep Edwin Binney’s legacy alive by adding him to Florida’s Art Hall of Fame. 11. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 1:52 PM.