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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTDC Dec 2023 MinutesST. LUCIE COUNTY TOURIST DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL MEETING Wednesday, December 13, 2023 ◊ 12:30 P.M. MINUTES Members present: Terissa Aronson, SLC Chamber of Commerce Lauren DeAcetis, New York Mets Chair Chris Dzadovsky, St. Lucie County Cathy Matos, Homewood Suites Councilwoman Stephanie Morgan, City of Port St. Lucie Donna Qvarnstrom, Cobbs Landing Members Absent: Lisa Cataline, Ocean Village Vacation Rentals Commissioner Jeremiah Johnson, City of Fort Pierce Ronnie Nichols, Residence Inn by Marriott Port St. Lucie Staff present: Ruby Dial, St. Lucie County Assistant Attorney Charlotte Bireley, St. Lucie County Tourism Katherine Cordero, St. Lucie County Tourism Tayler Hardison, St. Lucie County Tourism Also present: Travis Burton, iTrip Treasure Coast and Florida Alliance of Vacation Rentals Craig Campbell, SLC Tax Collector Miriam Garcia, City of Fort Pierce Kevin Greene, Play Treasure Coast Sports Rick Hatcher, Play Treasure Coast Sports Shyanne Harnage, City of Fort Pierce Joseph St. Germain, Downs & St. Germain Research Ryan Strickland, Play Treasure Coast Sports Larry Winter, Fort Pierce Vacation Rentals 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Chris Dzadovsky called the meeting to order at 12:39 PM. 2. ROLL CALL Katherine Cordero called roll. 3. SELF-INTRODUCTIONS 4. PUBLIC COMMENT No public comment. Tourist Development Council Meeting ◊ October 11, 2023 Page 2 of 3 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Councilwoman Stephanie Morgan made a motion to approve the minutes from August 9, 2023 and October 11 2023. Chair Dzadovsky seconded. Motion passed, 6. Reports from Municipalities Councilwoman Stephanie Morgan reported that Port St. Lucie unveiled their new logo. She also stated Southern Grove is continuing development. She also informed the council the Port St. Lucie City Council has a new meeting schedule effective January 2024 meeting the second, third, and fourth Mondays of the month. 7. Reports from Tourism Staff a. Financial Report: Charlotte Bireley reported the total TDT for fiscal year 2023 is a record-breaking $6.6 million, an increase of 5.3% from 2022’s $6.3 million. Charlotte noted St. Lucie’s strong season, January through March 2023, was a big component to the TDT as other months were lower than previous years. August 2023 TDT collection was over $332,000, a decrease of 19% vs August 2022. Eighty percent of the August collections came from commercial properties, and 20% came from private/vacation rentals. September TDT collection was over $309,000, a 20.7% decrease compared to September 2022. Seventy-seven percent of the August collections came from commercial properties, and 23% came from private/vacation rentals. Both August and September collections were still higher than the collections of July 2019, which is what has been considered the last normal year of collections. b. Hotel Performance Report: Charlotte Bireley reported that occupancy, ADR, and RevPar were down in August and September 2023 due to the leveling out in tourism. ADR was down about 4.5% and RevPar was down about $15-$21. All the Treasure Coast counties and Florida counties experienced this decline. Source: STR, LLC. c. Website, Social Media, and Email Marketing Report: Tayler Hardison reported that over 67,000 people visited the website during October and November with 64,000 being new users. There were also over 960,000 interactions on the website during this time. The webcams page remains in the top visited pages on the website. Year-to-date, organic sessions have increased by 21%. Tayler noted that Facebook content interactions have been added to the report and have high numbers. Tayler reported the most viewed and well-performing posts was a reel about Treasure Coast Bagels. Tayler reported the open rate for email marketing has increased to 32% with a 1% click-thru rate. d. Earned Media: Katherine Cordero reported Visit St. Lucie ended the 2022-23 fiscal year with 3.3 million dollars in earned media, a 442% increase from 2022’s Tourist Development Council Meeting ◊ October 11, 2023 Page 3 of 3 $602,957, and almost 78 million results/clicks, an almost 150% increase from 2022’s 31.2 million. Since the start of the new fiscal year in October 2023, there has been $8923 in earned media, with over 1.8 million results/clicks. 8. Regular Agenda a. Visitor Tracking & Economic Impact Study – 3rd Quarter Report President of Downs & St. Germain Research, Joseph St. Germain, presented the results of the third quarter of the visitor tracking and economic impact study. b. Updated Logo Recommendations Charlotte Bireley presented the new recommended Visit St. Lucie logo. Terissa Aronson motioned to approve the new logo. Councilwoman Stephanie Morgan seconded the motion with discussion. Motion passed. c. Brightline Proposal City of Fort Pierce Economic Development Manager, Shyanne Harnage, presented the city’s Brightline proposal. TDC recommend to the board of county commissioners a $250,000 ridership commitment over 3 years with the target of marketing to advertise and promote visitors to take the Brightline to the Fort Pierce destination. Terissa Aronson made the motion to approve this recommendation. Donna Qvarnstrom seconded the motion. Motion passed. d. Fort Pierce – Coast Guard City – Letter of Support City of Fort Pierce Redevelopment Specialist, Miriam Garcia, presented the benefits of being labeled a “Coast Guard City” to the council and requested a letter of support. Terissa Aronson made a motion for the TDC to write a letter of support for Fort Pierce to be designated a Coast Guard City. Cathy Matos seconded the motion. Motion passed. e. Staff Updates Tayler reported the new 2024 Visitor Inspiration guides are available. She also reported the ‘Get in the Holiday Spirit Pass’ is live and there are over 350 people actively using the pass. She also reported season 3 of the Treasure Coast Podcast, Don’t Come Here, has a new host, Anthony Westbury and new episodes are coming. 9. Other Business Chair Dzadovsky gave kudos to Rick and the Play Treasure Coast Sports team for their efforts in this year’s Firefighter Challenge. Larry Winters commented on the differences he sees between surrounding TDC meetings. 10. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 2:21 PM.