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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTDC Apr 2024 MinutesST. LUCIE COUNTY TOURIST DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL MEETING Wednesday, April 10, 2024 ◊ 10:00 A.M. MINUTES Members present: Terissa Aronson, SLC Chamber of Commerce Lisa Cataline, Ocean Village Vacation Rentals Lauren DeAcetis, New York Mets Chair Chris Dzadovsky, St. Lucie County Donna Qvarnstrom, Cobbs Landing Members Absent: Commissioner Jeremiah Johnson, City of Fort Pierce Councilwoman Stephanie Morgan, City of Port St. Lucie Ronnie Nichols, Residence Inn by Marriott Port St. Lucie Staff present: Rubi 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: Josh Brown, Sinclair Broadcasting Travis Burton, iTrip Treasure Coast and Florida Alliance of Vacation Rentals Molly Carter, Homewood Suites Tradition Kevin Greene, Play Treasure Coast Sports Rick Hatcher, Play Treasure Coast Sports Martin Lapointe, Courtyard Port St. Lucie Tradition Robin Moran, Fairfield Inn Emily Rappolt, Residence Inn by Marriott Marika Sexton, Sandpiper Bay Resort Ryan Strickland, Play Treasure Coast Sports Amy Trumble, Right Directions Rentals Larry Winter, Fort Pierce Vacation Rentals 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Chris Dzadovsky called the meeting to order at 10:10 AM. 2. ROLL CALL Katherine Cordero called roll. 3. SELF-INTRODUCTIONS 4. PUBLIC COMMENT Tourist Development Council Meeting ◊ April 10, 2024 Page 2 of 4 No public comment. 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Lisa Cataline made a motion to approve the minutes from February 14, 2024. Lauren DeAcetis seconded. Motion passed. 6. Reports from Municipalities Both Commissioner Jeremiah Johnson and Councilwoman Stephanie Morgan were not present to give their reports. 7. Reports from Tourism Staff a. Financial Report: Charlotte Bireley reported December 2023 TDT collection was $473,386, a 4.6% decrease compared to December 2022. January 2024 collections were $675,230, a 9.9% decrease compared to January 2023. Year-to- date, the TDT collections are down 13.3% compared to 2023. Even with the normalization of tourism in Florida, numbers are still 39% higher than those of 2019, what is to be considered tourism’s last “normal” year. Charlotte also noted that in December 2023, 68% of the collections came from commercial properties, 32% came from private vacation rentals, and in January 2024 64% came from commercial properties, and 36% came from private vacation rentals. b. Hotel Performance Report: Charlotte Bireley reported that December occupancy was down 5.1%, ADR down 8.9%, and RevPar was down 13.5%. January 2024, occupancy was down 7.7%, and ADR was down 6.2%, and RevPar was down just over 13.4%. Charlotte also noted that when these numbers are compared to the comp set, we are doing slightly better than some of our competitors. Source: STR, LLC. c. Website, Social Media, and Email Marketing Report: Tayler Hardison reported webcams continue to be in our top 5 most visited pages. She also reported that Miami, Orlando, and Port St. Lucie, are the top three cities that visit the site. There were over 1.3 million engagements with the website that took place on the website throughout February and March. During February and March, Tayler noted that Visit St. Lucie was heavily promoting black history month, romantic things to do/places to stay, as well as local events. Instagram reels have been the highest performing posts. She then showed an example of one their reels highlighting The Chicken Place in Port St. Lucie. Tayler also reported Visit St. Lucie did their first paid Pinterest campaign promoting St. Lucie’s beaches with 60,000 impressions.. Tayler reported 12 emails were sent through February and March, with the open rate was 29% and click-thru rate of 1%. d. Earned Media: Katherine Cordero reported there is almost $77,000 in earned media, with over almost 2 million results/clicks. She also reported St. Lucie has been Tourist Development Council Meeting ◊ April 10, 2024 Page 3 of 4 featured on TheTravel.com twice which has an average of over 3.9 million visits per month, and Travel Awaits.com which has over 1.4 million visits per month. She highlighted an article in Flamingo Magazine that spotlights the Highwaymen, Zora Neale Hurston and A.E. Backus. That magazine was distributed to over 7,000 households in Florida in conjunction with Visit St. Lucie’s Inspiration Guides. 8. Regular Agenda a. Digital Marketing Services RFP Charlotte reported Visit St. Lucie’s current digital marketing services vendor, Madden Media’s contract is set to expire September 30, 2024, with no renewals left on the contract, and we are looking to go back out to RFP. Charlotte requested approval from the TDC to advertise the RFP for digital marketing service on a public platform to solicit proposals. Terissa Aronson made a motion to approve publicly advertising the RFP for digital marketing service. Donna Qvarnstrom seconded the motion. Motion passed. b. Arrivalist – Visitor Insights Platform Technology Charlotte Bireley introduced Arrivalist, the newest platform technology to collect visitor insights, and showed how it will improve Visit St. Lucie’s marketing and data collections. c. Upcoming Travel Trade Efforts/FAMs Katherine reported that Visit St. Lucie is looking to host a FAM tour for travel agents in the Pennsylvania market as this market continues to grow more interest in St. Lucie. She also presented holding an Industry FAM tour to focus on the new hotelier leaders who are unfamiliar with the area, introducing them to all St. Lucie has to offer visitors to help them better serve their guests. d. Staff Updates Tayler reported the marketing campaign for the Nature & Wildlife pass resulted in 754 ad clicks, 262 pass downloads, an email click rate of 4.5% and 932 unique users to the nature blog that highlights the pass. Tayler then reports the marketing campaign for the Kids Quest resulted in 1,171 ad clicks, over 10,000 emails opened, 845 unique users to the Kids Quest itinerary blog, and 7 Kids Quest completion prize redemptions reported at the marina. Katherine reported on the 2023/2024 travel shows Visit St. Lucie has represented at through their Treasure Coast partnership with Indian River and Martin Counties. She also noted this was the first time since 2019 that the Treasure Coast has done international shows, going to 2 Canada shows. She reported the Chicago show had 16,198 attendees, New York had 24,262 attendees, Washington DC had 15,917 attendees, Toronto has 21,400, Atlanta had 8,112, and Montreal had 16,400. Katherine also highlighted the three NY Mets games Visit St. Lucie had table activations, including the Mets vs. Yankees game had 6,692 attendees. Katherine presented the new logo and example of marketing materials for the Treasure Coast Wine, Ale & Spirits Trail and encouraged the council to embark on the trail. Tourist Development Council Meeting ◊ April 10, 2024 Page 4 of 4 9. Other Business Donna Qvarnstrom announced Little Jim Bait & Tackle will be turning 80 and there will be a celebration June 14-16, with fireworks on June 15. Charlotte reported tourism was the topic at the Economic Development Council’s luncheon earlier in April, and was able to present the importance of tourism in St. Lucie to local business leaders. She also presented this information to Fort Pierce City Commissioners and Port St. Lucie City Council, continuing to inform the importance of tourism to the local economy. Terissa Aronson announced the Fishing Frenzy will be May 10-11 at the Fort Pierce City Marina. Rick Hatcher announced the Fort Pierce King Mackerel Championship will be taking place at the Fort Pierce City Marina. Rick Hatcher also noted the Indian River State College men’s swimming team won their 50th national championship and the women’s swimming team won their 46th national championship in swimming and diving. He also noted Vinny Ball wrapped up for the year, and had the biggest year yet. Marika Sexton provided a brief update on the renovation of Sandpiper Bay Resort. Robin Moran announced the Fairfield Inn has completed renovations, and invited the council to stop by and see the improvements. 10. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 11:15 AM.