Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutTDC Jun 2024 MinutesST. LUCIE COUNTY TOURIST DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL MEETING Wednesday, June 12, 2024 ◊ 10:00 A.M. MINUTES Members present: Terissa Aronson, SLC Chamber of Commerce Lauren DeAcetis, New York Mets Chair Chris Dzadovsky, St. Lucie County Councilwoman Stephanie Morgan, City of Port St. Lucie Ronnie Nichols, Residence Inn by Marriott Port St. Lucie Donna Qvarnstrom, Cobbs Landing Marika Sexton, Sandpiper Bay Resort Members Absent: Lisa Cataline, Ocean Village Vacation Rentals Commissioner Jeremiah Johnson, City of Fort Pierce 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 Craig Campbell, St. Lucie County Tax Collector Kevin Greene, Play Treasure Coast Sports Rick Hatcher, Play Treasure Coast Sports Martine Lapointe, Courtyard Port St. Lucie Tradition Janet Moore-Caso, St. Lucie County Tax Collector Robin Moran, Fairfield Inn Emily Rappolt, Dave & Busters Kelsie Stickles, Holiday Inn Express & Suites Fort Pierce 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 10:07 AM. 2. ROLL CALL Katherine Cordero called roll. 3. SELF-INTRODUCTIONS Tourist Development Council Meeting ◊ June 12, 2024 Page 2 of 4 4. PUBLIC COMMENT No public comment. 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Terissa Aronson made a motion to approve the minutes from April 10, 2024. Donna Qvarnstrom seconded. Motion passed. 6. Reports from Municipalities Councilwoman Stephanie Morgan reported the City of Port St. Lucie is still booming in Southern Grove area. She also reported Dave & Busters and the Kitty Café recently opened in Port St. Lucie, and The Port District ribbon cutting is June 15th and encouraged the council to attend and experience the city’s newest park. 7. Reports from Tourism Staff a. Financial Report: Charlotte Bireley reported February TDT collection was $835,240, an 8.5% decrease compared to February 2023. March 2024 collections were $877,404, an 11.9% decrease compared to March 2023. Year-to-date, the TDT collections are down 11.9% compared to 2023. Even with the normalization of tourism in Florida, numbers are still pacing higher than those of 2019, what is to be considered tourism’s last “normal” year. Charlotte also noted that in February, 68% of the collections came from commercial properties, 32% came from private vacation rentals, and in March, 64% came from commercial properties, and 36% came from private vacation rentals. b. Hotel Performance Report: Charlotte Bireley reported that February occupancy was down 10.9%, ADR down 3.3%, and RevPar was down 13.8%. March occupancy was down 11.2%, and ADR was down 5.5%, and RevPar was down just over 16.1%. Source: STR, LLC. c. Website, Social Media, and Email Marketing Report: Tayler Hardison reported conversions are now called “key events” in Google Analytics which are actions someone takes on the website that meets one of Visit St. Lucie’s goals. She also reported organic searches were down in April, however the paid searches went up. The webcams continue to be our top visited pages, specifically the jetty cam. She also reported that Miami, Orlando, and Port St. Lucie, are the top three cities that visit the site. Regarding social media, in April our Instagram reach was 24,000 and in May, we had over 10,000 link clicks on Facebook. Our YouTube channel continues to grow with 76 hours watched. d. Feb & March 2024 Arrivalist Report: Charlotte reported visitors spent an average of 1.4 nights in St. Lucie in February and March, up .9% from 2023. The top five origin markets they came from were 1. Florida, 2. New York, 3. Pennsylvania, 4. New Tourist Development Council Meeting ◊ June 12, 2024 Page 3 of 4 Jersey, and 5. Georgia. The top markets came from 1. Miami, 2. New York, 3. Orlando/Daytona/Melbourne area. Visitors from Pennsylvania stayed the longest with an average of 3 nights. The number one place that was visited was Clover Park due to the Mets Spring Training, second was Lawnwood Stadium, third was Historic Downtown Fort Pierce, fourth was the St. Lucie County Fairgrounds, and fifth was Fort Pierce City Marina. e. Earned Media: Katherine Cordero reported year to date, St. Lucie has over $243,000.00 in earned media value, with over 47 million results/clicks. She explained the article Surf, Sand, Savings: The 10 most affordable beach towns for short-term summer rentals was on both realtor.com and sfgat.com with a combined 5.8 million results/clicks and over $28,000 in earned media and the article Family- Friendly Florida Resorts that Are Worth the Splurge, which was on msn.com had over 39 million results/clicks and over $137,000 in earned media which highlighted Sandpiper Bay Resort. 8. Consent Agenda a. Art in Public Places Master Plan Councilwoman Stephanie made a motion to approve the Art in Public Places Master Plan. Terissa Aronson seconded. Motion passed. 9. Regular Agenda a. FY 2025 Proposed Budget Charlotte Bireley presented the proposed budget for the 2025 fiscal year. Marika Sexton made a motion to approve the proposed budget. Ronnie Nichols seconded. Motion passed. b. Treasure Coast International Airport – Capital Funding Request Terissa Aronson made a motion to approve using $300,000 in funds from the TDT’s 33% of the fifth cent for the airport’s terminal renovation project. Donna Qvarnstrom seconded. Motion passed. c. Locals Only Campaign Tayler and Katherine presented the Locals Only campaign and explained the various components including target audience, campaign goals, marketing strategy/tactics, public relations and community outreach. d. Staff Updates Katherine presented the draft itineraries for the upcoming Industry FAM tours of both Port St. Lucie and Fort Pierce. Tayler informed the council St. Lucie’s version of the Treasure Coast Kids Quest is now a digital pass, per request from Kids Quest St. Lucie partners. Katherine also reported on the attendance and 3 activations Visit St. Lucie had at New York Mets Spring Training games and presented an email marketing piece that was to be distributed by the New York Mets to their fan database. Tourist Development Council Meeting ◊ June 12, 2024 Page 4 of 4 10. Other Business Rick Hatcher announced Play Treasure Coast Sports recently attended the Florida Sports Foundation Sports Summit and nominated Lawnwood Regional Park for the small venue market of the year, which Lawnwood, St. Lucie County Parks & Recreation, ended up winning. Larry Winter announced the Vacation Rental Association are having a meet and greet event at Clover Park during the St. Lucie Mets game on Thursday, June 20th at 5:30. Marika Sexton announced Sandpiper Bay Resort’s executive Chef Mark Jones will be on an episode of the Food Network’s show Supermarket Stakeout airing on June 19th at 9 p.m. He is also working on an intimate seed to table concept that will highlight local food, previewing what’s to come to Sandpiper Bay Resort. Emily Rappolt reported Dave & Buster’s Port St. Lucie grand opening broke the attendance record for a 75,000 sq. ft. store. Charlotte also reported that Think Greek and other St. Lucie restaurants were featured on the Food Network’s Best Bite in Town that aired on June 7th. 11. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 11:59 AM.