Grand County Colorado Tourism Board June Meeting Notes

Grand County Colorado Tourism Board June Meeting Notes

June 6,2024

Board of County Commissioners – Hot Sulphur Springs

308 Byers Ave, Hot Sulphur Springs, CO 80451

Board Members Present: Kristen Spronz, Ron Ellis, Cheryl Spezia, Elizabeth Brumm and Rachel Bierden

Board Members Attending Via Zoom:Jeremy Belnap, Jennifer Brown, Dave Huber

Board Members Absent: Joanna Whitemarsh

Present (In Person):Gaylene Ore, Paula Isakson, Carrie Tomlinson & Karen Ruby (Miles Partnership), Catherine Ross (Winter Park Chamber), Emily Hagen (Grand Lake Chamber), Lisa Bornfield (Hot Sulphur Springs Chamber), Justin Fosha, Randy Sue Fosha (Drowsy Water Ranch)

Present Via Zoom: Sarah Cichon (Destination Granby), Brittany VanderLinden(Kremmling Chamber of Commerce), David Becher (RRC), Dave Santucci (Mission To Market)

CALL TO ORDER

Kristen Spronz called the meeting to order at 3:02 p.m.

AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

Gaylene presented Justin and Randy Sue Fosha with a plaque in honor of Ken Fosha’s service on the Grand County Tourism Board.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES- May2024

The Board approved the May minutes as distributed.

APPROVAL OF INVOICES BY FINANCE COMMITTEE

Gaylene reported that the Finance Committee approved $451,104.00 of expenditures for the month of May.

CHAMBER REPORTS

Lisa with Hot Sulphur Springs Chamber of Commerce

Reviewed upcoming Hot Sulphur Days, a signature event for the town.
April sales tax is down 20 - 30 % compared to last year. The total does not include lodging tax. A lodging tax will be on the November ballot.
A possible new restaurant will be opening.
Two more big town events include a Town-wide Yard Sale in mid-August and a Fall Clean Up Day.

Catherine with Winter Park Chamber of Commerce

Reviewed highlights from January to the end of May: Sales tax is up 3.3% year to date, and Lodging is up 8.8%.
The summer calendar is full of events.
On June 20, the Chamber will be hosting a Membership Appreciation Party.
The Winter Park Chamber of Commercehas a new formal service agreement with the Town of Fraser.

Emily Grand Lake Chamber of Commerce

She has not yet received March sales tax numbers. Grand Lake is up overall in sales tax for the month of January and down slightly in February.
The Grand Lake Chamber hosted the first ‘Visit Grand County’ campaign in April.
The Memorial Day weekend events were planned and produced by the town of Grand Lake instead of the Grand Lake Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber will only run the Pond Hockey and Buffalo Days events. The Town of Grand Lake will run all events with the help of a newly appointed event coordinator.
New this year, the Chamber created a Go Grand Lake Guidebook
The Chamber is maintaining the current website until the new website launches in November.
Grand Lake was awarded a CTO Destination Grant for a Digital Kiosk.
Grand Lake social media reached 40K followers as of early June.
Emily will be stepping down as Chamber Director but will stay on through the end of September and will continue as a contractor to finish up outstanding projects.

Sarah Destination Granby

Sarah gave an update on some of the summer's featured events, including Music and Market, the 4th of July Parade, and Art in the Park.
Destination is creating a Downtown Historic Park Project to share the area's history.
Downtown Granby has purchased lots in town to create pocket parks.
Website traffic up 45% from last year and social media is up 22 to 47%.

Brittany Kremmling Chamber of Commerce

Brittany went over events, including Kremmling’s Farmers Market, and Kremmling Days.
The Digital Marquee is up and operating. Brittany thanked the GCCTB for the funding for this marquee.
Brittany is working on a visitor guide that will be printed this fall.
Brittany said that sales tax is down, but she has not gotten the final numbers.

EDA GRANT RON ELLIS PRESENTING FOR DIANN BUTLER

Ron reviewed the history of the EDA Grant and how the Grand County Colorado Tourism Board partnered with Grand County Economic Development to apply for it.
The grant was awarded in 2023, and Grand County was the only county that received the grant.
Ron reviewed the study's Key Deliverables.

BOARD COMMITTEE REPORTS

FinanceCommittee(RonEllis & Rebecca Bierden)

Due to some reporting inconsistencies, Due to past reporting inconsistencies, Gaylene will work from the county worksheet for consistency in reporting lodging tax.

Marketing Committee (Elizabeth Brumm)

The marketing committee had concerns about the website and requested a full audit.
The committee ok’d Gaylene approving marketing items if the committee does not respond.
Elizabeth briefly reviewed the committees taking over of the Stand Grand campaign and promotional material.
Gaylene reviewed Datafy’s MAIL campaign.

Rebecca moved to approve $5,000.00 on the Datafy MAIL Campaign, and Elizabeth seconded it. The motion carried unanimously.

INTERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR REPORT(Gaylene)

Nancy Du Lac, resigned from GCCTB. Gaylene noted that the board now needs two board members in Mainstem and one in the 3 Lakes District.
Gaylene researched facilitators for the board retreat, met with AirDNA/Datafy, met with Grand Places and HTA to discuss Stand Grand, and met with Miles Partnership and the Marketing Committee.
Sent letters to the GCCTB grant recipients about attending the BOCC meeting on June 18.
Gaylene attended the Grand Lake Dark Sky Steering Committee, met with Shanna Ganne and Patrick Brower and attended the Monthly Chamber chat with the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce.

MARKETING UPDATE | MILES PARTNERSHIP

Carrie Tomlinson Presented the Updated Marketing Plan:

Reviewed programmatic advertising strategy.
Showed new landing pages built out on the website for the summer.
Shared work on summer email campaigns. Emails had a 21% Open Rate with a 6% CTR.
Paid social ads in-state and out-of-state are above 2%.
New marketing placements with the local market include radio advertising with KFFR and print advertising with the Sky-Hi News. Messaging is for the local community to create awareness, education and grant information.

Karen Presented Key Findings, Data & Budget Information:

Karen shared the board’s budget spreadsheet.
Discussed travel data trends and noted that travelers are starting to get nervous about spending money on travel.
She brought up the additional marketing options that were presented to the board and reviewed them again.

OLD BUSINESS

BOCC Meeting June 18th

Attending: Kristen, Cheryl and Jennifer. Elizabeth may attend by Zoom

Board Retreat(July 25 Winter Park Resort)

The selected facilitator is Virginia Winters. The budget for the facilitator is not to exceed $7,500.00 plus expenses.

Cheryl moved to approve $7500.00 plus expenses on the facilitator, and Rebecca seconded it. The motion carried unanimously.

NEW BUSINESS

Impact Study Review

Dave Betcher with RRC reviewed the initial impact study with the board and shared how a decrease in funding affects not only tourism but the overall economy as well.

Datafy Renewal

Gaylene stated that the Datafy renewal fee of $16,000.00 is due at this time. AirDNA is also up for renewal, but they have not reached out about our contract. She suggested another option called Lighthouse and will bring more information at the July meeting.

Rebecca moved to approve $16,000.00 on Datafy subscription renewal, and Cheryl seconded it. The motion carried unanimously.

Marketing RFP

Gaylene process of the marketing RFP.
Kristen, Gaylene, and Paula will review the RFP and share with the board in July.

CTO Governor’s Conference

Dates are September 25 - 27, 2024 with the event in Crested Butte.
Gaylene asked that the board members let her know by email if they would like to attend.
GCCTB will pay for lodging, gas, and registration fee. Board members will need to make their own lodging reservations.

Adjourn

Ron moved to adjourn the meeting, and Cheryl seconded it. The motion carried unanimously, and the meeting was adjourned at 5:15 p.m.

Next Meeting: July 11, 2024

Location: Zoom Meeting

Presentations: Grant Reviews