Title
Planning and Building Department, Economic Development Division, recommending the Board receive a presentation from Jody Franklin of the El Dorado County Chamber of Commerce - Visitor's Authority on activities completed for Fiscal Year 2019-20, pursuant to the existing Funding Agreement that has a term from July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2021 in an amount not to exceed $861,840 481,840 for the two-year term.
FUNDING: General Fund (Transient Occupancy Tax).
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DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
The County has entered into agreements with various organizations over the years that act on the County's behalf to promote tourism, entertainment, business, and leisure travel. Effective July 1, 2019, the County entered into an agreement (Funding Agreement #3971) with the El Dorado County Chamber of Commerce - Visitor's Authority to conduct the following during the period of July 2019 through June 30, 2021:
Promotion/Advertising:
1) Print 83,000 magazine travel guides and distribute them on an ongoing basis to multiple regional locations.
2) Maintain and keep current a website and social media pages dedicated to visitor activities in El Dorado County. Identify new website trends to keep site and page view traffic consistent.
- Increase site and page views by 5% in year-to-year analytics.
- Maintain postings and website information.
3) Implement an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategy.
Provide Visitor Information out of market and in market
1) Staff Visitor Information Center which provides a comprehensive collection of local, regional and state visitor resources.
2) Provide ongoing fulfillment of visitor information requests.
3) Respond on a timely basis to information requests regarding tourism activities, on line and by phone.
Develop and update curated content for use across all platforms:
1) Increase photo library to incorporate three new areas of interest within El Dorado County’s experience pillars.
2) Create two videos that align with branding and messaging.
3) Identify and solicit guest bloggers to serve as brand ambassadors for El Dorado County.
4) Build an inventory of stories for distribution.
5) Facilitate media visits when appropriate.
6) Implement a collaborative familiarization tour to attract travel and activity writers
7) Build and maintain relationships with state and regional groups to increase knowledge regarding El Dorado County as a vacation destination.
8) Develop an ongoing communication program with the local tourism officials.
9) Educate the community about the value of tourism to their quality of life.
10) Develop an annual Tourism Summit to inform, educate and encourage partnership development.
11) Facilitate three tourism industry networking opportunities to encourage partnership development, cross promotion and collaboration among El Dorado County tourism businesses.
Generate Sales Leads
1) Attend one consumer trade show consumer trade shows in targeted vertical and geographic market.
2) Attend other specific trade shows with neighboring destinations in Gold Country working to develop a regional presence and reduce costs at the same time.
3) Take advantage of Visit California’s domestic and international sales opportunities as appropriate.
4) Develop a trade show evaluation form in order to identify areas of improvement and to gauge the overall effectiveness and ROI of each show for future planning.
Implement Digital Marketing Program
1) Build program to include online display ads, paid search, social media, eblasts, and video.
2) Develop a content calendar to identify post content and frequency.
Update advertising efforts to reach the target segment.
1) Develop partnership opportunities guide that would encourage individual businesses and organizations to participate and unify the destination message.
2) Create a cooperative advertisement insert in specific publications to create a larger El Dorado presence.
Implement 3 Tiered Measurement System
1) Program Level Measurements include website analytics, email opens, and banner ad click-throughs.
2) ROI Measurement designed to quantify the specific Return on Investment of the funds spent by the organization.
3) Destination Level Measurements to include Occupancy rate, Average Daily Rate and RevPAR.
4) Continue to implement periodic visitor profile studies.
5) Develop and implement an online ROI study.
ALTERNATIVES
N/A
PRIOR BOARD ACTION
On June 4, 2019 (Item. No. 29, Legistar Item #19-0712) the Board approved Funding Agreement 3971 with the El Dorado County Chamber of Commerce - Visitor's Authority.
OTHER DEPARTMENT / AGENCY INVOLVEMENT
N/A
CAO RECOMMENDATION / COMMENTS
Receive and file the presentation.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
There is no financial impact as a result of this presentation.
The County's recent practice has been to direct at least 51% of TOT revenue to the Economic Development budget. This was pursuant to Policy 10.1.6.4 of the Economic Development Element of the County's General Plan which specified that, "The majority of transient occupancy tax (TOT) generated revenue shall be directed toward the promotion of tourism, entertainment, business, and leisure travel in El Dorado County." On December 10, 2019 (Legistar Item #19-1755), the Board approved a General Plan Amendment to remove General Plan Section 10.1.6.4. On the same day, the Board approved a new Budget Policy (Policy B-16, Section II, No. 13), stating the following: “Transient Occupancy Tax revenue shall be directed toward the impact of tourism and economic development, with consideration for support of tourism and promotion activities within the County and for continued support for grant fund allocations to support Veteran programs within the County" (Legistar Item #19-1818).
The total amount of this funding agreement is $861,840 for the two year period from July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2021, funded with Transient Occupancy Tax revenue.
CLERK OF THE BOARD FOLLOW UP ACTIONS
N/A
STRATEGIC PLAN COMPONENT
This Funding Agreement addresses all elements of the Economic Development component of the County’s Strategic Plan, including developing and attracting businesses that provide economic sustainability and quality job creation, and nurturing the Community’s business friendly environment.
CONTACT
Tiffany Schmid, Director
Planning and Building Department