Title
Planning and Building Department, Economic Development Division, recommending the Board consider the following:
1) Approve and authorize the Chair to sign Funding Agreement 6493 with the Economic Development Corporation of El Dorado County (EDC2) for a funding contribution towards the development of a Destination Operating System provided by Zartico for use in marketing, community development, and sustainability efforts related to tourism, with a term of one (1) year and a not to exceed amount of $9,000 for the first year implementation and services, with an optional additional $9,000 and additional one (1) year term extension and a total not-to-exceed amount of $18,000, contingent upon EDC2’s successful renewal of an agreement with Zartico for a second year of service; and
2) Authorize the Purchasing Agent, or designee, to execute any further documents determined necessary related to Funding Agreement 6493, including amendments which do not increase the not-to-exceed amount or term of the Agreement, contingent upon approval by County Counsel and Risk Management.
FUNDING: Transient Occupancy Tax funds.
Body
DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
In October 2021, EDC2 received a presentation and proposal from Zartico to develop and implement an automated, cloud-based Destination Operating System to provide a single source of intelligence that directly connects to third-party data providers via Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) of primary data sources to automate data ingestions into Zartico’s cloud-based warehouse, which will be used to track and disseminate data related to marketing, community development, and sustainability efforts associated with tourism.
Additionally, the Destination Operating System will include data addressing tourism employment statistics and recovery metrics, which will be used to better understand the impact of tourism in different areas of the County, quantify the impact lost jobs and revenue, and provide insight into ideal times to promote travel in different areas of the County.
This program will enable the County, El Dorado County Transportation Commission (EDCTC), and EDC2 to make real-time decisions regarding programs or opportunities around tourism. It will provide information on specifically where our tourists are originating from, how we can market and attract tourists from those areas, how we can address impacts on roads and services in those areas tourists are traveling, and the software will provide us information on what business sectors are being most frequented which will provide insight in which business sectors the County may want to assist.
Upon development and implementation of the Destination Operating System, Zartico will work with EDC2, the EDCTC, and the Planning and Building Department, Economic Development Division (Department) teams to onboard and train the team on its use, including in-depth report gathering, insights, and information needed to make critical decisions or communicate success. Zartico will also work with the team for the duration of the use of the Destination Operating System to facilitate the creation of custom insights and exploratory data analysis through reporting to address specific needs based on destinations such as common visitor itineraries, visitor segmentation by in-market behavior, cross visitation charts, and analysis of hotel and non-hotel stays.
Examples of reporting and insight updates include, but are not limited to the following:
• Top origin markets by season and type of traveler;
• Most heavily visited points of interest and destinations;
• Marketing and content performance;
• Visitor to resident ratios;
• Organic search traffic with customizable timeframes; and
• Marketing performance summaries and organic social performance.
Following discussions with both the Department and EDCTC, it was determined that this Destination Operating System would not only benefit EDC2, but would also benefit the Department and EDCTC. As such, the Department is proposing to contribute funding for EDC2’s costs for the Destination Operating System. Similarly, EDCTC is also proposing a funding contribution in the same amount and terms as the Department’s proposed contribution.
ALTERNATIVES
The Board may choose not to approve the proposed Funding Agreement. This would potentially limit EDC2’s ability to fund the implementation and services of the Destination Operating System, which provides a mutual benefit to EDC2, EDCTC, and the County.
PRIOR BOARD ACTION
N/A
OTHER DEPARTMENT / AGENCY INVOLVEMENT
Economic Development Corporation of El Dorado County
El Dorado County Transportation Commission
CAO RECOMMENDATION / COMMENTS
Approve as recommended.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
There is no change to Net County Cost associated with this item. It’s anticipated that the Department will have the flexibility to absorb the initial funding contribution for the costs associated with the year-one development and implementation in its Fiscal Year 2022-23 budget. The funding contribution for the optional second year is included in the Department’s Fiscal Year 2022-23 budget.
CLERK OF THE BOARD FOLLOW UP ACTIONS
1) The Clerk of the Board will obtain the Chair’s signature on two (2) original copies of the Funding Agreement; and
2) The Clerk of the Board will forward one (1) fully-executed copy of the Funding Agreement to the Chief Administrative Office, Procurement and Contracts Division, for further processing.
STRATEGIC PLAN COMPONENT
Economic Development: The development and implementation of the Destination Operating System will provide additional data and tools to assist with promoting and expanding agriculture, recreation, and tourism (i.e. geotourism, and agriculture tourism) and their related businesses.
CONTACT
Kyle Zimbelman, Economic and Business Relations Manager
Planning and Building Department