Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau - 2015 Annual Report

2015

ANNUAL REPORT Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau 301 N Main Street, Suite 101 Austin, Minnesota 55912 507-437-4563

The Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau promotes tourism for the Austin area to enhance the economy of the community.

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Notes from the Executive Director: 2015 was a very inspiring year! The uncertainty from changes at the end of 2014 (due to the SPAM Museum closing) had challenged us to take a fresh look at things and we quickly developed a positive approach for 2015 creating an incredible future outlook for tourism.

Austin hosted numerous conferences in 2015. The Habitat for Humanity State conference was held in April and with the help of many local business we were able to create a positive showcase of Austin for nearly 150 Habitat for Humanity representatives from around the state. The very next week we were honored to welcome nearly 100 regional members of AAUW as the local Austin Chapter hosted their conference. The fun continued as Phi Theta Kappa held their event in May with over 65 ppl attending and June followed with a very successful North Central Regional Simmental Classic Cattle show, which brought in over 300 people from across the country from June 15-20. Also in June, we hosted the Tour of Minnesota which brought nearly 150 pedal bikers from all corners of Minnesota into our community. Then in September, Austin hosted its first Minnesota State High School League mountain bike race with over 700 participants and nearly 2000 spectators at the brand new mountain bike trail. The Minnesota State High School Mountain Cycling League has confirmed that this race will be an annual event in Austin, so we are excited to host again September 10-11, 2016. Austin has become a sensational place for biking and there is so much more on the horizon in 2016. The International Airstream Reunion rolled into the Mower County Fairgrounds during the middle of September and the Beta Sigma Phi had nearly 200 sorority members enjoying Austin as destination at the end of the month. October was also a very exciting time as we resurrected a Storytelling festival that was a huge success in Austin for 22 years but then went dormant for nearly 8 years. 2015 was the first year back for “And That’s My Story” and there were about 125 attendees from over 5 states.

With such a positive outcome it has been determined to continue with an annual Austin storytelling event each fall. Save the dates for November 4-5, 2016!

Many of our efforts for 2015 were focused on promoting Austin to new audiences for future conferences and visits to our incredible community. We had great success in this area as we worked with local partners to win the bid to host The Southern Minnesota Region Robotics tournament in January 2016 & 2017. This event will bring 40-50 teams from across the state of Minnesota to Austin for 2 years. The Crown Victoria club of over 100 cars made a commitment to make Austin their destination for 3 days in May 2016. The Austin VFW won the bid to host the VFW golf tournament for 2017, 2018, and 2019 which will bring over 150 golfers each year. Independent Community Bankers will hold their annual conference of 100 people in Austin in July 2016 and later the same week nearly 125 people from the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities will get to explore our fine city.

Although tour and travel buses may have slowed down a bit in 2015, they definitely did not stop. The Hormel Historic Home Holiday Tea brought 4 buses to Austin one day in November. These attendees not only enjoyed the Hormel Historic Home they also participated in making memorable masterpieces for the holidays at the Austin ArtWorks Center, took in the Nativity House, city tours of Austin, the Hormel Institute and shopped in many of destination downtown retail shops, causing a positive economic impact to the downtown area. In addition to this day there were over 20 other tour and travel groups that visited throughout the year. The future looks incredible for tour and travel business visits too. A date of April 2016 was set for the new SPAM Museum to reopen in a new location downtown, so due to the increase in number of groups inquiring about coming to Austin and the anticipation of tour and travel buses expected to visit attractions in 2016 and beyond, we were fortunate to bring Austin native Angie Duis onto our team. By the end of 2015, she was able to secure 21 tour groups making Austin, Minnesota a destination and the reservations are continuing in a positive manner.

It’s always good when other media networks highlight Austin in a positive way. In 2015. The Only in Your State publication proclaimed The Tendermaid in Austin, a place you must eat at before you die! Minnesota meetings + Events has a full page article about Get to Know Austin, Minnesota. The Southern Minn SCENE had four pages of the “Amazing art in the land of SPAM” highlighting the importance of attending the Austin Artworks Festival. The positive press is priceless.

Future success was also set up as we launched a new website design and started a volunteer program called CIA (Communicating Incredible Austin) Agents. During the CIA program, agents get training in a trivia format at sessions that are held quarterly. Once a session is completed the CIA agents go on missions to greet groups, be step on guides for the tour and travel buses, and create an overall welcoming and positive memorable experiences for visitors that come to Austin.

Many of the out of town visitors we talked to this year made comments about how wonderful the CIA agent was, therefore we considered the program to be very successful and plan to continue for 2016.

A special thanks goes out to all the groups, organizations and individual who support the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau and our mission. I could not be more proud of the accomplishments the Austin community achieved in 2015!.

Sincerely, Nancy Schnable Executive Director

The Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau promotes tourism for the Austin area to enhance the economy of the community.

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2015 Board of Directors:

Mr. John Wright

Chair, AM1480 KAUS Radio

Mr. Tracy Benesh

Vice Chair, Holiday Inn/Days Inn/ Torge’s/ Austin Conference Center

Ms. Holly Johnson Secretary, Hormel Historic Home

Mr. Jeff Baldus

Treasurer, Austin Area Foundation

Mr. John Haymond

Attraction Representative, Mower County Historical Society

Austin Convention & Visitors Bureau Mission Statement: The Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau promotes tourism for the Austin Area to enhance the economy of the community.

Mr. Sandy Forstner

Austin Area Chamber of Commerce Representative

Ms. Hetal Patel

Lodging Representative

Mr. Eric Olson

Member at Large, KSMQ Public Television

Ms. Kim Underwood Austin Park and Rec Representative

Mr. Stephen King

City Council Representative

The Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau Board of Directors are comprised of appointed and elected members

2015 Office Staff:

Ms. Nancy Schnable (Full Time) Executive Director

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Ms. Eileen Chao (Part Time) Support Staff

Ms. Angie Duis

(Part Time) Tourism Coordinator

2015 Visitor Guide Distribution:

2015 VISITORS GUIDE

The Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau 2015 Visitors Guide was a 16 page publication that welcomed visitors to experience our incredible city. It supplies information on things to do, events, dining, camping, hotels, meeting space, attractions, where to shop, services available, local clubs and organizations, and places of worship as well as an area map.

In 2015 the format of the visitor guide was changed from a 8 ½ x 5 ½ to an full size publication at 8 ½ x 11. This change was due to more visibility in the display racks at the Minnesota State Travel Information Centers, and cost savings in printing and postage.

Emailed ................ 1,513 Mailed ................... 1,226 Welcome Bags ..... 2,840 Displayed ............. 11,775 (these are displayed at 11 MN State Travel Information

Centers, locally, and through various other regional partnerships)

... Eat, Play, Meet, Discover & Stay

* The 2015 Austin Convention and Visitors Guide was also available to view on our website www.AustinCVB.com * Request for Visitor Guides came from all 50 states. Top states: MN, IL, WI, IA, CA * Request for Visitor Guides came from 45 countries. Top countries: Algeria, Morocco, Russia

Weekly Newsletter Distribution: 996 Weekly subscribers (30% increase YOY) (NOTE: open rate is 19.5%, industry average is 17.7%)

Social Media Outreach: 728 Likes on Facebook (13% increase YOY)

Website:

43,410 Visitors to the www.AustinCVB.com website (2015 was the first year we charted website numbers)

Overnight Travelers: $149,360.55 = 3% lodging tax City Lodging Tax Revenue YOY increase of 3.7% This includes all lodging: leisure, business, groups.

• Each successful year at the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau means money is gained by our hotels, restaurants, attraction merchants and entertainers.

The Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau promotes tourism for the Austin area to enhance the economy of the community.

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The Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau promotes tourism for the Austin area to enhance the economy of the community.

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Calendar of events for 2016: MAY

AUGUST

6................ Comedy Night (Paramount Theatre) 6-8............. 2016 Minnesota Spring Beef Classic (Mower County Fairgrounds) 7-8............. Cedar River Archery Club 3D Shoot 7................ Austin City-Wide Rummage Sale 14.............. County Recycling Event (Mower County Fairgrounds) 14–15......... Austi-Con Gaming Tournament (Holiday Inn) 15.............. Bike Safety Bash/YMCA Kids Fest (East Side Lake) 21.............. VFW Classic Car Show (Austin VFW) 26-Jun2...... Softball Tournament (Todd Park) 28.............. Driller MMA Fights (Holiday Inn)

3-7............. Harvey (Summerset Theatre, Riverland) 6-7............. Girls State Fast Pitch Softball Tournament (Todd Park) 9–14........... Free Mower County Fair (Mower County Fairgrounds) 19-21......... Matchbox Children’s Theatre Production

– A Shakespeare Celebration (Paramount Theatre) 20.............. Veterans’ Memorial Car Show (LaFayette Park) 20.............. MN Southbound Rollers vs Cedar Rapids Roller Girls

roller derby bout (Packer Arena) 20-21......... Cedar River Archery Club 3D Shoot 23.............. Sena Ehrhardt and Cole Allen Concert (Hormel Historic Home) 24.............. Austin Community Sings (Bandshell) 27–28......... Austin ArtWorks Festival

JUNE 1–3............. Cancer Symposium (Hormel Institute) 3................ Summer Kick-Off (Downtown Austin) 3-5............. 15th Annual Three Rivers Flea Market and Rummage Sale

(Mower County Fairgrounds) 4................ Hormel Institute Expansion Open House 4-5............. Baseball Tournament (Todd Park) 5................ 5th Annual Darren Dash Half Marathon/5K/Kiddie Run 11.............. Cedar River Awareness Day 11-12......... Baseball Tournament (Riverland Baseball Complex) 11-12......... Cedar River Archery Club 3D Shoot 13-17......... Kelly Keenan Hockey Camp (Riverside) 18-19......... Girls Fast Pitch Softball Twister Tournament 20.............. A Touch of Magic Children’s Magic Show (Hormel Historic Home) 20-24......... Jason Fornwald Hockey Camp (Riverside) 21-26......... Shrek the Musical (Summerset Theatre, Riverland) 23.............. Gene Roden Memorial Track Meet (Westcott Field) 23-26......... SPAM®Town Challenge (Marcusen Park) 25.............. Shooting Star Bike Ride (Shooting Star Bike Trail) 25.............. Haitian Hustle 5K 25-26......... Baseball Tournament & Wood Bat Tournament (Todd Park)

10-11......... Cedar River Archery Club 3D Shoot 10–11......... Minnesota Statewide High School Mountain Bike Race 10–14......... 70th National Barrow Show (Mower County Fairgrounds) 21–23......... Cancer Symposium (Hormel Institute) 24.............. Fall Harvest Celebration (Mower County Historical Society) 28–30......... MCCE, Austin Area Chamber of Commerce (Holiday Inn)

OCTOBER 14-15......... Halloween Warm-Up (Jay C. Hormel Nature Center) 29.............. Fall Fest (Downtown Austin)

NOVEMBER 4-5............. And That’s My Story Storytelling Festival (Hormel Historic Home) 10-16......... Calico Hutch Quilters Retreat (Holiday Inn) 18-19......... Hormel Historic Home Holiday Event 25-Dec 1..... Christmas in the City

DECEMBER

JULY 1-4............. Austin Freedom Fest 5-8............. Austin Bruins Tryouts (Riverside) 9................ MN Southbound Rollers Derby Mixer (Packer Arena) 11-15......... 3rd Annual Clean Water Festival (Jay C. Hormel Nature Center) 13-17......... The Murder Room (Summerset Theatre, Riverland) 16-16......... Cedar River Archery Club 3D Shoot 17-18......... Packer Classic (Austin Country Club) 19-20......... Community Independent Bankers (Holiday Inn) 20-22......... Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities (Holiday Inn) 22-24......... Baseball State Tournament (Riverland Baseball Complex) 22-24......... Southern Minny Girls Fast Pitch Tournament (Todd Park) 23.............. 5K Your Way 23–24......... Mower County Relay for Life (Mower County Fairgrounds) 26.............. Gene Roden Memorial Track Meet (Westcott Field) 29.............. Hormel Institute Expansion Open House 23–29......... Hormel Foods’ 125th Anniversary Celebration 30.............. Hormel Institute Expansion Open House 30-31......... Southern Minny Girls Fast PitchTournament (Todd Park)

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SEPTEMBER

3................ Merry TubaChristmas Concert 10.............. Christmas in the County 17.............. Driller MMA Fights (Holiday Inn)

Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau For the most complete and current information about what is happening in the Austin area, visit www.AustinCVB.com.

To receive our weekly E-Newsletter call 507-437-4563 or email visitor@austincvb.com

301 N Main Street, Suite 101 Austin, Minnesota 55912

The Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau promotes tourism for the Austin area to enhance the economy of the community.