Explore Fairbanks 2015 Annual Report

2015 ANNUAL REPORT AN ECONOMIC DRIVER IN THE FAIRBANKS REGION, MARKETING TO POTENTIAL VISITORS AND OPTIMIZING THE VISITOR EXPERIENCE SINCE 1977

Letters from the

MAYORS

On behalf of the residents of the FNSB, we extend our deepest appreciation for another great year of visitor industry services! 2015 was a record year for total hotel/motel tax collection, passenger arrivals at the Fairbanks International Airport and a double digit increase in border crossings at the Alcan Highway. The entire team at Explore Fairbanks is to be commended for giving the extra special touch to make everyone feel welcome and experience our community.

Karl W. Kassel, Mayor Fairbanks North Star Borough Explore Fairbanks continues to serve a vital role for Interior Alaska and our Golden Heart City. They provide visitor information, actively market Fairbanks, and work to attract meetings and conventions. Increasing visitor numbers speak to their success. Extremely encouraging is the number of flights numerous airlines are scheduling each year, a product of the work Explore Fairbanks has accomplished. Explore Fairbanks has outstanding, proactive directors and employees. They are progressive, creative, and of immeasurable value to our community.

John Eberhart, Mayor City of Fairbanks Explore Fairbanks serves a vital role in our community by marketing our natural and visual wealth to the world and has exemplified their ability with the wildly successful marketing video. Their efforts are evident by the determination to bring conferences, meetings and tourists from all over the world into the Interior. These events, activities and experiences are so memorable and successful due to the dedication, quality of work, and meticulous attention to detail by the Explore Fairbanks staff and volunteers. They have worked to make it easier for foreign guests to visit and will have a lasting positive effect on our community and state.

Bryce Ward, Mayor City of North Pole

Message from the Board

CHAIR

Tourism in Alaska and even more so in the Interior is moving in the right direction. With many of our Alaska industries and the state government looking for ways to downsize, the tourism industry is looking for ways to continue to grow. Growth has been coming in many areas. Winter tourism has had positive growth in the last three to four years statewide. Fairbanks is leading this growth and the team at Explore Fairbanks is leading the charge.

International direct flights into Fairbanks help move the needle. Other air carriers were quick to pick up the void left when Japanese Airlines could no longer support the routes due to internal issues. With hard work from Explore Fairbanks and our great partnership with the Fairbanks International Airport staff we were able to help other carriers see the value in these routes for our guests.

With a 2% growth over 2014 in bed tax collections we have surpassed 2012 (the last highest collection year). The industry is collecting more bed tax to help support our local governments and community than any time before. Tourism is healthy and growing.

Dustin Adams Regency Fairbanks Hotel

2015 Board of

DIRECTORS Dustin Adams, Chair Regency Fairbanks Hotel

Matt Divens, Chair Elect HAP Alaska-Yukon

Kory Eberhardt, Treasurer A Taste of Alaska Lodge

Ryan Binkley, Secretary

Riverboat Discovery and Gold Dredge 8

Andy Anger, Past Chair

University of Alaska Community & Technical College

Deb Hickok, President and CEO Explore Fairbanks

Jason Avery

Pioneer Park, Fairbanks North Star Borough Parks and Recreation

Patricia Silva

Westmark Fairbanks Hotel & Conference Center

Debbie Mathews Expressions in Glass

Mok Kumagai

Aurora Borealis Lodge

Becky Kunkle

Wedgewood Resort, Fountainhead Hotels

Kathy Hedges

Arctic Circle Trading Post

Irene Meyer

GoNorth Alaska Travel Center

Daniel David

University of Alaska Museum of the North

Jonathan Huff

Alaska Universal Productions

June Rogers

Fairbanks Arts Association

Van Lawrence, Ex Officio Fairbanks North Star Borough

Jim Matherly, Ex Officio Fairbanks City Council

Indicators of

GROWTH

Visitor Services staff greeted a record number of visitors in 2015, providing customer service to 132,000 guests at the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center—up 16% over 2014.

Boosting the economy through

TRAVEL

Record High Hotel/Motel Tax Collections

The total combined bed tax collections for the Fairbanks North Star Borough, including the cities of Fairbanks and North Pole, were $4.76 million—a more than 5% increase over 2014. Furthermore, this 2015 total is almost 2% over the previous high of $4.67 million in 2012.

.....................................

$5M

Summer visitors in Fairbanks spent an average $354 per person in the community for a total of $115 million in direct expenditures.

$4M

This figure does not include indirect spending or multipliers. Source: Alaska Visitor Statistics Program, Summer 2011

$3M

This figure does not include indirect spending or multipliers. Source: Alaska Visitor Statistics Program, Winter 2011-2012

.....................................

Border crossings at the Al-Can Highway from May through September were just over 67,000—a 16% growth over 2014.

City of Fairbanks

$2M

Fairbanks North Star Borough

$1M 0

In winter, average expenditures per person per trip is $920, with international visitors spending $1,612 per person. Winter visitors in Fairbanks totaled nearly $43 million in direct expenditures.

City of North Pole

2012

2013

2014

Increasing International Visitation

2015

Explore Fairbanks and business partners continued to vigorously pursue international markets, including northern Europe and German-speaking Europe, mainland China and Taiwan, Japan and Korea.

After news of a significantly reduced charter flight schedule by Japan Airlines due to internal challenges, Explore Fairbanks was buoyed by airline developments at the year’s end. In December, Fairbanks welcomed the first-ever winter charters with three direct flights each to Fairbanks via China Air carrying passengers from Taiwan, and via Uzbekistan Airways carrying passengers from Japan. In addition, Alaska Airlines has new partnership agreements with China-based Hainan Airlines and European carrier Icelandair. Delta Airlines, which has an extensive network of connectivity to international markets, is now flying year-round from Seattle to Fairbanks. In addition, Condor Airlines has expanded its summer 2016 season by adding two flights from Fairbanks for a total of 13 flights.

Building community relations and generating economic

IMPACT

Putting Fairbanks at the Top of the World

Explore Fairbanks continues to collaborate with community organizations and stakeholders to position Alaska’s Golden Heart City as the Arctic hub community for the United States. The US chairmanship of the Arctic Council and the Presidential visit to Alaska has focused attention on the Circumpolar North.

Increasing Economic Impact from Meetings and Future Plans

Coordination of local efforts have begun to host the 50th anniversary of the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention to be held in Fairbanks from October 20-22, 2016.

Staff have given a number of feasibility study presentations on a convention and/or performing arts center and have participated in the City of Fairbanks Mayor’s “Polaris Group.” Explore Fairbanks received a grant of $50,000 from the legacy fund of the International Arctic Winter Games. This money, combined with $20,000 budgeted in 2016, will be used to commission the next part of the feasibility study. This is a project that Explore Fairbanks has been working on since 2007 which will focus on the financials of construction as well as operations/management.

Celebrating 15 Seasons of Condor Service to Fairbanks

Explore Fairbanks hosted a special welcome at the Fairbanks International Airport on July 16th for passengers arriving on the Condor Airlines flight. A reception was later held aboard the Riverboat Discovery II for Condor representatives and community stakeholders.

Raising Money for Charities

With the help of the Alaska Travel Industry Association—Fairbanks Chapter, the Visitor Services and Partnership Development Department coordinated the 13th Annual Visitor Industry Walk for Charity. With 607 walkers, the 2015 Walk for Charity raised $19,103, distributing 100% of the donations to 44 registered charities. Since its inception, the Charity Walk has raised $314,785.22 for local 501(c)(3) nonprofits.

Honoring Meeting Ambassadors and Volunteers

The annual Golden Heart Gala recognized the efforts of 24 meeting ambassadors which accounted for more than 3,100 room nights and brought more than $4.67 million in estimated economic impact, including Arctic Winter Games, to the Fairbanks economy in 2014. The Gala also honored the 21 Golden Heart Greeter volunteers who assisted with 18 conventions, community events, and personal greets, racking up 179 hours of donated service in 2014.

Acknowledging Tourism Partners

Explore Fairbanks’ annual awards banquet was held on April 16 at Birch Hill Recreation Area. Awards were presented to the following individual and organizational partners of the Fairbanks region tourism industry: the Golden Heart Award to June Rogers, Fairbanks Arts Association; the Aurora Award to Mayor Luke Hopkins, Fairbanks North Star Borough; the Jim and Mary Binkley Award to HooDoo Brewing Co.; the Raven Award to Alaska Skylar Travel; and the Golden Heart Greeter of the Year Award to Hilda MacDonald.

Enhancing image with

MEDIA

Fairbanks Destination Video Wins Two Awards

The North American Travel Journalists Association (NATJA) awarded Explore Fairbanks with the Silver award in the Destination Videos category of the 2014 NATJA Awards Competition. The Public Relations Society of America—Alaska Chapter honored Explore Fairbanks with the 1st Place Award of Excellence for Video Material.

Since being released in October 2014, the video immediately received high praise and was uploaded to Explore Fairbanks’ YouTube and Facebook pages with more than 97,000 trackable views by the end of 2015. Additionally, the video has been uploaded to more than 20 websites including Alaska Dispatch News, UAF and Where Alaska. The video has also been shown at more than 20 events and conferences including the Alaska Media Road Show, Princess Cruises customer service training and for newcomers briefings at Fort Wainwright.

Online presence essential to

MARKETING explorefairbanks.com UNIQUE VISITORS: 267,435

RETURNING VISITORS: 123,114

7%

Social Media FANS & FOLLOWERS

Hosting Media and Tour Operators

For the second time in race history, Fairbanks hosted the Iditarod restart in March 2015. This opportunity generated many public relations activities including several local, statewide and national press releases which were picked up by over 4,000 media outlets including the Miami Herald, the Boston Globe and the Star Tribune.

The location change also saw a last minute media presence, with journalists from as far away as Germany.

UP

.....................................

FACEBOOK: 107,198 Explore Fairbanks coordinated and hosted 12 familiarization tours with a total of 40 tour operator and travel agent participants and 24 media tours with a total of 42 travel media participants. Domestic media tours included representatives from Sunset Magazine, USA Today, AAA Travel, Washington Post, Alaska Airlines and others.

International media tour participants included representatives from some of the most significant market segments, including Japan, Germany, Australia, China, Taiwan, Austria, Korea and more.

UP

5%

TWITTER: 4,685

INSTAGRAM

Launched INSTAGRAM

UP

110% UP

14% 1,354

NEW FOLLOWERS

Since launching on May 14, 2015, Explore Fairbanks had already gained 1,354 followers on Instagram by the end of the year. Highlighting brand pillars and visitor experience through a dynamic photo slideshow, Instagram offers a picturesque connection for the user to associate with Fairbanks.

Statement of

FINANCIAL POSITION December 31, 2015 and 2014

Current Assets

$ 686,529

274,275 88,817 198,914 1,459,925

221,356 78,170 175,322 1,161,377

Property and Equipment

285,427 204,688 80,739 1,540,664

285,749 182,552 103,196 1,264,574

133,533 76,406 13,602 158,539 382,080

140,648 64,993 57,633 144,470 407,744

Total assets

Current Liabilities

Accounts payable Payroll liabilities Deferred income Unearned revenues Total current liabilities

2015 STAFF Deb Hickok

Scott McCrea

President and CEO

Director of Tourism

Dawn Murphy

Director of Finance and Administration

Corinne Jankowski

Ed Malen

Tourism Senior Sales Manager

Ashley Ritenour

Administrative Coordinator

Tourism Sales Manager

Judy Dellinger

Elke Brosin

Amy Geiger

Charity Gadapee

Executive and Finance Coordinator Director of Communications

Jerry Evans

Director of Visitor Services and Partnership Development

Iwalani Lauver

Public Relations Manager

Kasey Gillam

Advertising and Marketing Associate

Sherman Hogue/Brady Gross Internet Marketing Associate

Angie Cerny

Branding and Production Coordinator

Helen Renfrew

Director of Meetings and Conventions

Allison Thompson

European Contractor

Sales and Services Associate

Manager of Visitor Services and Partnership Development

Bob Eley Alanna McBrayer Karen Norris Julia Parzick Shelly Smith Susan McMahon

Visitor Information Specialists

Hollis Hall Leo & Colleen Zeek

Visitor Information Volunteers

23 Golden Heart Greeter Volunteers

Net Assets – Unrestricted

Investment in property and equipment Board designated for subsequent years Board designated working capital reserve Undesignated Total net assets

ACTIVITIES December 31, 2015 and 2014

Revenues, Gains and Other Support

2015 2014 Hotel/motel contribution from City of Fairbanks $1,823,607 $ 1,708,352 1,184,782 1,114,894 Grants from Fairbanks North Star Borough 11,431 3,501 Hotel/motel contribution from City of North Pole Fairbanks International Airport contract 15,000 15,000 Program income: Advertising and Public Relations 129,801 129,264 Visitor Services 5,480 Tourism 92,090 99,965 Meetings and Conventions 59,888 28,866 Membership 129,643 145,682 Total revenues, gains and other support 3,446,242 3,251,003

Expenses

Programs Advertising and Public Relations Visitor Services Tourism Meetings and Conventions Membership General Administration Total expenses

Non-Operating Activities

(907) 457-3282 Marketing Offices (907) 456-5774 Visitor Information www.explorefairbanks.com

103,196 80,739 208,578 414,969 256,000 320,000 289,056 342,877 1,158,585 856,831 $1,540,664 $1,264,574

Statement of

Increase (decrease) in unrestricted net assets before non-operating activities

101 Dunkel Street, Suite 111 Fairbanks, AK 99701-4806

2014

$ 897,919

Less accumulated depreciation

Explore Fairbanks

2015

Cash Receivables Accounts and grants receivable, less allowance for doubtful accounts of $-0- and $-0Inventory Prepaid expenses Total current assets

Loss on disposal of fixed assets Change in net assets

Net Assets, January 1 Net Assets, December 31

1,116,875 429,270 534,543 335,054 189,227 539,519 3,144,489

1,121,833 472,950 505,103 320,361 199,274 496,748 3,116,269

301,753

134,735

301,753

(302) 134,433

$ 856,831 $1,158,585

$722,398 $856,831