Brookings Convention & Visitors Bureau 2019 Annual Report

ANNUAL REPORT

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THE BROOKINGS CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU (CVB) WORKS WITH STRATEGIC PARTNERS TO MARKET BROOKINGS, DEVELOP TOURISM, AND STRENGTHEN EVENTS PROVIDING ECONOMIC IMPACT TO OUR COMMUNITY.

OUR MISSION

C B

CVB S TAFF + BOARD OF DIRECTORS

LAURA SCHOEN CARBONNEAU | Executive Director BRIDGIT BURGHARDT | Director of Sales and Operation EMILY BRAUN | Marketing & Communications Coordinator

Seth Koch, Wooden Legs Brewing Co. Randy Soma, Brookings High School Athletic Dept.

Jeff Drietz,*SDSU Athletic Department Kate Treiber, SD Children’s Museum Michael Johnson, Pheasant Restaurant Carrie Kuhl, UpFrame Creative

Aaron Carsrud, Comfort Suites Tom Richter, Swiftel Center Jamison Lamp, SDSU President’s Office Victoria Blatchford, Wells Fargo Dan Brettschneider,* City of Brookings Parks & Rec Jacob Meshke, City of Brookings *Denotes members who left the CVB Board in 2019.

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ANNUAL REPORT

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FROM THE DIRECTOR Greetings Community Leaders and Industry Partners, 2019 was an impressive year for our tourism industry. From hotels to attractions, special events to business travel, the numbers were up, providing a positive impact on our local economy. When our hotels, attractions, restaurants and gas stations do well, we all benefit.

Our biggest success comes in the form of partnerships with our industry partners in Brookings as well as with the team from the South Dakota Department of Tourism.

We know that through working together, we can do more to promote our wonderful community.

The CVB team and board welcomed me as the new Executive Director last July and it has been my pleasure to bring together ideas and energy to work toward our mission of marketing Brookings, developing tourism and strengthening events. Our office is building on success of the past and excited to take a big step forward in the coming year.

Thank you for taking this opportunity to look through our highlights of 2019 and for the opportunity to be part of this incredible community, Kind regards, Laura Schoen Carbonneau Executive Director Brookings Convention & Visitors Bureau

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ANNUAL REPORT

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EVE NT RE CRU I TME NT 2 019 BY T H E N UM B E R S

79,370

$10.1 MILLION

Number of Visitors

Event Economic Impact

10,973 Number of Hotel Rooms

50

Number of Events Supported by the CVB (through grants or services)

19 New Events

$102.88 Return on Investment

43

Event Grant Applications Processed

In 2019, the Brookings CVB, in combination with industry partners generated $10.1 million in economic impact. Through the CVB Event Grant Program, the CVB supported 50 events, including 19 new events.

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A N N U A L 20 R E P O R T 19

NE W E V E NT S

E VENT T YPE

26%

EVENTS

53%

21%

18 24 23 24 19

TOURNAMENTS

CONVENTIONS/ MEETINGS

28% NEW

21%

51%

YEARLY

2015 2016 2017 2018  2019

ROTATING

Sporting events and tournaments remain a foundational component of the visitor industry in Brookings, generating high weekend volume and the highest event ROI. The CVB works to support and increase this important market segment, while focusing on the development of meetings and conventions, which boost week-day hotel night stays.

The Brookings CVB works to provide an increasing number of events and visitors which contribute to the economic and cultural growth of Brookings.

In 2019, the CVB helped attract 19 new events to Brookings. Our goal is to make these yearly events.

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ANNUAL REPORT

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EVE NT RE CRU I TME NT HIS TOR I C AL H I G HLI G HT S

48 53 45 49 43

The CVB works to maximize economic impact from events, while being fiscally responsible.

Funding preference is given to events which draw attendees from out of town, multiple day events and reoccurring events

2016 2017

2018 2019

TOTA L N U M B E R OF EV E N T S

69 74 65 76 50

2015

EVENT S S UPPO R TED TH RO UGH THE GR ANT PRO GR A M

2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

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A N N U A L 20 R E P O R T 19

EVEN T R E C RU I T ME NT E C O N O MI C I M PAC T R E T U RN O N I NV ES T M ENT

2017

$9,699,876

2017

2016

$11,347,440

2016

$12,371,508

2015

*Economic impact is calculated using the following formula: $140 per day for first person lodging $60 per day for the second person lodging and $60 per day per commuter

2 019

2018

$6,793,326

2018

2 019

$10,168,037

2015

$102.88 $62.20 $91.58 $81.34 $106.37

E C ON OMIC IMPACT

*The formula includes a multiplier of 1.8 *event attendee numbers are based on the information provided by the event organizer through an application or post-event evaluation form.

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EVE NT RE CRU I TME NT PROGR E S S I N D I C ATO R S

Third B tax is collected on items such as alcohol sales, prepared food, and lodging. In 2019, Third B tax collections totaled $1,052,364

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A N N U A L 20 R E P O R T 19

2 019 2018 2017

BI D TAX

2 019

$256,340.00

2016

$837,593.75

$247,832.00

$220,613.00

2015

$924,378.84

2017

$933,056.77

$247,790.00

2016

$918,052.17

$267,538.00

2015

TH IRD B TAX

$1,052,364.00

2018

The CVB is funded through a combination of the Third B Tax and the BID Tax, commonly referred to as the Pillow Tax. In addition to our annual strategic goals and objectives, the CVB monitors both Third B and BID Tax as indicators of our overall progress and success.

The BID tax is a $2.00 tax collected on occupied hotel rooms. Brookings started collecting the tax in May 2012. In 2019, the BID tax increased 8% over 2018.

The NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championship was a partnership between Dakota State University, South Dakota State University, the Swiftel Center and the Brookings CVB. The impact of this one event has been monumental to our overall success as a CVB and city.

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ANNUAL REPORT

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M ARKETIN G AUD IEN C E PRO FI L E The Brookings CVB targets three different audience groups through various channels, both traditionally and digitally. A portion of visits are tracked through online forms and event recruitment, while another portion is tracked through actual visitation numbers provided by the South Dakota Department of Tourism.

THREE MAIN AUDIENCE GROUPS

1

EVENT PLANNERS

2

RECREATIONAL TRAVELERS

3

INDUSTRY PARTNERS

ARRIVALIST | GEO-LOCATION INTELLIGENCE FOR TRAVEL Arrivalist is a visitation intelligence company which provides actionable insights on consumer behavior, competitive share, media effectiveness, and market trends. The chart below features data collected from January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2019.

ARRIVALIST DATA Designated Market Area Name

% of Total Arrivals Arrivals Average time in Brookings Average time in South (Days, Hours)

Minneapolis/Saint Paul Fargo/Valley City Sioux City Omaha Des Moines/Ames Mankato Lincoln/Hastings/Kearney Rochester/Mason City/Austin Minot/Bismarck/Dickinson Medford/Klamath Falls Kansas City Chicago Cedar Rapids/Waterloo/Dubuque A N N U A L 20 Denver R E P O R T 19 Sioux Falls/Mitchell La Crosse/Eau Claire Eureka

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27.10% 10.00% 10.00% 7.10% 4.00% 3.70% 3.00% 2.70% 2.00% 2.00% 1.90% 1.60% 1.60% 1.50% 1.00% 0.90% 0.90%

101804 37497 37473 26796 15004 13817 11432 10191 7605 7580 7105 6044 5996 5454 3782 3370 3314

20 Hours, 51 Minutes 14 Hours, 32 Minutes 12 Hours, 35 Minutes 13 Hours, 52 Minutes 18 Hours, 30 Minutes 20 Hours, 28 Minutes 17 Hours, 23 Minutes 1 Day, 1 Hours, 50 Minutes 16 Hours, 56 Minutes 7 Hours, 27 Minutes 23 Hours, 34 Minutes 21 Hours, 37 Minutes 17 Hours, 34 Minutes 23 Hours, 47 Minutes 11 Hours, 17 Minutes 23 Hours, 23 Minutes 6 Hours, 34 Minutes

Dakota (Days, Hours) 1 Day, 11 Hours, 53 Minutes 1 Day, 7 Hours, 50 Minutes 22 Hours, 5 Minutes 1 Day, 8 Hours, 18 Minutes 1 Day, 14 Hours, 18 Minutes 1 Day, 5 Hours, 8 Minutes 1 Day, 8 Hours, 36 Minutes 1 Day, 18 Hours, 57 Minutes 1 Day, 13 Hours, 10 Minutes 9 Hours, 10 Minutes 2 Days, 0 Hours, 19 Minutes 1 Day, 20 Hours, 14 Minutes 1 Day, 12 Hours, 12 Minutes 3 Days, 1 Hours, 21 Minutes 13 Hours, 59 Minutes 1 Day, 19 Hours, 22 Minutes 8 Hours, 12 Minutes

Ô

W EBSIT E

VISITBROOKINGSSD.COM

69,540 53,551 TOTAL VISITS (SESSIONS)

NEW VISITORS TO THE SITE

40%

60% MALE

6,626

9,907

HOTELS

ATTRACTIONS

2.84

AVERAGE VIEWING FEMALE

TOP 5 PAGES VIEWED

EVENTS

HOMEPAGE

THINGS TO DO

RETURNING VISITORS TO THE SITE

11,028

14,421 10,182

8,517

AVERAGE PAGES VIEWED PER SESSION

1 min. 36 sec. 5% AVERAGE TIME ON SITE:

over 2018

10% 23% 21% 19% 16% 11% 18-24

25-34

35-44

45-54

55-64

65+

1.28 NUMBER OF SESSIONS /USER

SES·SION /ˈseSHən/

noun: session; plural noun: sessions 1. the period time a user is actively engaged with your website, app, etc. All usage data (Screen Views, Events, Ecommerce, etc.) is associated with a session.

AUDIENCE /AGES 20 19

ANNUAL REPORT

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M ARKETIN G WE B S IT E V I SI T S BY REGI ON & CIT Y REGION USERS

CITY USERS

South Dakota

Brookings 11,329

20,120

Minnesota 11,071

Chicago 7,824

Illinois 8,150

Minneapolis 7,153

Nebraska 1,570

Sioux Falls

3,087

Iowa 1,562

(not set)

2,873

California 1,215

Omaha 977

Virginia 995

Ashburn 848

North Dakota

847

Watertown 665

Missouri 733

Aberdeen 470

Wisconsin 666

New York

398

TABLET

5.2%

MOBILE

DESKTOP

43.3%

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A N N U A L 20 R E P O R T 19

TOP DEVICES US ED

51.3%

Mobile: 27,652 Desktop: 23,401 Tablet: 2,830

TOP 5 C H AN N EL S Organic search continues to be the top channel for visits to the website.

CHAN·NEL /’CHanl/

noun: channel; plural noun: channels 1. A channel is the way a visitor finds and accesses the website.

TOP CHANNELS

USERS

Organic Search

28,179

PAID SEARCH

11.84%

ORGANIC SEARCH :

Direct 13,186 Paid Search

6,614

Referral 3,336

SOCIAL

5.97% 4.49%

REFERRAL

DIRECT:

23.6%

50.43%

Social 2,511 Display 1,304

TOP REFERRALS

 cityofbrookings.org  facebook.com  sdstate.edu  brookingsmarathon.com  travelsouthdakota.com 20 19

ANNUAL REPORT

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M ARKETIN G D I GITA L M AR K E T I N G

3,481 clicks

GOOGLE AD CAMPAIGNS

6,614

398

(34% INCREASE OVER 2018) HARD COPY VISITOR GUIDE

VISITOR GUIDE DOWNLOADS

EVENT PLANNING SEARCH:

FAMILY SEARCH:

645 clicks

2,013 clicks

TOTAL IMPRESSIONS

HOTEL CLICKS:

1,467 clicks

(38% INCREASE OVER 2018)

E M AIL M AR K E T I N G

678

Subscribers

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3 Month Email

127 Subscribers

551

Brookings CVB

31.75%

CVB Open Rate

SOCIAL M E D I A

E D Q TOTAL SOCIAL IMPRESSIONS: 1,951,214

IMPRESSIONS

IMPRESSIONS

1,612,814

256,700

6%

12%

increase over 2018

FOLLOWERS

3,058

increase over 2018

FOLLOWERS

23.8%

increase over 2018

1,495

IMPRESSIONS

81,700 *Between 2018 and 2019, Instagram made significant changes to their analytic offerings for business accounts. Before, we were only able to collect likes, comments, and shares on individua posts. Now we can collect insights on all content, activity, and audience.

FOLLOWERS

5%

increase over 2018

1,385

25%

increase over 2018

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ANNUAL REPORT

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M ARKETIN G PRIN T

TOTAL PRINT IMPRESSIONS:

194,000

TOWN & COUNTRY SHOPPER Miss SD: 20,000 impressions

BROOKINGS REGISTER Frost Fest 16,000 impressions

605 MAGAZINE Frost Fest 60,000 impressions

Great 8 Passport 60,000 impressions

CRYSTAL SPRINGS RODEO 10,000 impressions

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MIDWEST MEETINGS 28,000 impressions

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ANNUAL REPORT

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TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AT T HE S TAT E L E V E L The Brookings CVB works regularly with the South Dakota Department of Tourism. Their primary mission is to promote the state as a premier vacation destination. In 2019, the CVB partnered with state tourism on a Great Getaway co-op campaign mailer and the Brand USA Road Trip video.

IMPACT OF TOURISM

ACROSS SOUTH DAKOTA

$308 MILLION

IN STATE & LOCAL TAXES

14.5 MILLION

VISITATION IN 2019

$4.1 BILLION

IN VISITOR SPENDING

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A N N U A L 20 R E P O R T 19

increase

2.8%

increase

VISITOR SPENDING SUPPORTS

8.8% JOBS IN SD

CO-OP ADVERTISING WITH THE SD DEPT. OF TOURISM Brand USA Road Trip | Great Getaway

3.1%

AT T HE R E G I O N AL LE V E L The Brookings CVB is a member of the Glacial Lakes & Prairies Tourism Association (GL&PT), a non-profit organization which covers the 20-county area of Northeastern South Dakota. With our membership, we receive endless supplies of South Dakota Vacation Guides and South Dakota Highway Maps, as well as avid promotion of our city, attractions, and events.

GL&PT REGIONAL TOURISM MARKETING GRANT OPPORTUNITY Through the marketing grant program, the following initiatives have increased our reach to visitors and enhanced our overall marketing efforts. The Brookings CVB has been utilizing this grant since 2015.

C A M PA I GN S + P RO JEC T S

• Downtown at Sundown

• Brookings Great 8 Passport

• Email Marketing • Online Advertising Campaigns

Name

Passport to Brookings Address

City

Email addre

State

ss

Zip

MakeI’ma interes stop at each ted in receivi ng occasional location to receive a emails about local events and Brookings. stamp in your passport.

Get as many stamps as you can and turn in the completed passport to any one of our Brookings Great 8 attractions. You will then be entered into a monthly drawing for a $25 cash card.

Brookings Great 8 Brookings Great 8 Explore our

great places original to Broo and enjoy end kings less amounts of laughter while creating memories to last a lifetime .

Learn more about the Brookings Great 8 Passport at 415 8th Street Visitbrookingssd.com/great8 South |

Brookings SD | 605.692.61 25

Minimum of 6 stamps to be eligible.

Passport valid through December 2018

passpo

rt

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ANNUAL REPORT

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TOURISM DEVELOPMENT MEMORABLE MOMENTS

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A N N U A L 20 R E P O R T 19

MOVIN G FORWARD EFFOR T S M OV I N G FO RWA R D At the end of 2019, the CVB took steps to become our own, independent 501(c)6 organization. The paperwork was submitted at the end of 2019 and

by January 2020, we legally became Visit Brookings. Our new brand was announced to the public in June of 2020.

AT OUR CORE

In 2020, our CVB priorities remain consistent within Event Recruitment, Marketing & Awareness, and Tourism Development. Our goals throughout the year are a combination of new initiatives and on-going duties.

EVENT RECRUITMENT

Event recruitment and retention continue to be the heartbeat of tourism in the Brookings market. The CVB remains focused on this effort and is identifying new tools and resources for event planners.

MARKETING

Sharing the Brookings story to prospective event planners and leisure travelers remains a key priority. Throughout 2020 we will also focus on branding the CVB as its new entity, Visit Brookings, emphasizing the importance of tourism on the local economy.

TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

In an effort to enhance and expand the overall tourism products in Brookings, our organization will be intentional about working with partners and view this priority as a mix of hospitality education and active cultivation of tourism assets.

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ANNUAL REPORT

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WE MAKE TOURISM HAPPEN