DMO-21-0021

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1. 1Jan 26, 2021
   Board of County CommissionersR46Regular businessNo disposition in the minutes

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   Ron OakleyChair

   46:45Okay. At this time we'll move to R forty. Well you left right? Maybe director can

   Bellis

   46:53you?

   County Administrator

   46:55Forty six, sir. Forty six? Yes, sir. We'll do the uh destination management office presentation.

   Ron OakleyChair

   47:00Oh okay. Yeah, forty six, excuse me.

   Pasco County

   47:04Good morning, Mr. Chairman. Fellow commissioners, Adam Thomas, Director of Tourism, 1938 Duxloe Boulevard, Trinity, Florida.

   47:15Uh before you today is just uh an informational presentation on the fiscal year 20 uh economic impact analysis and visitor tracking report uh provided by Downs and St. Germain, the Tourist Development Council's uh visitor research firm. That was pretty good.

   Unidentified speakerVoice A

   47:32Yeah.

   Pasco County

   47:33Uh the methodology used to uh track this data, uh they surveyed over two thousand uh visitors in-person intercepts uh throughout Pasco County At local attractions, parks, hotels, and events between October 1st, 2019 and 20, uh September 2020.

   47:50So we're gonna start with high-level uh data information um that we received from Downs and Saint Germain. In 2020, uh our economic impact was over $550 million. Now you're gonna hear me repeat the the the the shortfall or deficit of the of of uh the decrease of of over $100,000 is due to COVID-19. It's due to the pandemic of of the loss of the travel industry. So you can see that in previous years we were up over $650,000 or $650 million. In

   48:212020, we were short $100 million. So that has contributed to the visitor spend. And in 2020, we had over $391 million in visitor spending, and they're spending that on groceries, accommodations, attractions. travel um while they're in the destination of Pasco County.

   48:43In 2020, we welcomed close to a million visitors in the destination that generated just over a million room nights in Pasco County at local uh hotels, uh vacation rentals, and uh short-term lodging.

   49:01Tourism supports over six uh six uh sixty seven hundred uh jobs in Pasco County that generates uh salary and wages over uh a hundred and forty million dollars. So we are um uh A job supporter. This industry is a job creator for not only Pasco County, but for the industry in itself. We look forward to 2021 as we are welcoming back those that were laid off or furloughed at local restaurants, attractions, and lodging. And

   49:31we know that every hundred and forty-one visitors that come to Pasco County creates one job. That's up a little bit from 2019, but we hopes to rebound in 2021. Uh with the Taurus Development Tax generating just over $2.6 million, and that was a 14% shortfall from 2019.

   49:52And we know the big nugget for us is the sales tax generation that the visitors uh generate while they're in market, which also saves $260 per each Pasco County household on their annual taxes.

   50:07So our return on marketing investment here's another golden nugget for us that we know that every um every dollar that we market or the industry markets here in Pasco County to our target audience outside of the Tampa region generates about $379 in spending per trip.

   50:28So that's the that's the top level uh data. Uh we'll we'll dive into um the data that actually provides us our marketing initiatives and and where to market and how to market and um to bring back that yield of investment on our end. Excuse me. So top reasons for visiting Pasco County. One in four visitors actually came to visit friends and family, and one in ten visitors came to participate in an annual sporting or event uh here within the destination. How they got here, 85%

   50:58of them drove to Pasco County, not that much change from 2019 to 2020.

   51:06The regions that they're coming from across the United States, it's no shocker that Florida is the primary destination for our visitors and where they're coming from. Outside of that, um the bulk are coming from the southeast region of the United States and the Northeast.

   51:22States of origin, Florida, Georgia, and New York round our top three.

   51:29Markets of origin, Tampa Bay is our strongest market, Orlando, Atlanta, and New York.

   51:37Travel parties, we know that three three people uh come in each party to Pasco County and thirty two percent are traveling with one person under the age of twenty. Our visitor profile, it's no shocker that our females are still ruling the household and making decisions for travel um or upcoming travel for us with a household incur income of just over eighty six million dollars and the average age is forty-six years of age. Trip

   52:08experience. Length of stay. They're staying shorter this year in two in 2020 due to the pandemic. Accommodations we know that 39% did not stay overnight and thirt thirteen percent did stay with friends and family and thirty nine percent also stayed in short term lodging. Our hotel occupancy performance for the year of twenty twenty w A little over fifty-four percent of occupancy. Our average daily rate was just over four eighty-four dollars, and

   52:38our revenue, which is the revenue per available room for Pasco County Hotels, uh was just over forty-five dollars per room. V top visitor activities while they're in market, casual dining, everyone's gotta eat. They're enjoying their friends and family of why they're coming here. They're shopping and they're also getting out and and viewing our natural parks um systems. Our visitor satisfaction. So we like to see how we're doing and how the the the brand and the visitor promise is uh is

   53:08satisfying the guests that are coming in and and eight point three percent uh Um ranking. Pasco County as a place to vacation in twenty twenty and ninety five percent of them plan on coming back.

   53:21So the perception, we always ask, What's your perception of Pasco County? And here's what we've had so far. We absolutely love it here. The weather is amazing, and the people here have been welcoming and courteous. Pleasant outdoor spaces with palm trees, green grass, and nice landscaping. Wonderful place to visit with fun activities, festivals, restaurants, shops, and friendly people. That is a large overview, but we can't thank you enough, the Taurus Development Council can't thank you enough for your support of our industry and the growth

   53:51that's more to come. Your full packet is in your backup and uh it's about 119 pages of of reporting.

   Mike Moore

   54:02Mr.

   Ron OakleyChair

   54:03Yeah.

   Mike Moore

   54:04Just just a couple of things, um a few notes and you know I've had the honor of sharing the T D C for quite some time now and And I want to obviously commend uh Adam and the entire team for all the great work you've been doing. Um we have a great Tourist development council, um very involved council and um I appreciate all their uh work and sacrifices as well. Um I wanted to give you guys some kudos

   54:34before you before you leave. Um some accolades I should say. Um A few awards that uh the DMO has received since COVID started. Uh first they won the three twenty twenty Telly Awards for their video promoting Pasco Scollop season. They won a gold telly in the branded content. Content. with a budget under a hundred thousand dollars. a silver and brained content for travel and tourism, and a bron a bronze and brained content for promotional a promotional campaign. So

   55:05you think about some of the competition they beat out and I think I mentioned this once before, for example was the NFL's Los Angeles Rams and and uh in Visit Pittsburgh, which you you think how large that market is compared to ours. Um I think Visit Pittsburgh has what uh eight and a half times the budget that our DMO has, so it's pretty incredible. Yeah. Right. Um also you wanna uh uh s two Silver Flagler Awards, which are given out by Visit Florida

   55:35for the design of the website and our meeting planner guide. Which just kicked off the meter planning guide this past year, right? Yes, sir. That's great. Also won a 2019 destination branding and marketing campaign of the year for a population over 500,000 by the Sports Event and Tourism Association. So those awards were given out in 2020 for work that occurred during 2019 and included the brand launch. Um Also uh uh one one more last one last thing. Finally the Tourist Development Council, your collections

   56:06were up in w in September. Correct. Um over the previous year. Which is pretty amazing. So again, that just uh goes to show that, you know, that extra effort and all the extra work you were doing to actually be the a year before COVID happened, um, you know, amazing, amazing work. So I think um that was probably most I would assume but 'cause a lot of the sporting events that you and your team helped bring into the area is why those numbers were the where they were, right? Correct. Good. So Again, you know, thanks

   56:36again to your to your team doing incredible work. We're happy to have you. Thank you very much.

   Ron OakleyChair

   56:41Great job, Adam. How long have you been here by the way?

   Pasco County

   56:44Um going on four years now, sir. Three and a half years. This year is gonna be my fourth year.

   Ron OakleyChair

   56:48Yeah. I don't remember what it was like before, but I can tell you since you've been here it's really been booming.

   Pasco County

   56:53Even with

   Ron OakleyChair

   56:54COVID.

   Pasco County

   56:54Thank you very much. We're evolving together as a team and it takes great leadership from this board and and Dan his and his staff. So thank you. And Kathy Pearson. I I I couldn't do what we do without her.

   Ron OakleyChair

   57:04Working together me means a lot to all of us. It's a great team. Catherine first.

   Jack Mariano

   57:10Yeah.

   Ron OakleyChair

   57:11Mr. Kathryn

   Kathryn StarkeyVice Chair

   57:12Well uh great job. Um really exciting to see all this happening. But I I I Didn't notice. that nature and parks uh fell below the expectations and you know we haven't had the money to make our all our parks as premier as we'd like them to be. Um so uh but it's coming. You know we approved that bond and so um we'll see some changes and I hope soon I don't know if Keith is here, maybe he's online, um

   57:42that we're gonna have

   57:47ways to fund more parks and make sure they're all premiered. So um and I I wanted to say I don't know if you saw, but in the paper this weekend for this weekend of the top five things to do, one of 'em was to come pick strawberries at um now we have you pick. So we had to shut our doors in an hour. That's how many people came up here to pick. So it's been wildly successful. But um Great job and uh congratulations on all your awards too. Well deserved.

   Jack Mariano

   58:16Thank you. Mr. Chairman Mariano Thank you, sir. Um Adam, I tell you it's uh it's been exciting times. Your timing is I think it's been really good to come here as well. I think between the hockey rink coming through, Advan Ice doing a phenomenal job, uh the Wiregrass Ranch, what you helped Push along. Um been doing been doing great things there as well. Uh I want to just throw a couple ideas at you. Hudson, I appreciate you coming out to Hudson Beach to go look at putting that beach out there. That progress act we approved the engineering on it today to make it step forward. So uh people

   58:46up there are excited about that. Up at uh Sunwest Park Butch Hendrick who was with Sand Court Experts had put the poles in Uh that we have up there now. Uh they're look working with staff, matter of fact they're coming up on Thursday to go meet with them again to try to put something together, at least for a short term run as we kinda get the land use squared away up there to bring them in. I and I appreciate your staff working with them right off the off the get go. I know you've got some events coming up there already, so uh we get a a a profession uh an Olympic uh volleyball champion, beach volleyball champion that wants to come to Pasco

   59:17County to set up a camp here. He's got two others around the nation. So I think it's gonna be real exciting times for that coming forward. So um I appreciate all your support and um I think our staff with the parks is going to help as well. So with all the Great things with going in the county. Uh I'm glad you're at the leadership album.

   Pasco County

   59:32We're we're uh we're in talks right now with the World Championship of Wakeboarding to come to too.

   Jack Mariano

   59:37That's awesome

   Pasco County

   59:37west as well. So thank you very much.

   Ron OakleyChair

   59:42Anyone else? Okay. All right.

   Pasco County

   59:45Thank

   Ron OakleyChair

   59:45you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman M Great report.

   59:50Okay, we'll move