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TDC Minutes 06/27/2022June 27, 2022 MINUTES OF THE COLLIER COUNTY TOURIST DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL MEETING Naples, Florida, June 27, 2022 LET IT BE REMEMBERED the Collier County Tourist Development Council in and for the County of Collier, having conducted business herein, met on this date at 9:00 AM in a REGULAR SESSION in Building F of the Government Complex, Naples, Florida, with the following members present: Chairman: Commissioner Andy Solis Vice Chairman: Clark Hill Amanda Cox Susan Becker Kathleen Brock Ed "Ski" Olesky Jared Grifoni Nancy Kerns Beth Petrunoff ALSO PRESENT: Paul Beirnes, Collier County Tourism Director Colleen Greene, Assistant County Attorney Buzzy Ford, Digital & Social Media Coordinator, County Tourism Andy Miller, Coastal Zone Manager Marii ssa Baker, Manager, Paradse Coast Sports Complex Amanda Townsend, County Museums Director Tanya Williams, Public Services Department Director 1 COLLIER COUNTY Tourist Development Council AGENDA June 27, 2022 9:00 AM Board of County Commission Chambers Collier County Government Center 3299 Tamiami Trail East, 3rd Floor Naples, FL 34112 Commissioner Andy Solis, Chair Clark Hill, Vice-Chair Councilor Jared Grifoni Susan Becker Amanda Cox Nancy Kerns Kathleen Brock Edward (Ski) Olesky Council Member Beth Petrunoff All interested parties are invited to attend, and to register to speak and to submit their objections, if any, in writing, to the Council prior to the meeting if applicable. For more information, please contact Paul Beirnes at (239) 252-4040. If you are a person with a disability who needs any accommodation in order to participate in this proceeding, you are entitled, at no cost to you, to the provision of certain assistance. Please contact the Collier County Facilities Management Department located at 3335 Tamiami Trail East, Suite 101, Naples, FL 34112-5356, (239) 252-8380. Public comments will be limited to 3 minutes unless the Cha irman grants permission for additional time. Collier County Ordinance No. 99-22 requires that all lobbyists shall, before engaging in any lobbying activities (including, but not limited to, addressing the Board of County Commissioners before the Board of County Commissioners and its advisory boards, register with the Clerk to the Board at the Board Minutes and Records Department. About the public meeting: Two or more members of the Board of County Commissioners, Coastal Advisory Committee, City of Naples City Council, and City of Marco Island City Council may be present and participate at the meeting. The subject matter of this meeting may be an item for discussion and action at future meetings of these Boards. June 2022 Collier County Tourist Development Council Page 2 Printed 6/23/2022 1. Call to Order 2. Pledge of Allegiance 3. Roll Call 4. Agenda and Minutes A. Changes and Approval of Today's Agenda B. Approval of prior TDC Meeting Minutes 1. May 23, 2022 TDC Meeting Minutes 5. Presentations 6. Consent Agenda - All Matters listed under this agenda item are considered to be routine and action will be taken by one motion without separate discussion of each item. If discussion is desired by a member of the Council, that item will be moved from the Consent Agenda and considered separately under New Business or Old Business. A. Coastal Zone Management B. Beach Park Facilities C. Tourism Division 7. New Business 1. Recommendation to approve the FY 2022-2023 10-Year Capital Planning document for Fund 195 Beach Renourishment and Pass Maintenance and Fund 185 Program Management and Administration and make a finding that these expenditures promote tourism. 2. Recommendation to approve the Tourist Development Council Grant application requests from the City of Naples, the City of Marco Island and Collier County for FY 2022-2023 in the amount of $4,155,100, budget these expenditures, approve an Agreement with the City of Naples, and make a finding that these expenditures promote tourism. 3. Recommendation to approve the 1 year Sponsorship Agreement between Collier County and UWP, LLC dba Pro Watercross World Championships for $90,000 and make a finding that the sponsorship expenditures promote tourism. 4. Recommendation to approve an expenditure of Tourist Development Tax Promotion Funds to provide funding for the U.S. Open Pickleball Championship in the amount $670,000; make a finding that this expenditure promotes tourism; and authorize the necessary Budget Amendments. June 2022 Collier County Tourist Development Council Page 3 Printed 6/23/2022 8. Old Business 9. Marketing Partner Reports A. Part 1 1. Marketing Partner Report Part 1 B. Part 2 1. Marketing Partner Report Part 2 10. Council Member Discussion 11. Tourism Staff Reports 1. Tourism Staff Reports 12. Next Scheduled Meeting A. Next Meeting Date July 25, 2022 13. Adjournment June 271 2022 Any persons in need of the verbatim record of the meeting may request a copy of the video recording from the Collier County Communications and Customer Relations Department or view it online. 1. Call to Order Chairman Solis called the meeting to order at 9 a.m. 2. Pledge of Allegiance The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. 3. Roll Call A quorum of eight was established by those members present in the board room; a ninth arrived later. 4. Agenda and Minutes A. Changes and Approval of Today's Agenda No changes B. Approval of prior TDC Meeting Minutes Regular Meeting May 23, 2022 Ms. Becker made a motion to approve the May 23, 2022, meeting minutes. Second by Ms. Kerns. The motion was carried unanimously, &0. 5. Presentations/Public Comment - (3 minutes each) None 6. Consent Agenda All matters listed under this agenda item are routine and action will be taken by one motion without separate discussion on each item. If discussion is desired by a member of the TDC, those items will be moved from the Consent Agenda and considered separately under New Business or Old Business. A. Coastal Zone Management None B. Beach Park Facilities None C. Tourism Division None 7. New Business 1. Recommendation to approve the FY 2022-2023 10-Year Capital Planning document for Fund 195 Beach Renourishment and Pass Maintenance and Fund 185 Program Management and Administration and make a finding that these expenditures promote tourism. Mr. Miller said he has two pro forma items that are done yearly around this time., the 10-Year Capital Planning document and Tourist Development Council Grant applications. The first item is our 10-year Plan, which is essentially our 10-year budget for Funds 195 and 185. It's on page 29 of your agenda packet. 2 June 27, 2022 Our recommendation is to approve the FY22-23 10-Year Capital Planning document from Fund 195 for beach renourishment and past maintenance and Fund 185 Program Management and Administration and make a finding that these expenditures promote tourism. Vice Chairman Hill made a motion to approve the FY 2022-202310-Year Capital Planning document for Fund 195 Beach Renourishment and Pass Maintenance and Fund 185 Program Management and Administration and found that this item promotes tourism. Second by Becker. The motion was carried unanimously, &0. 2. Recommendation to approve the Tourist Development Council Grant application requests from the City of Naples, the City of Marco Island and Collier County for FY 2022-2023 in the amount of $4,155,100, budget these expenditures, approve an Agreement with the City of Naples, and make a finding that these expenditures promote tourism. Mr. Miller said the second item is related to the first, the annual Tourist Development Council Grant applications for FY22 and FY23 projects. Our recommendation is to approve the TDC grant application request from the City of Naples, the City of Marco Island and Collier County for FY22 and FY23 in the amount of $4,155,100, to budget these expenditures, approve the agreement with the City of Naples and make a finding that these expenditures promote tourism. Council Member Petrunoff asked about the Moorings area. Does that appear anywhere for beach renourishment or spot renourishment or does that come from another fund? Mr. Miller said that would come from the TDC 195 Funds, but we have funds in our beach renourishment project available if we need some spot renourishment. We're going to look at that again in October when we go out and monitor Doctors Pass and the vicinity, and if we need to do a spot project, we're capable of doing that. Councilor Grifoni asked about getting information back on Collier Creek. We've got significant issues there with all the sand building up in the channel. That's been a constant source of complaints, issues and concerns with many of the marinas around Marco, with boats traveling in and out of Collier Creek toward Smokehouse Bay. When can citizens anticipate seeing actual work being done there? Mr. Miller said the RAI response to FDEP is due in July and we're preparing those responses. We have already submitted the draft responses and we are waiting for comments from FDEP. We expect to get the RAI responses complete within a week or two and then we're hoping to get a permit shortly after that. The consultant says that we'll probably go to work, construction -wise, closer to next spring, March or April. Permitting is the critical -path issue right now. Councilor Grifoni moved to approve the Tourist Development Council Grant application requests from the City of Naples, the City of Marco Island and Collier County for FY2022-2023 in the amount of $4,155,100, to budget these expenditures, approve an Agreement with the City of Naples, and make a finding that these expenditures promote tourism. Second by Vice Chairman Hill. The motion passed unanimously, &0. Ms. Becker said that in February, she asked about a rope fence constructed around seagrasses at 1 ltn Avenue South. You said you would look into it and she wondered if he'd had an opportunity to do that. 3 June 27, 2022 Mr. Miller said if he didn't respond by now, he apologizes. He'll go back and revisit that and provide that information if she can give him a day and he'll provide a response to the Council. He believed it had to do with the fact that the rope and post might have been beyond the erosion -control line. He'll go back to refresh his memory and send a response to Council tomorrow. 3. Recommendation to approve the 1-year Sponsorship Agreement between Collier County and UWP LLC dba Pro Watercross World Championships for $90,000 and make a finding that sponsorship expenditures promote tourism. Mr. Beirnes said this event has been executed for years at Sugden Park and is very popular. This year, we will do a very deep -dive analysis through Zartico's capabilities for tracking incremental, in -state local and incremental visitors to the event. Working with the County Manager, we would like to execute this one more time and do a deep dive analysis. The direct spending for last year's event was about $482,000 and we drove an estimated 908 room nights as part of it and our recommendation is to execute this for next year, although it is budgeted iill be promoting it heavily starting upon your approval. n this year's fiscal year, because we w Ms. Kerns made a motion to approve the one year Sponsorship Agreement between Collier County and UWP LLC dba Pro Watercross World Championships for $90,000 and found that the sponsorship expenditures promote tourism. Second by Ms. Becker. The motion passed unanimously, 8.0. 4. Recommendation to approve an expenditure of Tourist Development Tax Promotion Funds to provide funding for the U.S. Open Pickleball Championship in the amount $670,000; make a finding that this expenditure promotes tourism; and authorize necessary budget amendments. Ms. Williams said she has an Executive Summary and request for $670,000 to promote the U.S. Open Pickleball Championships. On the Executive Summary, they are requesting $600,000 for the resurfacing of 40 of the 64 courts, which need resurfacing due to heavy, extensive usage, not only during the U.S. Pickleball Open, but also by avid pickleball players year-round. We have thousands of people who come here year-round to play on those courts, and if you're accustomed to the Florida sun, the courts, through heavy use, don't last as long as they normally would, so we see about three years of use before they need to be resurfaced. The other request is $20,000 for windscreens that help block the wind during play. Due to wear and the elements, they need to be replaced. We're also asking for $50,000 for site staging and preparation. The U.S. Pickleball Open Championships are broadcast internationally through CBS Sports and we want the venue to reflect the quality of not only the recreation, but the life that we have in Collier County, the promotion of the Naples area, Marco Island and Paradise Coast. As we go into the event starting in April, we continue with our landscaping and add to it to ensure it's appealing to the eye and the audience viewing from afar. " Ms. Williams detailed a PowerPoint presentation) In 2022, your U.S. Open Pickleball Championship included 2,800 participants, over 35,000 spectators and through direct visitor spending, Spirit Promotions predicts that it brought over $7.1 million to our local economy. There was CBS television exposure for Naples, Marco Island and the Paradise Coast. 11 June 27, 2022 The largest chunk of the money being requested is for resurfacing of the courts, which is very much needed. They take a resurfacing -type paint and due to prior years of use, extensive, heavy use of these courts, as well as use during the U.S. Open, they are in a state where they need to be resurfaced. [Ms. Cox joined the meeting at 9: 22 a. m.J Chairman Solis asked when they were last resurfaced. Ms. Williams said they're at their life expectancy. Some courts are in worse shape than others, but we would like to go ahead and start the process to get them all resurfaced. What happens when a court starts showing its wear and tear is players lose grip and it becomes a possible slipping hazard. Some of the courts are in worse shape than others, but we'd like to address all of them. Council Member Petrunoff asked what the average life is for a court when a new surface is laid down. Ms. Williams said an average of four to five years. But what we're finding due to the climate and the use of our courts is that they're only lasting about two to three years before they show significant wear and tear and have to be resurfaced. Council Member Petrunoff asked if the County supplier provides a warranty on the life of the resurfacing. Ms. Williams said it's one year. Council Member Petrunoff asked if there's a possibility that our supplier could provide an adequate warranty that would cover the average We of two to three years in Florida. Ms. Williams said they could investigate that and ask the vendor. [Ms. Williams continued hey Powe�Point p�esentationj Ms. Williams said the second thing that we're requesting are windscreens. They are attached to fences to help provide a buffer. Then there is site staging in preparation for the event, which would include plants, trees, landscaping and general site maintenance so that we are camera ready. Beyond the initial ask of $670,000, we would like to put on your radar the possibility of a future capital funding effort, which is currently under consideration. This would require a feasibility analysis to determine if it is eligible under current legislation before we would even entertain bringing this back before you. There are other things we possibly would be bringing back to the TDC for consideration. The first item would be a parking project at East Naples Community Park. In the very back, behind the pickleball facilities, is an open field that's used for parking. Due to continued usage for parking, the grass has been replaced with sand and this year, we had to bring in a substantial amount of rock to fill in and help solidify the parking surface for this year's event. Going forward, it would be our desire to asphalt that area and make it a permanent parking facility. Obviously, during the U.S. Open, due to the number of spectators, East Naples Community Park alone can't handle all the parking, so there is overflow parking at Sugden Park. However, that would go. By 5 June 27, 2022 asphalting this, it would allow us to not have to spend thousands of dollars yearly preparing the parking lot site for parking. It also is used by year-round pickleball players, but is vastly used during the event. The next item we may bring to you in the future, based on feasibility, would be fencing. All the pickleball courts are cornered off with fencing. Even though it is galvanized, it has started to rust and is showing its age. It's bowing where people place their pickleball bags on it, so it is showing wear and tear. That's not something we would want broadcast as part of Paradise Coast, so we'd like to possibly come back for replacement of the fencing. Another future ask would be shade structures. The championship court has a magnificent shade structure over it. It is for shade and is not impervious, so it does allow rain through, but it does block out the shade considerably. The last place you want to be in Florida in summertime is on an uncovered pickleball court at 11 *00 o'clock in the daytime. It's hot. Obviously, it detracts from being outside. During the U.S. Open, additional shade structures would assist us in keeping more courts going in the off-season and for pickleball players year-round. The final request is for parking stabilization. Interim parking stabilization was done by the Parks & Recreation Division last year to stabilize that parking lot. Fill rock was put in to make it drivable and usable. Should we receive or find funding for asphalting this field, the earliest it would happen is the end of fiscal year 2023 or the beginning of calendar year 2024. For the 2023 pickleball U.S. Open, we would have to stabilize this parking lot again. That may be a future ask. We just wanted to put that on your radar. We are working with the County Attorney's Office to see what is allowable and what is not. Once we get a ruling, we may be coming back to you in the fall for further requests. In conclusion, the U.S. pickleball Championship has continued to grow in popularity and $670,000 is being sought to support various capital projects for the U.S. Open pickleball Championship. We respectfully request that the TDC approve an expenditure of Tourist Development Tax Promotion Funds to provide project funding and support of the U.S. Open Pickleball Championship in the amount of $670,000 and respectfully request that you make a finding that this expenditure promotes tourism, and authorize the necessary budget amendments. Staff is here if you have questions. Vice Chairman Hill said he noticed that the fund these expenditures are coming from is a promotional fund. He asked if it should come from the capital fund. Attorney Greene said she isn't sure what capital fund he meant, but there is a promotion fund where additional promotion dollars are stored/reserved. If this were to be a capital expenditure, which means a project that has a life expectancy of greater than five years, there is a newer provision in the Tourist Development Statute, and we would have to comply with the requirements of that provision because these proposed expenditures are not expected to have a life expectancy of greater than five years. It doesn't fall within that capital expenditure. Council Member Petrunoff asked if spectators at the pickleball tournaments pay to watch, like in other sports. And if they're not, should they pay to provide a pot of money to enhance the structures here? Terry Graham, co-founder of the U.S. Open Pickleball Championships, said that as far as admission, we do not charge a price to come into the park. We feel anyone should be able to come in at any time to the U.S. Open. The only place they are charged is to come into the championship court, but otherwise you can walk to the other 59 courts. They do get charged $5 for parking and those fees go directly to Kiwanis and funds stay in the local area. This year, Kiwanis raised almost $30,000. Spirit Promotions brought that 6 June 27, 2022 up to $40,000, so they would be able to take care of 2,200 at -risk children in Collier County. Otherwise, there's no charge. Ms. Becker asked if the sponsor, Minto, ever contributes to event expenses. Ms. Graham said no. The tournament is run as a business, so money comes in and money goes out, so it's indirectly. They don't give us money and say this should go to whatever expense we have. We have over $1 million in expenses to put on this tournament. Ms. Brock asked if some of these items could be repaired instead of replaced, such as fencing. Is there an option for the new surface that would be greater than $670,000, but last twice as long? It seems like if it's every two or three years, that's a big hit. Ms. Williams said in regard to the $600,000 ask, that was a preliminary estimate we were getting from our vendor in the interim. After this was published, we received updated estimates that knock that price in half, so we are not anticipating the full $600,000 to be spent on court resurfacing. The estimates we're getting now are far less than what we were originally quoted, and that just hit my purview late Friday afternoon. Chairman Solis asked what the name of the surface material was. Ms. Graham said it's DecoTurf's DecoColor tennis surface. When it first was put on at Veterans Park, DecoTurf is a nine -layer material that's kind of a cushion material. We are not replacing it, but now we're doing DecoColor, which is two layers of paint going on the courts. There are some concerns about the wear and tear on these courts. There are a few things not working in our favor. One is the sun. As Tanya mentioned, constant sun. From January through May, there are 400 people using that court every Jay, and those courts get worn. It's like a tire on your car. If you're going to drive it 200,000 miles, you must replace the tires more often. It's the same with this product. It holds up really, really well. In most cases, in other parts of the country, it holds up three years, but in the South we're lucky we get what we get out of any of the products. As Tanya mentioned, some of these courts are so slippery now that they really should be resurfaced every two to three years max. The championship court is under Spirit Promotions' expense. We do that over every year before we have the tournament and after the tournament, we turn it back to six courts. Council Member Petrunoff asked about the sagginess of the fence. While playing on those courts, you hang your material over the fence. Have you thought about adding hooks or a structure to allow people to hang their materials so they can play without making the fence sag even worse? Ms. Williams said obviously, that's an option that we would need to look into. There are also other ways of reinforcing fences, as well. This fencing is the original fencing, so it's probably at its life expectancy and would need to be replaced, anyway. Some areas are worse than others. You're talking about a facility that now has 64 pickleball courts. Council Member Petrunoff noted that it was galvanized fencing, which is pretty hardy and should last for decades. It's surprising that it would need full replacement and couldn't be remediated in some way. Ms. Williams said they could look into that. 7 June 27, 2022 Ms. Becker said if 1670,000 is not a hard figure, what's the new information? Ms. Williams said it was, at best, about half that or less, about $200,000 to $250,000. It's considerable. Ms. Becker asked if they were then considering doing the other 20. As long as you're doing it, there's an economy of scale. Ms. Williams agreed and said obviously, she'd like to say yes, they could do all the courts. It would be the remainder of the courts minus the championship courts, a total of 59. The Executive Summary says 40, so we would have to adjust that and it would be an amendment. We may have to bring it back to the TDC again. Chairman Solis said what we have is a recommendation for 40 courts for $670,000. We need to be careful. The request is $670,000 to do these different things and resurface 40 of the courts. If there are some savings, then you'll come back to us and request an amendment to resurface some other courts or do something else. Attorney Greene said this is really a "not -to -exceed request" because it's a reimbursable amount. Whatever they spend, it will all be reimbursed. Chairman Solis said we were going to start having an open-ended motion and it wasn't clear what we were approving, so that's the request and that's what's on the agenda. Attorney Greene said Commissioner Taylor wanted to speak to the TDC about the request. Commissioner Taylor said you are the gateway to the tourism here because, as a commission, what you Jo or say, we listen to it very carefully because you spend the time and you have had your boots on the ground for a long, long time and watched tourism develop in this County. What you're creating at East Naples Community Park, thanks to Spirit Productions, in the U.S. Open Pickleball Championships is the Augusta National of pickleball. There's no question. Where else is there mature vegetation in any of these parks so people can come in and raise the land and flatten it out and build things? There's such a beauty to East Naples Community Park. There's water, there are trees, mature vegetation, there's a winding road. It's an investment, but it has to be a wise investment and that's why we depend on you because no matter how flush we are with tourist money now, it is taxpayers' money. Thank you so much for what you're doing. Pickleball brings in a lot to our community because not only do the people play in the U.S. Open, they come here to play because it's the U.S. Open. She asked for information from Zartico and got an overview from Mr. Barons about what the estimates are, and what pickleball and Spirit Productions gave you in terms of the number of people coming to the park last month. Zartico said it was 35,000 that week and according to Spirit Productions, 34,000. According to artico, these ladies know what they're doing. This is a business, yes, but it' Zs a business that we're all benefiting from. Ms. Brock made a motion to approve an expenditure of Tourist Development Tax Promotion Funds to provide funding for the U.S. Open Pickleball Championship in the amount $670,000; authorize the necessary budget amendments; and found that this expenditure promotes tourism. Second by Vice Chairman Hill. The motion passed unanimously, 94. L June 27, 2022 8. Old Business None 9. Marketing Partner Reports These reports (Marketing Partner Reports - Downs & St. Germain Research Group; Paradise Advertising & Marketing, Inc.; Lou Hammond & Associates; Convention & Visitors Bureau PR Team; Collier County Tax Collector - tourist tax collections; Miles Partners - Website Analytics, Digital & Social Media, Book Direct, dackRabbit Systems - online hotel booking systems; County Museums) are provided to TDC members on a digital link to the County website. The Research Data Services report will be presented monthly, and the other reports will be presented at TDC meetings on an -as -needed basis. TDC members may request a presentation by the marketing partner representative or by tourism staff at each TDC meeting. Mr. Beirnes said we're really excited. A lot has happened in the last couple of months. Ms. Cox is deeply ingrained within the hospitality industry on a day-to-day basis, and it's been interesting the last couple of months. In March, he mentioned a sense of something rumbling on the horizon. No one could have imagined the amount of the things that, one after another, would have surfaced and elevated that — from gas prices to interest rates to consumer sentiment. We've navigated that very well. We saw a significant normalization in the average daily rate and occupancy from the real pent-up demand window a couple of months ago. Joseph, with Downs & St. Germain, will hit on that in a moment. Through all that, one of the most important things we do is make sure the pipeline is primed and welled going forward. And one of the things that does that every year is IPW, the event where the entire world of travel buyers descends into one mega room where every destination, every attraction and hotel in the United States meets. It is a speed -dating mayhem for three days, an estimated 77,000 12- minute meetings, where business for the next couple of years takes place. It absolutely was astounding to be in a 1-million-square-foot exhibit space with 48,00 attendees from 60 countries. What we did over three days, along with our representatives from the UK, Germany and Latin America, is rapid-fire speed dating. It was important that we upped our game and looked like a polished destination. We certainly did and really represented the destination well. There were over 150 scheduled meetings and we were multitasking because there was always a line of people who were not on our agenda who we were looking to meet, so it was closer to about 250 back-to-back meetings. While this was happening, one full day was a media marketplace. We conducted 30 deep -dive interviews with international j ournalists who wanted to feature our destination going forward. It was an absolute, huge success. What we fortunately came back with after all of this, which was very similar to the last IPW prior to the international borders reopening at that time, is that those travel buyers recognized that our destination and the assets that we had to promote — 30 miles of white sand beaches, wide open spaces and a little bit of shoulder space — there was not a lot of compression. That elevated cultural, coastal, culinary, eco and international opportunities, which was exactly what the international traveler was looking for. Without question, we are certainly very much in vogue going forward. ill not show up yet within the research we're going to be talking about today is One of the things that w that in our conversations with international travelers, we just finished an incredible winter, with pent-up demand and a large surge of visitation. The international borders opened up on November 8th last year and by that time, we had already started experiencing a massive ramp with domestic visitation, so the average daily rate was already really elevated. In many cases, what we heard when we were sitting 9 June 27, 2022 across from the international community was that when the international visitors started looking, the rates had already gone significantly high. The chance and the occupancy was compressed, so what ended up happening, because we've been watching, is that international hasn't really sparked back, not because there's not an opportunity, demand or desire, but due to supply and demand. What we have heard is that now there's a little bit of a normalization in ADR and occupancy, the UK, Germany, and a lot of visitors are saying to wholesalers is "How quickly can I get on a plane?" They're actually booking as narrow as two weeks out. That's a great opportunity, so as we start seeing some fluctuation and normalization, what we're going to see is a lot of international backfilling in and surging. A couple of domestic airlines were very concerned because they'd just seen a real quick drop in Florida bookings and unspoken was that a lot of the traveling public is doing a quick evaluation of, "Do I risk cancellations, which we see daily on the news? Do we risk that even with the elevated gas prices? Maybe it's easier to take the car?" We're starting to see car travel escalate. We're monitoring this, but it might not actually bubble up in our presentations. As we get into Paradise Advertising's team, going back to January, we already had crafted a Plan A, Plan B and Plan C even when everything was wonderfully Plan A. But we had already navigated with drive -market strategies, in -state strategies and balancing that. Maybe we brought this by our actions, but we're pleased we were able to navigate that. There were some pretty exciting times with IPW and we'll probably see very strong international visitation in 2023 because the international community did not expend their saved -up bubble of travel. Their pent-up demand remains and they want to come here. That's good news and we will continue to monitor it. Part 1. Marketing Partner Report A. Downs & Y. Germain Research Group — Joseph St. Germain "Collier County Tourism Research — May 2022 Visitor Tracking and Economic Impact Study" [Mr. St. Germain detailed a PowerPoint presentation.] Council Member Petrunoff said that when she looked at the trip activities, it seems like the more social ones have increased, such as visiting family and friends going from 10% to 26%, going to bars and nightlife 15% to 33%, and a drop in nature and parks, from 38% to 25%. Do you believe that maybe these are people coming out of their shells post-COVID? Or is this a permanent activity we ought to be looking for, and maybe advertising? Mr. Germain said that's a good question because it happened in one month. It may be an anomaly, but one of the things we've noticed, especially from residents or sentiment studies we've seen, is the percentage of people planning around COVID has reached its lowest point since the start of the pandemic, so we will see more social activities as we move forward again on a one -month basis. It's not a trend we should start making plans for, but we should continue. There is other research related to sentiment that says there's more of a return to social, which will take some away from nature. In this month's report, you saw that more people are traveling with groups of friends and you're probably going to get more social activities. Mr. Beirnes said a couple of weeks ago, travel sentiment across the United States showed the concern over COVID was at one of its lowest points, 16%. Compare that against some other challenges and 16% has now receded quite a bit, so we're definitely monitoring that because we know that as that changes, people are coming out of their shells. There also are other things, such as the impact of gas prices on June 27, 2022 travel, which is at 41 % "greatly impacting," so we're measuring that. He agreed that people have now started to come out of their shells. Council Member Petrunoff said you mentioned that most of the travel now has shifted from airplanes to cars and there is a shift that you're seeing, probably because of guests, or because of the uncertainty of being able to travel and actually get to your destination. Is that .. . Mr. Beirnes said he'd try to explain how they navigated that. There's a myriad of confusing factors. We started seeing air travel come back, RSW's doing extremely well, but we see very high gas prices and everyone sees the news about people sleeping on airport floors and it becomes less appealing so they drive. We'll monitor that. We will see whether that impacts the Northeast and Midwest, which is a great concern because that is really where the longer stays and expenditures come from and maybe they'll decide it's safer to hop in a car. Council Member Petrunoff asked if they'd shifted the marketing money to target car travel versus air travel yet. Mr. Beirnes said we have navigated that and it was less about the gas and the airlines, but rather just financial compressions and challenges, so we have "heavied-up" on Florida residents in the drive - markets just because it's not just gas, it is milk, bread and everything being pinched in the wallet. We see a greater opportunity to really pull from Charleston all the way down into Florida. Fortunately, in the last two years during COVID, we were able to really tap and be very successful with Florida residents, so this allowed us to introduce our destination to a lot of people. A year ago, a lot of visitors who were Florida residents were first-time visitors to us, so now we're trying to reengage with them and pull them back. Another interesting dynamic of the summer that he discussed with Councilor Grifoni is that summer comes along and it's the only time when kids are out of school and that's the time you disconnect and reconnect with your kids and you take them away for a couple of weeks. All families need to deeply dig in their heart and wallets. And that that's to our advantage. The passion and the drive of summer visitation is still there. You're not going to see the floor fall out. We have a strong plan to reach all those markets, a little heavier up in Florida, and hopefully gas prices start to recede. We have a conversation every day with Paradise Advertising about what we know, see and expect. Ms. Becker asked if age had anything to do with any of the variables. Mr. Beirnes asked Mr. St. Germain if they could look at age. Mr. St. Germain said if providing age ranges is preferable to median age and average age, they can provide that moving forward. Ms. Becker said that in the past, we had statistics on age and income. Mr. Beirnes asked Mr. St. Germain if he'd seen any dramatic changes involving income in the market. Mr. St. Germain said that some months showed younger people traveling here and they usually have a little less income. But nothing drastic. It's still ahigh-income traveler. To give you a sense of this 11 June 271 2022 month, the average age from last year was 46.6 versus 45.8 this year and the median income last year was around 142,000, it's 140,000 this year, so there have been fluctuations month -to -month. Part of it is due to the previous vendor, which had a slightly different methodology. Chairman Solis noted that it's on page 33, the median and average age. The median age is 44. Mr. St. Germain said we're able to provide different ranges for those ages and income levels so you istribution and we can make that change moving forward. can get a sense of the d Ms. Brock said this may be too granular, but could they could see age ranges for different activities because that might influence advertising activities? Do we know that those who are coming here for the beach might be far different than those who are coming for outdoor activities and things of that nature? Do you ever break it down like that? Mr. St. Germain said they do that yearly, not monthly because the data is too small. That is something we start to look at after a year because then you can get sample sizes strong enough for sporting and cultural events, etc. That is something we're willing to do. In fact, we recently did some cross - tabulations, but we usually like to wait until we have at least a year's worth of data because we want to make sure we give you something that you can use, as opposed to chasing noise. Mr. Beirnes said that with Mr. St. Germain and Paradise Advertising, we get way more granular than just these presentations. When it comes to advertising, there are only a few exceptions where we are so granular, such as eco and dining, and those are very prescriptive, whereas the breadth and depth of the destination, is an all -encompassing value proposition. Our value proposition in our marketing plan is very specific. It's not just one piece, it's everything the destination brings, the elevated cultural, coastal, ecological experience. We do a deep dive and monitor each one so we know whether dining attracts a certain age segment and to make sure they're represented. We are definitely that granular. Vice Chairman Hill asked about international travelers from South America. Mr. Beirnes said those reps were at IPW with us. They had a lot of reps and were one of the largest international representatives. They were definitely there in full force. Their international borders opened up late. There were a couple of markets that did not have lock downs. They could come from Colombia, for instance, and could fly in. There are many different factors we're monitoring, but my feeling is we will see a stronger rebound from the UK, Germany and Canada this year. We marketed for the first time in Canada and saw a very solid bump with a very small investment. We're going to continue to double down. It has the capability of being afly-and-drive market very easily, as opposed to being reliant on gas prices, airline availability and prices. It has that flexibility, so we continue to watch what the response and the rebound is in Latin America. We have a span of over five countries in our efforts and may have spread ourselves a little thin, so we're watching very closely to see whether we should be focusing on fewer than five markets. We'll never have enough budget to really own those destinations, nor should we because that's a pretty big swath. But if we hypothetically focused on Market A and B versus the other three, we could probably have a bigger impact. There are conversations we're having with our reps as to what that balance might be. Mr. Olesky asked if there were times that the Florida weather had an effect on travel here. 12 June 275 2022 Mr. Beirnes said visitation to Florida in the winter will always be the crown jewel. We can certainly expect some dry patches. Historically, in the travel industry, we see some immediate pullback and resistance after a hurricane, especially the Northeast and Midwest markets. We all know we can track those storms for weeks and weeks and for Florida residents, that doesn't matter until the day before it's here. But the media will cover it, and it certainly creates a big obstacle weeks out, when they start canceling or considering the group side. The impact of the storm season is an interesting anomaly. If you go a number of years without any storms in Florida, the meeting planners seem to book like crazy the year that there is a storm. It reminds them very quickly for next year, "What would that have meant to me next July or August?" The amnesia allows us to regain traction. But that weather certainly impacts summer visitation. When you look at the Northeast and Midwest, for example Chicago, there's incredible weather there and beautiful lakeside retreats. It's that balance of do you go all the way to Florida or can I just go to Wisconsin and enjoy a lakeside cabin? It's also a bit of curse because you can rent that cabin and anybody who's lived up north knows that it's either sunny or it's rainy and there's nothing in between. You can rent that for a week and be sitting inside watching rain outside. Many Canadians will say, I can go to Florida just as cheap. But it's people's preferences. There are a lot of factors. Chairman Solis asked about visitor origins. On page 6, a footnote says, "The Western U.S. in the United States, not separate from other category in May 202 L" We're breaking out the West. Is that a maj or change in terms of numbers so we're going to start tracking that separately? Ms. Cox said that was something she asked for with some of the additional airlift we had just picked up with United now seasonally having direct flights from LAX and San Francisco, and Alaska Air picking up Seattle. In the past, we only had Frontier service to Denver and then anybody else who was connecting. That was something they could accommodate for this inaugural year of service, but it would take time to build a baseline, knowing that any destination's markets tend to follow its air service map. It's going to be interesting to see how, as our map for RCAI has changed, particularly in some cases during the pandemic, we had quite some time when airlines were picking up additional Florida routes because they couldn't fly their other routes, or there wasn't the tourist demand for those destinations. It'll be interesting to see if that is sustainable as more areas open up. I hope we can sustain that level of air service growth. Mr. Beirnes said the emergence of Breeze Airlines is providing some incremental lift. And there's only a couple airlines traveling out of RSW, but it will continue to grow. Vegas is one of those markets. Their strategy is the underserved markets. If they see there's non -existing, not enough existing lift, or they see an opportunity within a smaller market, so you're going to see a lot of growth with Breeze, which is by the founder of JetBlue, WestJet and Azul Airlines. There's a lot of strength there and it's an up and coming. There are also two or three airlines out of Canada that are looking at RSW and incremental lifts here. As you said, where lift is, numbers follow. Chairman Solis said it seems the West is almost at the same level the Southeast was in 2019. It's 11,000 and 10,000, so that's a fairly big number and we just never broke that out until now. Vice Chairman Hill asked what the update is on business travel, corporate travel. 13 June 21 2022 Mr. Beirnes said it's a little bit of what Joseph mentioned. Anecdotally, we are seeing that compared to our comp set, our group is performing much better than any other destination in Florida, whether it's the rate, the occupancy. We have rebounded well. Our RFPs and inquiries are very strong and well in advance. There was one the other day that was for 2029, so it's a wait and see. You don't want to be super optimistic because, just like consumer, there are a lot of dynamics happening. Overall, there seems to be a desire to get that line of business back and we have achieved a larger proportion of that, so we're very hopeful. The shoe can always drop, but the sentiment is that meeting planners are resilient. In the industry, there's a morph happening that's much smaller, which is OK. We will never compete against Orlando, Vegas or Chicago for "citywides." We do not have that many hotel rooms, so our opportunity is to go after those more affluent, smaller and valuable markets. The reason is we do not have a 2-million-square400t convention center that you must have for those large "citywides," so while many other destinations need to fill those with 60,000 or 70,000 attendees, we have the opportunity to appeal to smaller groups: boards, the couple hundred people attending conventions, up to 1,000 tops. Vice Chairman Hill said we're an upscale destination for that corporate 100 and Fortune 100 meetings. He's also including individual business travel. That's what Hilton is about. Hilton is built for that. We're still seeing lackluster individual business travel, although group business travel is coming back some. Mr. Beirnes said our focus is on those blocks, but we're having conversations about that. Where one goes, the other follows. B. Paradise Advertising —Joseph Taylor [Mr. Taylor detailed a PowerPoint presentation, "Destination Overview 2022. "J Mr. Beirnes said this has been a yearlong focus, but it doesn't end there. As Joe said, this is such a great destination and our destination shines when we allow it to shine on its own, which doesn't happen to every destination, so while this is great to have, we're not resting on our laurels. We need to continue this. There's a lot of eco and sports and so many different layers and we've got that plan for next year to keep increasing that. C. Lou Hammond Group —Leslie Knobloch "National Public Relations Update — TDC Meeting —Services Conducted in May 2022 " [Ms. Knoblock detailed a PowerPoint presentation] Council Member Petrunoff asked where the "charming bookstores" are. Ms. Knobloch said one of the things a lot of writers in the travel space cover, beyond fun -in -the -sun destinations, things to do outdoors or hotels, is charming bookstores. What we did as an agency was list charming book stores from all of our clients' destinations. Here, we focused on Marco Island. Ms. Becker noted that there's a charming bookstore on Sanibel. Mr. Beirnes said that's another county, but the alignment we have with Lee County is phenomenal. We are navigating a number of event opportunities. The only way we could do it is by combining forces with Lee County. We're talking to them on a daily basis. 14 June 27, 2022 Council Member Petrunoff said it seems they are our biggest competitor. Visitors often looked at Lee County first. Mr. Beirnes said this is why we work so closely together, particularly through RSW and the flights. That's where the plane lands, so of course, that's going to be the easiest reference point. They have significantly more hotels, as well, so the only way Southwest Florida can succeed is the combined effort. We supplement each other extremely well when we have sporting events here that are so large that we can't absorb them all. A couple miles up the street are Bonita Springs and Estero, so it's our whole region. A good example is the West Coast flights with United Airlines, Eurowings from Germany, and Alaska Airlines. These were all efforts in which both our counties worked together to secure and solicit, and those conversations with the airlines from Canada and Breeze Airlines, which has good alignment with us. Ms. Brock said one thing they don't have is the Ten Thousand Islands between Marco and Everglades City. They can't compete with that. Mr. Beirnes said and Cape Romano, too. Part 2. Marketing Partner Reports D. Collier County Tourist Tax Collections — Paul Beirnes [Mr. Beirnes detailed a PowerPoint presentation, "Tour ist Tax Collections —May 31, 2022 " J Ms. Brock said there's a huge drop from April to May. Have we looked at the effect of the reduction of the stone crab season by two weeks? It used to extend to May 15 and it was reduced to April 30. Does that have an effect on us from a tourism standpoint? Mr. Beirnes said everything impacts it. There was a little more of a direct correlation that happened right after March, almost April 1 st. It wasn't any one item. It was the combination of consumer price goods, international conflict and gas prices. We witnessed a sizable decrease and we thought we'd be able to harness pent-up demand. While at the Destinations Florida annual meeting in March, he and Mr. St. Germain surveyed all presidents of CVBs in Florida to ask how long they thought pent-up demand would last. Many believed it would remain off the charts, but a lot has happened since then. We all need to be extra nimble. Stone crabs is one, gas is another. Ms. Brock said from now moving forward, are we going to look at it to see if it has a negative impact? Mr. Beirnes said he'd look at that with Mr. St. Germain. It was very fortuitous that we had so much going in that we could afford that depletion. Vice Chairman Hill said when we're asking about future bookings and reservations, we had a major void to fill. Mr. Beirnes said when they asked hoteliers, it is not mathematical, it's anecdotal. Your immediate reaction is the sky is falling. We'll try to build up that delta as quickly as possible. Last year's collections were the highest in history and we've already surpassed that and still have months to go. Council Member Petrunoff asked what reservations look like. 15 June 27, 2022 Mr. Beirnes said he didn't have that here but has had conversations with Chris Johnson on our fiscal team. We have a significant amount of dollars that came in at the end of the year that will help buoy up our reserves greater than we've ever had. Council Member Petrunoff asked if it was $5-, $10- or $15 million. Mr. Beirnes said he'd get back to her. We had to tap into some of them briefly during COVID, but we've replenished it with federal funds that we were able to secure and we were able to continue to backfill it with extra collections from last year. He wants to make sure he provides the right number, so he'll get back to her after the meeting. E. Miles Media — Enriqueta Balandra Paradise. com Web Analytics Report — May 2022 - PowerPoint presentation [Ms. Balandra detailed a PowerPoint presentation.] F. Paradise Coast Sports Complex/Sports Facilities Companies —Andrea Brown and .Iaci Erale- Baughn [Ms. Brown detailed a PowerPoint presentation.] Vice Chairman Hill asked if Ms. Brown could expand on the partnership with Arthrex. Adrian Moses, general manager of Paradise Coast Sports Complex, said theArthrex sponsorship incorporates the events that we've sold. Jeff, our business development director, structured a deal with Arthrex so they are sponsoring specific events that we've brought in. The first part of that is developing the event and then selling awareness on the event to Arthrex for the people that come in. As part of that, one of our stakeholder groups at the complex is Naples United, the soccer club, and we sold a sponsorship on their behalf through Arthrex. That was part of the three-year $112,000 deal with an escalator clause, so it increases each year. It's $37,000 a year. Chairman Solis asked what the status was with Google Maps and finding the sports complex. Mr. Moses said Dave is consistently working on Google. There were actually five locations recognized by Google. People nearby were getting mail for the Paradise Sports Complex and we had to collect that and claim that mail as our own. They're now down to only one. Now we're developing a plan to be able to have the different aspects of the facility split away so the stadium, The Cove and The Factory are separate pins so people can get there directly. Chairman Solis said someone called Uber, which couldn't figure it out to find him, and they had to walk to the Shell station. Mr. Moses said he recently took Uber and the driver had no problem navigating to the sports complex. [Ms. Brown continued her PowerPoint presentation, the marketing proposal.) [After the presentation, Mr. Moses handed out business updates, revenues for the next six months, requested by Ms. Cox last month. J 16 June 27, 2022 Ms. Cox said most of the Tier One metro areas run on an FS to S booking cycle, so you're 5 to S years in the future. What is reasonable for a complex our size, somewhere between a Tier 2 and Tier 3 airport? How far out would we hope to be? Mr. Moses said as far out as possible. Our multi -year events, where we retain the option, we get to keep them. If we want to move in a different direction, we can. It's a good start. These are all events that are pushing out through at least 2025. G. County Museums —Amanda Townsend "Collier County Museums — May Visitors Report" [Ms. Townsend detailed a PowerPoint presentation] Mr. Beirnes said as you can see, there's a lot going on. While we're doing all of this, the month of June and July for us in the CVB are very jam-packed developing our strategic marketing plan for next year. Every day, there are four to six hours of meetings where we are going through every segment that we target, whether it's LGBT, international marketing, Florida residents, local, and all of the above. We're looking at myriad questions. What were our KPIs last year? How did it differ? What changed? What are the trends? We spend hours raking through that. From that, we roll out the model, the foundation in July. We will also have a partner meeting with all our hotels where we'll sit down and open up a conversation to make sure we didn't miss anything on any of the dynamics they're seeing. In August, that is when we really formalize the actual plan and come back to you in September to present the plan. And in October, we present it to the BCC. 10. Council Member Discussion Ms. Cox said that as we prepare later this month for the first in -person meeting of the Global Business Travel Association in quite some time, their research will help answer some of Vice Chairman Hill's questions about individual business travel and what that looks like. We are seeing some really interesting research emerging that supports what Paul had shared about meeting and event travel and that as some companies adopt a more flexible work style — be that remote, hybrid, or some combination — there is actually an increase in meeting- and event -related travel as a means to drive culture that offices and office buildings formerly drove. There also is some research that shows that companies and organizations will be looking for lovely destinations to host those meetings into a positive culture and add staying power to their workforces in this competitive environment. That bodes well for our destination. It came with some good individual business travel, as well. One out of two isn't bad. As we do continue to see that erosion of insatiable domestic leisure demand and we knew that Florida fatigue was going to come, does it make sense for us to as we look at some of the reserves and determine what the right number is moving forward and increase investment in either concessions to attracting sports tournaments at Paradise Coast or increases in RFP funds, items that will help propel year-round visitation as we start to see some of that paint continue to crack? It would be great to see that diversification. Mr. Beirnes said our plan for next year's budget already has baked -in incremental RFPE enhancements. I kept alluding to a large sum of money. It was extra collections and what we've seen already with pent-up collections that will most likely see ourselves within our budget for next year. We 17 June 27, 2022 have not dissected that, as far as distribution, what is going where. But I think that we will have some great opportunities to do many of those things we talked about. Ms. Cox said excellent. Ms. Brock said she'd pleased with what's happening at Paradise Coast Sports Complex. It's great progress, it's noticed and thanks for the hard work. Don't forget that Everglades City puts on fireworks on July 2. Mr. Beirnes said if you haven't been to the Paradise Coast Sports Complex in the last 60 days, you may not recognize it. There's a tremendous amount of land -clearing for future projects, the development of the next phase of fields, which should start in the next month. If you have a chance, go to the administration building's second floor, where you can look out and see all the fields being built and prepped. It gets pretty exciting when you stand there and see the momentum and excitement. He and Adrian have ongoing conversations to ensure that when we're talking about any of these events, that there's oversight and insight on compression and what our expectation is on Florida residents on long weekends. Ninety percent of the battle is making sure you don't create an awkward compression where you have an event, but hotels are going to be full of international or domestic visitors. Vice Chairman Hill said Paul certainly has a challenge in his future. What you and your team did to get us through the pandemic and bring us to this point was incredible. Mr. Olesky thanked all the partners for their work. Ms. Becker said she's thrilled with Paradise Coast Sports Complex. They're doing a great job of making up for lost time. On a clerical matter, she noticed there are some inconsistencies in our documentation. The Executive Summaries are not properly identified and they don't match the table of contents for the agenda. Maybe a new person is doing it? It needs some attention. Ms. Kerns asked that everyone remember Myra Jenco Daniels, who just died. She pioneered the cultural arts in our community. She was a remarkable woman, a little spitfire. Councilor Grifoni praised the Paradise Coast Sports Complex and its improvements over the past six months. He noted that Miami has the only World Cup site, but that focus on sports and soccer in the area will be large as we continue to grow. Chairman Solis congratulated Sports Facilities for the turnaround and hard work at the sports complex. Attorney Greene said Commissioner Taylor gave her some information to give everyone. 11. Tourism Staff Reports -Director [Submitted] 12. Detailed Staff Reports [Submitted] 13. Next Scheduled Meeting Date/Location — 9 a.m. July 25, 2022 June 271 2022 Collier County Government Center, Administration Building F, 3rd Floor, 3299 East Tamiami Trail, Naples, Florida 34112 There being no further business for the good of the County, the meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 11:44 p.m. COLLI�2 COU�`I'Y'I�J�fST DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL Chairman, CCe�imissioner Andy Solis These minutes were approved by the Council on � - ��,� _ �'� , as presented, }�� or as amended