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TDC Minutes 03/20/2023March20,2023 MINUTES OF THE COLLIER COUNTY TOURIST DEVELOPMENT COLNCIL MEETING Naples, Florida, March 20, 2023 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 AM in a REGULAR SESSION in Building F of the Govemment Complex, Naples, Florida, with the following members present: Chairman: Commissioner Bill McDaniel Jr. Vice Chairman: Clark Hill Susan Becker Kathleen Brock (via Zoom) Amanda Cox (excused) Councilor Jared Grifoni Nancy Kerns Ed "Ski" Olesky (excused) Councilwoman Beth Petrunoff (excused) ALSO PRESENT: Paul Beimes, Collier County Tourism Director Colleen Greene, Assistant County Attomey Buzzy Ford, Tourism Digital & Social Media Coordinator Christopher Johnson, Interim Director, Corp. & Mgt. Services Jeffrey Newman, Mgr., Financial Operations, Public Services Dept. Chris D'Arco, Senior Field Inspector, Coastal Zone Management Marissa Baker, Manager, Paradise Coast Sports Complex Amanda Townsend, County Museums Director I March20,2023 Any persons in need of the verbatim record of lhe meetirrg na! request a coryt ofthe video recorulingfrom the Collier Counl! Communic ions and Cuslomer Relalions Department or view iI online. l. Call to Order Chairman McDaniel called the meeting to order at 9 a.m. 2. Pledge of Allegiance The Pledge of Allegiance was recited Ms. Becker made a molion to allow Ms. Brock to participate in lhe meeting via Zoom- Second by Ms. Kerns. The molion passed unanimously, 5-0. 4. Agenda and Minutes A, Changes and Approval ofToday's Agenda Mr. Beirnes said the only change will be that 6.a on the Consent Agenda will be moved to 7.d. Andy Miller, of Coastal Zoning, will be presenting but he is currently presenting to the Naples City Council and will probably be here within an hour. We also will have a brief discussion about the next meeting time and date toward the end. B. Approval of prior TDC Meeting Minutes Regular Meeting February 27, 2023 Ms. Becker made a motion to approve the February 27,2023, meeting minutes. Second hy Vice Chairman Hill. The molion passed unanimously, 6-0. 5. Presentations/Public Comment - (3 minutes each) A. Tourist Development Presentation [PowerPoint presentation, Christopher Johnsonl Mr, Johnson said that per Commissioner Chairman McDaniel's request, he put together a presentation to discuss the allowable uses of TDC funding, historical collections and current reserves as of last Friday. Mr. Johnson detailed lhe following:. Florida Statute 125.0104 outlines the procedure for lelying and the authorized uses ofthe tourist development tax. o The authorized uses vary based on the levy. o The authorized use for the triennial levy, known as the first 3 cents, includes paying debt service on and operating certain facilities, including convention centers, sports stadiums, arenas, coliseums. aquariums and museums. They're also authorized for the promotion ofzoological parks, promotion and advertising oftourism funding, convention and tourist bureaus, financing beach park facilities and beach maintenance, channel maintenance, renourishment, restoration and erosion control, including shoreline protection. . That's the first 3olo. Ms. Kerns asked whal year this started Mr. .Iohnson said 1992. 2 3. Roll Call Mr. Beirnes said Mr. Olesky is excused due to a road closure and Ms. Cox and Councilwoman Petrunoff have excused absences. A quorum of six was established by members present in the board room. March20,2023 Mr. Johnson continued his presenlalion, telling the TDC that:. The 4'r'cent can be utilized for professional sports facility debt, operating costs ofconvention centers financed with tourist tax and the promotion and advertising oftourism. o The 5th cent's uses get narrower. It's for professional sports facilities and convention center debt, and tourism promotion and advertising. o Historical collections: Collections from FYlT to year+o-date FY23 show the trend we have with our peak season and dropping off. r The green line represents the banner year last year, where we collected about $47 million in TDT funding.o This year is the short bluish-purple line that stops, so we're a bit lower than last year on monthly collections. . The yellow line from April to May was 2020 and that dives down to nothing, the pandemic. Vice Chairman Hill asked if that's all the five-penny tax. Mr. Johnson said that was correct, all five pennies. It's obviously a percentage. Ifyou divide it by five, you'll figure out which one each brings in for you. Vice Chairman Hill asked if by reserves, did he mean it's a mandated annual reserve? Mr. Johnson said these are not mandated. Mr. Johnson answered Vice Chairman Hill's questions and thelollowing points were made: . For the museums, when the county budgets for that, it does a contingency reserve for the year. Typically, we put anywhere from 2-3%o into those reseryes. o The tourism promotional reserve comes from the Promotional Fund. When Paul budgets in Fund 184, the balance is put into reserves. . Some ofthese are not really reserves. This is what remains in the account, a snapshot fiom last week. They are reserves, but we haven't identified a use for them yet. It's a mix between identified and cash reserves. . Disaster reserves are identified in Fund 195. . Cash reserves are in Fund 758. . The sports park is in Fund 758, TDC Capital Projects. That's restricted for the sports park. o There's a caveat that there have been transfers to that fund from Fund 184 for additional projects. That's a different funding source that we identiSr to facilitate those projects. lt does not come out ofthe fifth penny. There's a separate capital fund within Fund 758, individual projects. o These are going into Fund 184, but they haven't been broken out. Right now, those funds are identified as reserves, so when we go to next year and Paul lays out his plan, those dollars may be appropriated for marketing and promotion. But that's the balance forward. 3 Mr. Johnson conlinued his presentalion showing dollar amounls, telling the TDC: . Areas where funds took a dip include Hurricane lrma, the pandemic and Hurricane lan.. As of last Friday, we're sitting on about $45.6 million in TDT reserves. . The largest chunk is in Beach Renourishment Fund 195. Chairman McDaniel said he'd like to see the pennies, the percentage ofthe tax appropriated to these reserves. Mr. Johnson asked if he wanted to see it by penny. Chairman McDaniel said yes. The goal is to ascertain what's discretionary, what's not, what's set up in ongoing recurring expenses and ongoing theoretical revenues with what we have coming in. Mr. Johnson said every fund gets the first three pennies. Fund 184 receives the fourth penny and Fund I 84 and Fund 758 receive the fifth penny. He said he could break it down for him. Ms. Kern asked if this reflects the cost for the replenishment of the beach berm. Mr. Johnson said yes. There has been a budget amendment to reduce reserves by $27 million from $39 million to reflect that project. March20,2023 Councilor Grifoni asked what the historic average was on a year-to-year basis for the balance on each ofthese funds for the reserves. That's a six-year period. Mr. Johnson said he can put that information together. This is the cunent snapshot. In Fund 195, this reserve may be older than that, considering we were up around $70 million at one point. Councilor Grifoni said he wants to see the historical breakdown to see how the year-to-year balance fluctuates. Mr, Johnnson said he could provide that report for the TDC's next meeting. Chairman McDaniel said this tax started in 1992 so reserves began accumulating then. Some ofthese numbers have rolled for quite some time. When are we coming forward with the proposed budget? Is that all going to be part ofthe budget cycle for the Board ofCounty Commissioners? Mr. Johnson said correct. That will be presented to the TDC and then it'll be presented to the Board ofCounty Commissioners in June, at the June l5th workshop. Chairman McDaniel said when we're looking at these, we see the revenues and we're in excess of $10 million that we've collected in Tourist Development Tax so far this year. This isjust a snapshot ofthe current reserve positions without any correlation to where they came from, from the individual pennies, so there is blending here. Some ofthe first 3 cents is appropriated and allowed for convention centers and debt service, and then tourism promotion, some ofthe fourth and fifth cents are the same thing. He'd Iike specificity with regard to where the monies came from. We're going to move into the budget workshops and he'd like to see another report next month on what we've asked today. It would help me to better understand how we're appropriating these dollars. 6. Consent Agenda All matters listed under this agenda ilem are routine and action will be taken by one motion v)ilhout separate discussion on each item. Ifdiscussion is desired by a member ofthe 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 B. Tourism Division None 7. New Business A. Recommendation to approve the resurfacing of20 additional pickleball cou rts at East Naples Community Park and to make a finditrg that this expenditure promotes tourism. Mr. Newman reported lhol: o The TDC and the Board ofCommissioners previously approved a $670,000 Category B Promotional Funds Grant last fiscal year for court resurfacing and a variety ofother maintenance related to the U.S. Open, including the purchase of windscreens and other expenses involved in presenting the U.S. Open. . lt was approved on June 27, 2022, then went to the PARAII on August 17, 2022, and both were approved . It was approved as item 1l(i) on November 8,2022, when we began working on the project. o From the amount that was allocated, $600,000 ofthe $670,000 requested was set aside for court re s urfac ing. . When we approached the BCC, we were using some very recent comps. We predicted that for 40 courts, based on those comps, they would cost about $15,000 per court and we'd only be able to handle 40 ofthe 64 courts at that time. o Once we sought quotations, we started doing due diligence prior to the board meeting so we could get a quote to get the work done prior to the U.S. Open, ifapproved by the BCC, so we could fix the worst coufts prior to the U.S. Open. 4 March 20. 2023 We went with one ofour general contractors, our large GC contractor, who quotedjust $220,000 for 40 courts, so we got them done for $5,500 each, rather than $ 15,000 each, which is what our comps showed. We received a purchase order and it's a respectable company and they were using the exact materials we specified, so that will result in about $380,000 being left uncommitted. As we look for long-term sustainability and solutions, because the original document presented to you specified 40 courts, we'd like your permission to do the other 20 courts that are required for upkeep on the facility. The courts we aren't doing are the courts contractually required by Spirit Promotions to handle. Spirit is responsible for resurfacing the championship courts. These are the other 20 courts. Chairman McDaniel asked if Spirit Promotions was doing four courts. Mr. Newman said yes, four under the covered area. The PARAB approved this unanimously last week. Ms. Becker asked why there was such a difference. It's amazing. What lowered the cost? Mr. Newman said they also asked that question because he wants quality work to be done on the courts. When we were pulling items for that last summer, there were a lot of commodity-price extensive markups. That was last summer, so we expected it to cost more, about $ I 0,000-$ 12,000 per court, and we thought costs would continue rising for another six to eight months, so it could cost $ I5,000 per court. Apparently, one ofour general contractors gave us a great price. We're going to be able to get it done much cheaper than we thought we would. Chairman McDaniel asked ifthe quality and quantity were the same. It'sjust a $9,500 reduction? Mr. Newman said yes. Ms. Becker mode a molion lo rccommend dpptoeing lhe resurfacing of 20 additional pickleball courts ot Easl Naples Community Park andfound that the erpenditurc prumoles lourism Second by Vice Chairman Hill. The molion passed untnimously, 6-0, B. Tourist Development Council (TDC) to review and make a recommendation on an application by Kathleen Brock for the appointment to an additional term on the Tourist Development Council. Chairman McDaniel mtde o molion to rccommend thal lhe Tourisl Developmenl Council review and make a recommendalion on lhe applicalion by Kathleen BrcckIot an appointment lo an additional tem on the Toutisl Developmenl Council. Second by Vice Chairman Hill. The motion passed unanimously, 6-0. C. Tourist Development Council to review and make a recommendation on the applications by Clark Hill for the appointment ofan additional term on the Tourist Development Council. Councilor Grifoni made a molion to recommend thal Tourist Development Council to review and mtke ( recommenddtioh on the tpplicalion by Clark Hillfor an appoinlmenl lo an adtlitional tetm on lhe Tourist Development Council. Second by Ms. Becker. The motion p6sed unanimously, G0. Vice Chairman Hill thanked the TDC. saying he's honored lo be here. D, Recommendation to approve the expenditure ofTourist Development Tax funding in the amount of $300,000 for an emergency Purchase C)rder to Crowder-Gulf Joint Venture Inc. to provide removal of marine debris and other biological debris on the beaches and waterways of Collier County due to red tide and make a finding that this item promotes tourism. (Project No.90077). Chris D'Arco said Andy Miller is at Naples City Council this moming, so he's filling in. He asked if they had any questions on the recommendation to approve the expenditure ofTourist Development Tax funding in the 5 Ms. Brock thanked the TDC, saying she's honored. March 20. 2023 amount of $300,000 for an emergency purchase order to Crowder-Gulf Joint Venture Inc. to provide removal of marine debris and other biological debris on the beaches and waterways of Collier County due to red tide and make a finding lhal this item promotes lourism. Ms. Kerns asked ifthis is in addition to the 100,000 that the city approved. Mr. D'Arco said he wasn't sure. He'd have to ask. But the city did fund its own cleanup, so it's probably in addition to that. Ms. Becker asked if there are certain areas being designated for removal. Mr. D'Arco said no, this will cover it in general. anlthing that needs to be done Councilor Grifoni made o motion lo recommend approving the acpendilurc of Tourisl Developmenl Tax Junding in the amount of $300,000 for an emergency Purchase Order to Crowtler-Gulf JoinI Venture Inc, lo ptovide rennval of marine debris and olher biological debris on lhe beaches and w erways of Collier County due to red lide ondfound thal this item promotes lourism. Second hy Ms. Becker. The ntotion passed unonimously, 6-0. 8. Old Business None 9, Marketing Partner Reports These reporls (Marketing Partner Reports - Downs & St. Germain Research; Paradise Advertising & Ma*eting, Inc.; Lou Hammond Group; Convenlion & Visitors Bureau PR Team; Collier County Tar Collector - tourist tm collections; Miles Partnership - Website Anolytics, Digital & Social Media; Poradise Coast Sporls Complex, and Counly 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 u,ill be presented at TDC meetings on an-as-needed basis. TDC members moy request a presentation by the marketing partner representative or by tourism staff at each TDC meeting. Part l. Marketing Partner Report A. Downs & St. Germain Research - Josep h St. Germain [Mr. St. Germain detailed a PowerPoint presentotion, SWFL Hurricane Sentiment/February report.J Ms. Kerns noted that age is trending down and now it's up at 53 while the household income is about the same. Mr. St. Germain said his company provides quarterly and annual reports, so you're going to have some fluctuation. One ofthe things about a monthly survey is you're going to have some fluctuations with a couple hundred surveys, but we'll conlinue to monitor that to see how that moves up and down. Mr. Beirnes said that depends on what activity it is. This is for the month ofFebruary and there zre fluctuations he witnesses regularly, but we try to see how it extrapolates out. He and Joseph have many conversations daily and this real-time February data isjust over a week old from the STR Report. We have witnessed noticeable slippage during the month of March, which probably will show how red tide impacts visitation when we discuss it next month. Florida residents can respond more quickly because they're closer if it's a weekend getaway. In the month of Septemb er,22%o of ow visitation was coming from Florida residents, so the media has definitely been all over it. It's fortunate that over the last week we have seen that dissipate and we've got good counts now and will hopefully get much better. Damage is done very easily and very quickly. Florida residents can book days later. Vice Chairman Hill said they're seeing that at the Hilton. For every cancellation we have, we're asking, ''Why are you canceling?" and it's because ofwater-quality issues. We're down considerably year-over-year and behind in our budget month-to-date.We're getting that feedback when our guests come back fiom the beach. lt's a real 6 March20,2023 issue and is having a real impact, but it could be here today and gone tomorrow. Maybe a PR campaign would help, but that's hard to address without saying it. Mr. Beirnes said he purposely went to explore the beach yesterday just to see the impact and it looked spectacular. There was no discomfort. But on the news last night, they said there were negligible traces. We are definitely out there very proactively on social media and all our communications, notjust promoling the beaches, but the breadth and depth ofthe entire destination. That's been a strong asset for us. Quite often, ifyou're from the north, you're less likely to cancel a trip because you're probably not as acutely aware as you are ifyou're in Tampa, Miami, Fort Lauderdale or Orlando. Unfortunately, we need to continue to watch the sentiment in media because last week, the forecast was about the giant seaweed island coming up from the Caribbean. That certainly does not help with getting word out for Florida, in general, so we'll continue to closely monitor that. Ms. Becker said that when people come to Third Street, they're already in the red tide area because it's so close to the beach. Some people are put out and ask, "Can't you do anyhing about this?" She reminds them that it's a worldwide phenomenon. She nies to distract them and that's why they're going to the restaurants. In the past, haven't we had much higher numbers for recommendation and retum? Chairman McDaniel said it's important to note that Paul and Joseph brought this up earlier. This is a survey of 200-plus or minus people who took the survey, so we need to account for the fact that it's who you ask, how many, when you ask and that impacts the numbers on a percentage basis with regard to the age ofour visitors. It's who we end up catching. Ms. Becker said she didn't remember percentages this low. Chairman McDaniel said maybe we can do a comparison on a little longer-term timeline to have a more leveling effect. We're looking at a snapshot from one month for roughly 200 people surveyed. That, combined with red tide. We have a I .5-plus-billion-year-old organism that comes to life every year. All you need is the perfect storm for the bloom of red tide and a westerly wind and it comes ashore and is then impacted by the more-than-usual nutrient-rich fieshwater coming in. Vice Chairman Hill said he agrees. It's the nutrients that impact that and not surprisingly, after the hurricane and all the turbulence, that was activated. We can look at this, but we shouldn't be too concerned about people's perspective and satisfaction with our destination. It has to do with the hurricane and red tide, so we'll be back. Ms. Kerns noted that the people who said they'd recommend the area totaled 430k "probably" and 53% "definitely." That equals 97olo so that's what we had a year ago. Vice Chairman Hill said he remembered that. Absolutely. Mr. St. Germain said that to give you some insight as to why we ask it that way. You're right. You're recommending 970lo and retuming at 94Yo if you add the two together. That is a great metric to see how we're doing and those are strong. The reason we've broken out to "definitely/probably" is the people who say "definitely" are more likely to say kind things about the destination when they go home. lt provides a deeper level ofdepth than what than what we may have had before, so they are still overall recommending and returning. "Definitely" is that striving for excellence that will help word-of-mouth when we get back. Overall, you're right that the numbers are similar. When you see a small dip in "definitely" you may have a little bit less word-of- mouth, so that's why we break those out. Chairman McDaniel noted that on in this same report, where we're looking at a month of our budgeted revenues, expectations and actual collections, we're doing really well. He mentioned $ I 0 million plus before, but it's really over $14 million that we've collected so far on a budgeted amount of $10 million, so the numbers are go;ng to fluctuate depending on who we're asking, when we're asking and where they're actually staying. Ms. Brock noted that the question is specific to Naples. Do you ever phrase it so that it's about Collier County? If you're specific to Naples, that might be driving the age. The average age visiting there would be a little higher in Naples and you'd probably experience it a little lower in Marco and maybe even lower in the Everglades, because 7 March20,2023 people are here more for eco-tourism. So how do you balance lhat out when you're questioning potential participants? Mr. St. Germain said we're doing these suryeys across the county, so pre-hurricane was beach heavy. You want to be where visitors are. We're also at the airport and variety ofdifferent areas. Instead of speciling all the cities within the survey, we show them a map, so they know what area we're talking about. Then we'll show them all the cities and tell them that for brevity, we're calling it the 'Naples area" for the rest ofthe survey. We want to count everlthing that happens in the county. Ms. Becker asked, Did you say earlier that there was little awareness ofthe hurricane when you asked that question of some people? Mr. St. Germain said there was little top-of-mind awareness when we asked if there was any reason they wouldn't go to the Naples area and other places in Southwest Florida. Then we asked a follow up question, "Why wouldn't you go?" The hurricane came up very, very slightly. When we asked the question, "Do you remember it happening?" We needed to ask that question to ask some follow up questions. When we brought it up and asked, "What are your thoughts on the area?" that was really high. About 93olo ofpotential consumers remember it happening. If we asked them about the area before we mentioned the hurricane and where damage was done, it wasn't top-of-mind. Awareness was very low. We use that as a base to understand ifthey know where the damage was done. That's why we said earlier that one in five ofyour potential visitors believe the area received significant damage. Ms. Becker said she asks and tourists also can't believe there was a hurricane here. She reminds them that where they are standing. water would have been up to their chins. Her experience supporls your statistics. Mr. Beirnes said he's had a lot ofconversations surrounding a lot ofthings on that slide. One ofthe things we haven't really dug into is value for the travel dollar. That's not only whether they're recommending, whether they had a great meal, but it's their entire expenditure. Over the last couple ofyears, the average daily rate has significantly increased. About a year ago, we were looking at very strong value for the dollar and one ofthe things Joseph kept pointing out is that was at astronomical levels, especially with the average daily rate going through the roof. It was perplexing, but it showed price elasticity. People had pent-up demand and extra savings, but they were willing to spend. What we're seeing now in the STR Report is that there's more of a normalization for us and the area. But looking at all other destinations across Florida, there is kind of a receding ofthe average daily rate. He calls it normalization because it was an abnormal spike in the last l% years, so we're starting to see that trending backwards. Whether it's red tide or post-hurricane, the ADR, all factor into the value ofthe dollar or their recommendation. We're going to start seeing a season of settling down. We hope to see no more hurricanes and red tide and start seeing some normalization continuing. Councilor Grifoni said that he also was looking at the value for the travel dollar. That's a significant drop compared with some previous months. Last year, it was in the upper nines at one point. Ofcourse, ifyou're coming from a place where you're not allowed to go outside or you're not allowed to go into a restaurant, the value for the travel dollar would be pretty high when you can come here and exercise those freedoms. Has there been any type oftracking ofthe correlation between the value ofthe travel dollar number and the "definitely/probably" recommendation? It seems Iike there might be a connection there. Ifthe value for the travel dollar is higher, you're more likely to say you're definitely going to recommend. It's a little bit lower ifyou still like the area and you want to come back, but maybe it doesn't get that full-throated "definite" and instead gets the "probably." He's interested to see how that might correlale over time, with inflation and other factors. Chairman McDaniel noted that this is a snapshot in time. A year ago, the inflation rates weren't 90% adjusted for housing, fuel and food. We didn't have a doubling ofthe electric bill, a 50-60% increase in insurance expense, a doubling of fuel expense. Fuel prices were 5004 a year ago from what we're paying now, so those all have an impact on the dollar value for the travel. Councilor Grifoni said it may not be specific lo our area. That may bejust a general sentiment. Vice Chairman Hill noted that it's peak season. Mr. Beirnes said they'd continue to monitor this. Research is massively important to everything we do. tt March20,2023 B. Paradise Adverising - Cyndy Murietta, VP of Media; Louisa Laurelli, Collier County Account Manager Mr. Beirnes said over the last two months, we shared our rollout in Chicago and our campaign during February. We are also just wrapping up our takeover in Hartford, so we had a lot of efforts in the Northeast and Midwest. He wants to showcase something we're really excited about. We're going across the border with a significant campaign in Canada after a trial last March. One ofour strategies in our FY23 marketing plan was to do ever;4hing we could to minimize the vast dips - season spiking and dropping off - to push as much as we could to the shoulder in the summer season. When we did a test last March in Canada, we applied very few dollars, but got significant impact. That's the kickoffpoint to what we're going to talk about in Canada. [Ms. Mwietta detailed a PowerPoint presentation.] Chairman McDaniel asked how they track the outcome after we advertise. Does it flow back into our previous discussion with regard to the tourists who are coming, where they're coming from, etc? Mr. Beirnes said we are going to do a deep dive next month into a lot ofthe metrics and tracking and how we utilize ADARA, a name you'll probably see in this presentation. In all our digital efforts, we have the ability to calculate whether a consumer received our digital ad, saw it and consumed it. Then through that third party, it tracks their behavior, whether that person purchased an airline ticket and was in-market. We will showcase ROI and direct spending, so it's not fuzzy math. This shows our hard-driving effort to gain ROI. Next month, Paradise Advertising and Cyndy will showcase some ofthat in detail. Chairman McDaniel said he'd like to see that. It will help ratiry why we're doing this and what we're doing. It's not an exact science. He's not looking for that. If someone is impressed or consumed, they may not come this year, but they're done with winter, done shoveling snow and so they're going to be booking next year. It may not be one ofthose initial impressions, so it's a balance. Ms. Murietta said exactly. Like we said last year, we only advertised in March in Canada and yet we continue to see that Canadian visitation throughout the summer and that March campaign theoretically, in monthly reporting, wouldn't have gotten any credit for that. lt's called forward equity. When you're doing advertising, that impression matters so much because people are seeing it and taking it in. They might not be acting right away when it comes to travel. Each your monthly reports, we do have ROAS (retum on ad spend) for Expedia and also report on the ADARA impact. We're going to be showing you more about that next month. [Ms. Mwietta continued PowerPoint presentation.J Mr. Beirnes noted that one ofthe unique nuances that takes place in Toronto is that it's a very affluent area. The GO Transit is where those ads are, right in our target $175,000-plus household income. It's very luxurious. This is a great method for getting into town and cottage country. This is about two hours north of Toronto, where it's tremendously expensive to have a cottage and extremely expensive to rent cottages. Everybody has a desire. You're lucky to book one week ofsunshine. Otherwise, you're seeing a lot ofrain. That's one ofthose objection points to Canadians who, when they're looking to book their cottage. They don't know whether they'll get a good week, so we are playing up on this because we know that we have sunshine here. We have the warmth and all the reasons they love the destination during the winter and we're playing up on it. It's a great altemative to get sunshine and all the beaches. Ms. Becker asked about the second voice in the ad. It's much more pleasant than the first. The first was a little shrieky. Ms. Laurelli said the first one was a broadcaster on The Weather Network team. That's not our talent. She came from Canada to be part ofthat. She's not part ofour team. The second one is our talent, someone we love to work with. Chairman McDaniel asked if she was a known figure from The Weather Channel who was doing it because she's familiar and has a fan base. Ms. Laurelli said yes. 9 March20,2023 Chairman McDaniel asked Mr. Beirnes if they did all that for 5200,000. Mr. Beirnes called it borrowed money. Chairman McDaniel said it's not really borrowed. It was eamed, reappropriated out of our state ta,xation. He thanked him. That was amazing. He didn't realize what he was doing on Day 2 after the hunicane, when he was in shorts directing traffic. That was a really astute move. Our community coalesces after a natural disaster on a regular basis. For you to see the value and reappropriate funding out here is astute. Mr. Beirnes gave kudos to the leadership at Visit Florida. Over his career, he's had amazing conversations with them. He was at Visit Orlando in 2008 or 2009 and approached The Weather Network to point out that they had a missed business opportunity where their talent should be going into destinations and promoting. His was the destination they first embraced and after a few years, he brought Visit Florida into that. They saw the value of what that could generate. They decided to use The Weather Network. Canadians are fixated on weather, understandably so. C. Lou Hammond Group - Mackenzie Comerer, VP PR [Ms. Comerer delailed a PowerPoinl presentalion, "Services Conducted in Fehruorv 2023." Part 2. Marketing Partner Reports D, Collier County Tourist Tax Collections - Parl Bcirnes, Tourisnr Director Mr. Beirnes detailed a PowerPoinl presentation, lelling the TDC: o The first form shows a year-to-year comparison against where we were last year, when all our hotels were open, while now we have two properties still closed, recovering and being repaired for a possible opening this summer or fall. o We're looking at potential, ifthey are down for the entire year, a difference/missing income ofabout $8 million in collections for those two properties, which have about 650 rooms. They are upscale, high-ADR collections. . Right now, we are 9.26Yo behind in collections, which is very good when you consider that. . When we enter a fiscal year, we are highly conservative. We do a very conservative estimation ofwhat collections will be. It's like an allowance, our budget guidance for how we need to plan our year ahead. As the year goes by, it allows us to be a little more optimistic and our budget is then reassessed. . When we first went into our adopted budget last year, when we had 547.6 million in collections, it was highly conservative at $32.8 million. But even with the impact ofthe hurricane, it has been modified and the updated annual forecast could be around $36.8 million. . We are still highly conservative now. That number brings us in at 12.15%o ahead of that projected number. o Based on our projected collections and how we are spending during this fiscal year, we are doing exceptionally well, but are being very vigilant about how we continue to keep that. o He hopes to see greater strengths in the April, May, June time frame, when we're trying to push toward the shoulder seasons. o It's important to separate those two to compare where we were last year because that's where we want to be - or exceeding that. But we need to consider how we're conservatively pacing ourselves in our budget. Vice Chairman Hill asked if this will impact his ability to properly market the destination and bring in the tax funds we need to operate. Mr. Beirnes said there are two parts to that. One is "properly market." We are poised well for that because we knew in the summer what our expenditures were, so nothing surprised us. It was that very conservative stance. We looked at what we had and then we identified the best strategy to be able to achieve our goal. As we set ourselves up with that, some ofthe pacing that we had with that conservative approach was asking whether we should throw a lot ofmoney into the support ofseason. This is pre-hurricane. Some ofour occupancy rates have historically were high 80s into the 90s, depending on the week. Do you expend a tremendous amount of time where you're either coming or you're not? So our strategy this year was to apply enough budget during season. but to iocus a little more on the shoulder season, where we felt that we had deltas of40-500% occupancy. That's where we can really have impact. Our strategy was well aligned and we're in a good spot. It's great that that line l0 March 20,2023 in red, which is not truly in the red and less than our projected collections, because that would cause us much greater concem, especially considering those two large hotels that should have directly impacted us into a detrimental place. Vice Chairman Hill called that good planning and a good strategy. Chairman McDaniel said when we come back next month with further correlation to the pennies and the actual percentages oftax, he wants to see where we're at with regard to expenses. These are really good numbers, but he wants to see where we're at on a historical basis in relation to revenues and the correlation to expenses, and where we're at in regard to that within our budget. He understands that's not linear and it's over time with regard to these expenses. Mr. Beirnes said he can provide that. Here, you can see how that lines up for each account and how it's doled out or planned for beach facilities, museums, etc. [t's not linear or divided by l2 because there is significant seasonality. The expenditure for the berm was not seasonally adjusted. E, Miles Partnership - Enriqueta Balandra [Ms. Balandra detailed a PowerPoint presentation, "Paradise.conr Monthly Report - February 2023"J Mr. Beirnes noted that what is equally as important is that every one ofthese agencies here are looking at the same numbers, so while we may see visitation to the website, allare interpreting how that affects them. None of this is in a vacuum. We segment these presentations to make it digestible, but allthe agencies are aligned and working together to understand the data metrics. F Paradise Coast Sports Complex/Sports Facilities Companies lP. Terrasi, Adrian Moses [Mr. Terrasi and Mr. Moses detailed Poy'erPoinl presentations.J Mr, Beirnes asked Mr. Moses to explain COGs, Cost of Goods Sold Mr. Moses delailed COGS and PCSC's budget: o Our budget is set up as a revenue budget, money that comes in through the door. o We have set expenses, the expenses that will cost the county to operate the facility, such as full-time salaries and asset expenses, which don't go up or down based upon how much business we do through the doors. . COGS is the amount ofmoney we have to spend, which can go up and down based upon the amount of business we booked. . We booked a robust calendar and were expecting more fields, so our COGS for local programming is at capacity during the week. . We don't add additional COGS if we have additional fields. lt's set. If we have four fields running or eight fields running, it doesn't make a difference in how much money we spend. o But if we only have four fields running, we have to try to make up the difference in the revenue that will come in from those additional four fields. That could be through catering events and other events that we have to spend money for to get that revenue coming through. IMr. Moses continued the PowerPoint presentation.] Chairman McDaniel called that the key to success. Ifyou're not doing that on a daily basis, you're never going to progress. Mr. Moses said they knew it was good, but they want it to be better. [Mr. Terrasi protided a PowerPoinl presentation on website nafiic.] Chairman McDaniel asked about the bounce rate. Mr. Terrasi said that's when a consumer bounces from one ofour pages to another entity. They leave our page. l1 March20,2023 Councilor Grifoni asked where they stand on the opening ofthe new fields. Ms. Baker said we're hoping for May for four fields and a fifth field in nine months 10. Council Member f)iscussion I l' Tourism StaffReports - Amanda Townsend [Ms. Townsend delailed a PowerPoinl presenlation on February visitation.] Chairman McDaniel said the event at Roberts Ranch was well attended with lots to do. It was very family oriented. He recommended that others check it out ifthey haven't been there. Ms. Townsend said it was Museum Manager Helen Midney's first cattle drive. She did an excellent job It was absolutely seamless. Chairman McDaniel asked if the CAT bus tours were new. He didn't remember CAT buses taking people to watch the cows before. Ms. Townsend said they'd done it before and appreciate the BCC's sponsorship. Ms. Becker asked ifthere was any word on when the Naples Depot would reopen. Ms. Townsend said no. But we're working on it. 12. Detailed Staff Reports (Submitted) Chairman McDaniel asked how everyone liked the new format, the new day ofthe week and ending by noon. He apologized for not taking a break. Ms. Becker said she didn't think they needed a break. Chairman McDaniel noted that all this information can wear you out. Do you feel like it was all covered.? Ms. Becker said it was very well covered. Vice Chairman Hill said there's a lot of information but it the budget and tax information was very easy to understand, and we have a good grasp of it. Chairman McDaniel a$eed, saying he enjoyed the new format. Mr. Beirnes said we did a trial this week of moving the meeting from the fourth to third Monday, which led to excessive compression in the numbers presented. Some ofour results from campaigns will have to come a month later, but everybody did an exceptionaljob to compress and work late to gather this. It's something we'll have to get used to. One ofthe challenges is that next month there's already something on the calendar for the third Monday and we could not move that meeting. We can move it to l-4 p.m. for that month. If not, he'll look at 12 Ms. Becker said it was good news that the trains are running at the Naples Depot. Do you know the times they run? Ms. Townsend said she believes they're running Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but will confirm that and get back to her. Ms. Becker said we have all the brochures but have been holding back. Ms. Townsend said the Lionel train display and the little train ride are behind the building, so they stayed dry and will be running through season again. Mr. Beirnes said that staffwill present reports at next month's meeting. 13. Next Scheduled Meeting Date/Location - I p.m. Monday, Lpril17.,2023 Collier County Government Center, Administration Building F, 3rd Floor, 3299 f,ast Tamiami Trail, Naples, Florida 341l2 March20,2023 everyone's recommendation. The only other alternative would be to retum to the fourth Monday in April. Either way, he'll send out a reminder. There being no further business for the good of the County, the meeting was adjourned by order of the chairman at I l:28 p.m. COLLIER COUNCIL Ili niel .l rman 'Ihese m inutes Y. or as were approved by amended the Council on '1 -l I -'J-t (choose one) as presented, l3 36.A.2 March 20, 2023 MINUTES OF THE COLLIER COUNTY TOURIST DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL MEETING Naples, Florida, March 20, 2023 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 AM in a REGULAR SESSION in Building F of the Government Complex, Naples, Florida, with the following members present: Chairman: Commissioner Bill McDaniel Jr. Vice Chairman: Clark Hill Susan Becker Kathleen Brock (via Zoom) Amanda Cox (excused) Councilor Jared Grifoni Nancy Kerns Ed "Ski" Olesky (excused) Councilwoman Beth Petrunoff (excused) ALSO PRESENT: Paul Beirnes, Collier County Tourism Director Colleen Greene, Assistant County Attorney Buzzy Ford, Tourism Digital & Social Media Coordinator Christopher Johnson, Interim Director, Corp. & Mgt. Services Jeffrey Newman, Mgr., Financial Operations, Public Services Dept. Chris D'Arco, Senior Field Inspector, Coastal Zone Management Marissa Baker, Manager, Paradise Coast Sports Complex Amanda Townsend, County Museums Director Packet Pg. 658 36.A.2 March 20, 2023 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 McDaniel called the meeting to order at 9 a.m. 2. Pledge of Allegiance The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. 3. Roll Call Mr. Beirnes said Mr. Olesky is excused due to a road closure and Ms. Cox and Councilwoman Petrunoff have excused absences. A quorum of six was established by members present in the board room. Ms. Becker made a motion to allow Ms. Brock to participate in the meeting via Zoom. Second by Ms. Kerns. The motion passed unanimously, 5-0. 4. Agenda and Minutes A. Changes and Approval of Today's Agenda Mr. Beirnes said the only change will be that 6.a on the Consent Agenda will be moved to 7.d. Andy Miller, of Coastal Zoning, will be presenting but he is currently presenting to the Naples City Council and will probably be here within an hour. We also will have a brief discussion about the next meeting time and date toward the end. B. Approval of prior TDC Meeting Minutes Regular Meeting February 27, 2023 Ms. Becker made a motion to approve the February 27, 2023, meeting minutes. Second by Vice Chairman Hill. The motion passed unanimously, 6-0. M N O N 5. Presentations/Public Comment - (3 minutes each) r� A. Tourist Development Presentation [PowerPoint presentation, Christopher Johnson] = L 0. Mr. Johnson said that per Commissioner Chairman McDaniel's request, he put together a presentation to discuss a ea the allowable uses of TDC funding, historical collections and current reserves as of last Friday. � c 0 Mr. Johnson detailed the following: • Florida Statute 125.0104 outlines the procedure for levying and the authorized uses of the tourist eo development tax. • The authorized uses vary based on the levy. a • The authorized use for the triennial levy, known as the first 3 cents, includes paying debt service on and operating certain facilities, including convention centers, sports stadiums, arenas, coliseums, aquariums d and museums. They're also authorized for the promotion of zoological parks, promotion and advertising z of tourism funding, convention and tourist bureaus, financing beach park facilities and beach maintenance, channel maintenance, renourishment, restoration and erosion control, including shoreline Q protection. • That's the first 3%. Ms. Kerns asked what year this started. Mr. Johnson said 1992. 2 Packet Pg. 659 36.A.2 March 20, 2023 Mr. Johnson continued his presentation, telling the TDC that. • The 4t1i cent can be utilized for professional sports facility debt, operating costs of convention centers financed with tourist tax and the promotion and advertising of tourism. • The 5t1i cent's uses get narrower. It's for professional sports facilities and convention center debt, and tourism promotion and advertising. • Historical collections: Collections from FY17 to year-to-date FY23 show the trend we have with our peak season and dropping off. • The green line represents the banner year last year, where we collected about $47 million in TDT funding. • This year is the short bluish -purple line that stops, so we're a bit lower than last year on monthly collections. • The yellow line from April to May was 2020 and that dives down to nothing, the pandemic. Vice Chairman Hill asked if that's all the five -penny tax. Mr. Johnson said that was correct, all five pennies. It's obviously a percentage. If you divide it by five, you'll figure out which one each brings in for you. Mr. Johnson continued his presentation showing dollar amounts, telling the TDC: Areas where funds took a dip include Hurricane Irma, the pandemic and Hurricane Ian. As of last Friday, we're sitting on about $45.6 million in TDT reserves. The largest chunk is in Beach Renourishment Fund 195. Chairman McDaniel said he'd like to see the pennies, the percentage of the tax appropriated to these reserves. Mr. Johnson asked if he wanted to see it by penny. Chairman McDaniel said yes. The goal is to ascertain what's discretionary, what's not, what's set up in ongoing recurring expenses and ongoing theoretical revenues with what we have coming in. Mr. Johnson said every fund gets the first three pennies. Fund 184 receives the fourth penny and Fund 184 and Fund 758 receive the fifth penny. He said he could break it down for him. Ms. Kern asked if this reflects the cost for the replenishment of the beach berm. Mr. Johnson said yes. There has been a budget amendment to reduce reserves by $27 million from $39 million to reflect that project. Vice Chairman Hill asked if by reserves, did he mean it's a mandated annual reserve? Mr. Johnson said these are not mandated. Mr. Johnson answered Vice Chairman Hill's questions and the following points were made: • For the museums, when the county budgets for that, it does a contingency reserve for the year. Typically, we put anywhere from 2-3% into those reserves. • The tourism promotional reserve comes from the Promotional Fund. When Paul budgets in Fund 184, the balance is put into reserves. • Some of these are not really reserves. This is what remains in the account, a snapshot from last week. They are reserves, but we haven't identified a use for them yet. It's a mix between identified and cash reserves. • Disaster reserves are identified in Fund 195. • Cash reserves are in Fund 758. • The sports park is in Fund 758, TDC Capital Projects. That's restricted for the sports park. • There's a caveat that there have been transfers to that fund from Fund 184 for additional projects. That's a different funding source that we identify to facilitate those projects. It does not come out of the fifth penny. There's a separate capital fund within Fund 758, individual projects. • These are going into Fund 184, but they haven't been broken out. Right now, those funds are identified as reserves, so when we go to next year and Paul lays out his plan, those dollars may be appropriated for marketing and promotion. But that's the balance forward. M N 0 N ti �L CL Q M c 0 c� c m a� a c as E z 0 0 Q 3 Packet Pg. 660 36.A.2 March 20, 2023 Councilor Grifoni asked what the historic average was on a year-to-year basis for the balance on each of these funds for the reserves. That's a six -year period. Mr. Johnson said he can put that information together. This is the current snapshot. In Fund 195, this reserve may be older than that, considering we were up around $70 million at one point. Councilor Grifoni said he wants to see the historical breakdown to see how the year-to-year balance fluctuates. Mr. Johnnson said he could provide that report for the TDC's next meeting. Chairman McDaniel said this tax started in 1992 so reserves began accumulating then. Some of these numbers have rolled for quite some time. When are we coming forward with the proposed budget? Is that all going to be part of the budget cycle for the Board of County Commissioners? Mr. Johnson said correct. That will be presented to the TDC and then it'll be presented to the Board of County Commissioners in June, at the June 15' workshop. Chairman McDaniel said when we're looking at these, we see the revenues and we're in excess of $10 million that we've collected in Tourist Development Tax so far this year. This is just a snapshot of the current reserve positions without any correlation to where they came from, from the individual pennies, so there is blending here. Some of the first 3 cents is appropriated and allowed for convention centers and debt service, and then tourism promotion, some of the fourth and fifth cents are the same thing. He'd like specificity with regard to where the monies came from. We're going to move into the budget workshops and he'd like to see another report next month on what we've asked today. It would help me to better understand how we're appropriating these dollars. 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 B. Tourism Division None 7. New Business A. Recommendation to approve the resurfacing of 20 additional pickleball courts at East Naples Community Park and to make a finding that this expenditure promotes tourism. Mr. Newman reported that. • The TDC and the Board of Commissioners previously approved a $670,000 Category B Promotional Funds Grant last fiscal year for court resurfacing and a variety of other maintenance related to the U.S. Open, including the purchase of windscreens and other expenses involved in presenting the U.S. Open. • It was approved on June 27, 2022, then went to the PARAB on August 17, 2022, and both were approved. • It was approved as item I I(i) on November 8, 2022, when we began working on the project. • From the amount that was allocated, $600,000 of the $670,000 requested was set aside for court resurfacing. • When we approached the BCC, we were using some very recent comps. We predicted that for 40 courts, based on those comps, they would cost about $15,000 per court and we'd only be able to handle 40 of the 64 courts at that time. • Once we sought quotations, we started doing due diligence prior to the board meeting so we could get a quote to get the work done prior to the U.S. Open, if approved by the BCC, so we could fix the worst courts prior to the U.S. Open. M N O N ti �L a Q M c 0 c� 13 c am a� a c as E z 0 M Q C! Packet Pg. 661 36.A.2 March 20, 2023 • We went with one of our general contractors, our large GC contractor, who quoted just $220,000 for 40 courts, so we got them done for $5,500 each, rather than $15,000 each, which is what our comps showed. • We received a purchase order and it's a respectable company and they were using the exact materials we specified, so that will result in about $380,000 being left uncommitted. • As we look for long-term sustainability and solutions, because the original document presented to you specified 40 courts, we'd like your permission to do the other 20 courts that are required for upkeep on the facility. • The courts we aren't doing are the courts contractually required by Spirit Promotions to handle. Spirit is responsible for resurfacing the championship courts. These are the other 20 courts. Chairman McDaniel asked if Spirit Promotions was doing four courts. Mr. Newman said yes, four under the covered area. The PARAB approved this unanimously last week. Ms. Becker asked why there was such a difference. It's amazing. What lowered the cost? Mr. Newman said they also asked that question because he wants quality work to be done on the courts. When we were pulling items for that last summer, there were a lot of commodity -price extensive markups. That was last summer, so we expected it to cost more, about $10,000-$12,000 per court, and we thought costs would continue rising for another six to eight months, so it could cost $15,000 per court. Apparently, one of our general contractors gave us a great price. We're going to be able to get it done much cheaper than we thought we would. Chairman McDaniel asked if the quality and quantity were the same. It's just a $9,500 reduction? Mr. Newman said yes. Ms. Becker made a motion to recommend approving the resurfacing of 20 additional pickleball courts at East Naples Community Park and found that the expenditure promotes tourism. Second by Vice Chairman Hill. The motion passed unanimously, 6-0. B. Tourist Development Council (TDC) to review and make a recommendation on an application by Kathleen Brock for the appointment to an additional term on the Tourist Development Council. Chairman McDaniel made a motion to recommend that the Tourist Development Council review and make a recommendation on the application by Kathleen Brock for an appointment to an additional term on the Tourist Development Council. Second by Vice Chairman Hill. The motion passed unanimously, 6-0. Ms. Brock thanked the TDC, saying she's honored. C. Tourist Development Council to review and make a recommendation on the applications by Clark Hill for the appointment of an additional term on the Tourist Development Council. Councilor Grifoni made a motion to recommend that Tourist Development Council to review and make a recommendation on the application by Clark Hill for an appointment to an additional term on the Tourist Development Council. Second by Ms. Becker. The motion passed unanimously, 6-0. Vice Chairman Hill thanked the TDC, saying he's honored to be here. D. Recommendation to approve the expenditure of Tourist Development Tax funding in the amount of $300,000 for an emergency Purchase Order to Crowder -Gulf Joint Venture Inc. to provide removal of marine debris and other biological debris on the beaches and waterways of Collier County due to red tide and make a finding that this item promotes tourism. (Project No. 90077). Chris D'Arco said Andy Miller is at Naples City Council this morning, so he's filling in. He asked if they had any questions on the recommendation to approve the expenditure of Tourist Development Tax funding in the 5 Packet Pg. 662 36.A.2 March 20, 2023 amount of $300,000 for an emergency purchase order to Crowder -Gulf Joint Venture Inc. to provide removal of marine debris and other biological debris on the beaches and waterways of Collier County due to red tide and make a finding that this item promotes tourism. Ms. Kerns asked if this is in addition to the 100,000 that the city approved. Mr. D'Arco said he wasn't sure. He'd have to ask. But the city did fund its own cleanup, so it's probably in addition to that. Ms. Becker asked if there are certain areas being designated for removal. Mr. D'Arco said no, this will cover it in general, anything that needs to be done. Councilor Grifoni made a motion to recommend approving the expenditure of Tourist Development Tax funding in the amount of $300,000 for an emergency Purchase Order to Crowder -Gulf Joint Venture Inc. to provide removal of marine debris and other biological debris on the beaches and waterways of Collier County due to red tide and found that this item promotes tourism. Second by Ms. Becker. The motion passed unanimously, 6-0. 8. Old Business None 9. Marketing Partner Reports These reports (Marketing Partner Reports - Downs & St. Germain Research; Paradise Advertising & Marketing, Inc.; Lou Hammond Group; Convention & Visitors Bureau PR Team; Collier County Tax Collector - tourist tax collections; Miles Partnership - Website Analytics, Digital & Social Media; Paradise Coast Sports Complex, and 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. Part 1. Marketing Partner Report A. Downs & St. Germain Research — Joseph St. Germain [Mr. St. Germain detailed a PowerPoint presentation, SWFL Hurricane Sentiment/February report.] Ms. Kerns noted that age is trending down and now it's up at 53 while the household income is about the same. Mr. St. Germain said his company provides quarterly and annual reports, so you're going to have some fluctuation. One of the things about a monthly survey is you're going to have some fluctuations with a couple hundred surveys, but we'll continue to monitor that to see how that moves up and down. Mr. Beirnes said that depends on what activity it is. This is for the month of February and there are fluctuations he witnesses regularly, but we try to see how it extrapolates out. He and Joseph have many conversations daily and this real-time February data is just over a week old from the STR Report. We have witnessed noticeable slippage during the month of March, which probably will show how red tide impacts visitation when we discuss it next month. Florida residents can respond more quickly because they're closer if it's a weekend getaway. In the month of September, 22% of our visitation was coming from Florida residents, so the media has definitely been all over it. It's fortunate that over the last week we have seen that dissipate and we've got good counts now and will hopefully get much better. Damage is done very easily and very quickly. Florida residents can book days later. Vice Chairman Hill said they're seeing that at the Hilton. For every cancellation we have, we're asking, "Why are you canceling?" and it's because of water -quality issues. We're down considerably year -over -year and behind in our budget month-to-date.We're getting that feedback when our guests come back from the beach. It's a real M N O N ti �L CL a M c 0 c� 13 c a) a� a c as E z 0 0 Q n Packet Pg. 663 36.A.2 March 20, 2023 issue and is having a real impact, but it could be here today and gone tomorrow. Maybe a PR campaign would help, but that's hard to address without saying it. Mr. Beirnes said he purposely went to explore the beach yesterday just to see the impact and it looked spectacular. There was no discomfort. But on the news last night, they said there were negligible traces. We are definitely out there very proactively on social media and all our communications, not just promoting the beaches, but the breadth and depth of the entire destination. That's been a strong asset for us. Quite often, if you're from the north, you're less likely to cancel a trip because you're probably not as acutely aware as you are if you're in Tampa, Miami, Fort Lauderdale or Orlando. Unfortunately, we need to continue to watch the sentiment in media because last week, the forecast was about the giant seaweed island coming up from the Caribbean. That certainly does not help with getting word out for Florida, in general, so we'll continue to closely monitor that. Ms. Becker said that when people come to Third Street, they're already in the red tide area because it's so close to the beach. Some people are put out and ask, "Can't you do anything about this?" She reminds them that it's a worldwide phenomenon. She tries to distract them and that's why they're going to the restaurants. In the past, haven't we had much higher numbers for recommendation and return? Chairman McDaniel said it's important to note that Paul and Joseph brought this up earlier. This is a survey of 200-plus or minus people who took the survey, so we need to account for the fact that it's who you ask, how many, when you ask and that impacts the numbers on a percentage basis with regard to the age of our visitors. It's who we end up catching. Ms. Becker said she didn't remember percentages this low. Chairman McDaniel said maybe we can do a comparison on a little longer -term timeline to have a more leveling effect. We're looking at a snapshot from one month for roughly 200 people surveyed. That, combined with red tide. We have a 1.5-plus-billion-year-old organism that comes to life every year. All you need is the perfect storm for the bloom of red tide and a westerly wind and it comes ashore and is then impacted by the more -than -usual nutrient -rich freshwater coming in. Vice Chairman Hill said he agrees. It's the nutrients that impact that and not surprisingly, after the hurricane and all the turbulence, that was activated. We can look at this, but we shouldn't be too concerned about people's perspective and satisfaction with our destination. It has to do with the hurricane and red tide, so we'll be back. Ms. Kerns noted that the people who said they'd recommend the area totaled 43% "probably" and 53% "definitely." That equals 97% so that's what we had a year ago. Vice Chairman Hill said he remembered that. Absolutely. Mr. St. Germain said that to give you some insight as to why we ask it that way. You're right. You're recommending 97% and returning at 94% if you add the two together. That is a great metric to see how we're doing and those are strong. The reason we've broken out to "definitely/probably" is the people who say "definitely" are more likely to say kind things about the destination when they go home. It provides a deeper level of depth than what than what we may have had before, so they are still overall recommending and returning. "Definitely" is that striving for excellence that will help word-of-mouth when we get back. Overall, you're right that the numbers are similar. When you see a small dip in "definitely" you may have a little bit less word-of- mouth, so that's why we break those out. Chairman McDaniel noted that on in this same report, where we're looking at a month of our budgeted revenues, expectations and actual collections, we're doing really well. He mentioned $10 million plus before, but it's really over $14 million that we've collected so far on a budgeted amount of $10 million, so the numbers are going to fluctuate depending on who we're asking, when we're asking and where they're actually staying. Ms. Brock noted that the question is specific to Naples. Do you ever phrase it so that it's about Collier County? If you're specific to Naples, that might be driving the age. The average age visiting there would be a little higher in Naples and you'd probably experience it a little lower in Marco and maybe even lower in the Everglades, because M N O N ti �L a a M c 0 c� 13 c a) a� a c as E z 0 0 Q 7 Packet Pg. 664 36.A.2 March 20, 2023 people are here more for eco-tourism. So how do you balance that out when you're questioning potential participants? Mr. St. Germain said we're doing these surveys across the county, so pre -hurricane was beach heavy. You want to be where visitors are. We're also at the airport and variety of different areas. Instead of specifying all the cities within the survey, we show them a map, so they know what area we're talking about. Then we'll show them all the cities and tell them that for brevity, we're calling it the "Naples area" for the rest of the survey. We want to count everything that happens in the county. Ms. Becker asked, Did you say earlier that there was little awareness of the hurricane when you asked that question of some people? Mr. St. Germain said there was little top -of -mind awareness when we asked if there was any reason they wouldn't go to the Naples area and other places in Southwest Florida. Then we asked a follow up question, "Why wouldn't you go?" The hurricane came up very, very slightly. When we asked the question, "Do you remember it happening?" We needed to ask that question to ask some follow up questions. When we brought it up and asked, "What are your thoughts on the area?" that was really high. About 93% of potential consumers remember it happening. If we asked them about the area before we mentioned the hurricane and where damage was done, it wasn't top -of -mind. Awareness was very low. We use that as a base to understand if they know where the damage was done. That's why we said earlier that one in five of your potential visitors believe the area received significant damage. Ms. Becker said she asks and tourists also can't believe there was a hurricane here. She reminds them that where they are standing, water would have been up to their chins. Her experience supports your statistics. Mr. Beirnes said he's had a lot of conversations surrounding a lot of things on that slide. One of the things we haven't really dug into is value for the travel dollar. That's not only whether they're recommending, whether they had a great meal, but it's their entire expenditure. Over the last couple of years, the average daily rate has significantly increased. About a year ago, we were looking at very strong value for the dollar and one of the things Joseph kept pointing out is that was at astronomical levels, especially with the average daily rate going through the roof. It was perplexing, but it showed price elasticity. People had pent-up demand and extra savings, but they were willing to spend. What we're seeing now in the STR Report is that there's more of a normalization for us and the area. But looking at all other destinations across Florida, there is kind of a receding of the average daily rate. He calls it normalization because it was an abnormal spike in the last 1 %2 years, so we're starting to see that trending backwards. Whether it's red tide or post -hurricane, the ADR, all factor into the value of the dollar or their recommendation. We're going to start seeing a season of settling down. We hope to see no more hurricanes and red tide and start seeing some normalization continuing. Councilor Grifoni said that he also was looking at the value for the travel dollar. That's a significant drop compared with some previous months. Last year, it was in the upper nines at one point. Of course, if you're coming from a place where you're not allowed to go outside or you're not allowed to go into a restaurant, the value for the travel dollar would be pretty high when you can come here and exercise those freedoms. Has there been any type of tracking of the correlation between the value of the travel dollar number and the "definitely/probably" recommendation? It seems like there might be a connection there. If the value for the travel dollar is higher, you're more likely to say you're definitely going to recommend. It's a little bit lower if you still like the area and you want to come back, but maybe it doesn't get that full-throated "definite" and instead gets the "probably." He's interested to see how that might correlate over time, with inflation and other factors. Chairman McDaniel noted that this is a snapshot in time. A year ago, the inflation rates weren't 9% adjusted for housing, fuel and food. We didn't have a doubling of the electric bill, a 50-60% increase in insurance expense, a doubling of fuel expense. Fuel prices were 50% a year ago from what we're paying now, so those all have an impact on the dollar value for the travel. Councilor Grifoni said it may not be specific to our area. That may be just a general sentiment. Vice Chairman Hill noted that it's peak season. Mr. Beirnes said they'd continue to monitor this. Research is massively important to everything we do. M N O N ti �L a Q M c 0 c� 13 c a) a� a c as E z 0 0 Q Packet Pg. 665 36.A.2 March 20, 2023 B. Paradise Advertising — Cyndy Murietta, VP of Media; Louisa Laurelli, Collier County Account Manager Mr. Beirnes said over the last two months, we shared our rollout in Chicago and our campaign during February. We are also just wrapping up our takeover in Hartford, so we had a lot of efforts in the Northeast and Midwest. He wants to showcase something we're really excited about. We're going across the border with a significant campaign in Canada after a trial last March. One of our strategies in our FY23 marketing plan was to do everything we could to minimize the vast dips — season spiking and dropping off — to push as much as we could to the shoulder in the summer season. When we did a test last March in Canada, we applied very few dollars, but got significant impact. That's the kickoff point to what we're going to talk about in Canada. [Ms. Murietta detailed a PowerPoint presentation.] Chairman McDaniel asked how they track the outcome after we advertise. Does it flow back into our previous discussion with regard to the tourists who are coming, where they're coming from, etc? Mr. Beirnes said we are going to do a deep dive next month into a lot of the metrics and tracking and how we utilize ADARA, a name you'll probably see in this presentation. In all our digital efforts, we have the ability to calculate whether a consumer received our digital ad, saw it and consumed it. Then through that third party, it tracks their behavior, whether that person purchased an airline ticket and was in -market. We will showcase ROI and direct spending, so it's not fuzzy math. This shows our hard -driving effort to gain ROI. Next month, Paradise Advertising and Cyndy will showcase some of that in detail. Chairman McDaniel said he'd like to see that. It will help ratify why we're doing this and what we're doing. It's not an exact science. He's not looking for that. If someone is impressed or consumed, they may not come this year, but they're done with winter, done shoveling snow and so they're going to be booking next year. It may not be one of those initial impressions, so it's a balance. Ms. Murietta said exactly. Like we said last year, we only advertised in March in Canada and yet we continue to see that Canadian visitation throughout the summer and that March campaign theoretically, in monthly reporting, wouldn't have gotten any credit for that. It's called forward equity. When you're doing advertising, that impression matters so much because people are seeing it and taking it in. They might not be acting right away when it comes to travel. Each your monthly reports, we do have ROAS (return on ad spend) for Expedia and also report on the ADARA impact. We're going to be showing you more about that next month. [Ms. Murietta continued PowerPoint presentation.] Mr. Beirnes noted that one of the unique nuances that takes place in Toronto is that it's a very affluent area. The GO Transit is where those ads are, right in our target $175,000-plus household income. It's very luxurious. This is a great method for getting into town and cottage country. This is about two hours north of Toronto, where it's tremendously expensive to have a cottage and extremely expensive to rent cottages. Everybody has a desire. You're lucky to book one week of sunshine. Otherwise, you're seeing a lot of rain. That's one of those objection points to Canadians who, when they're looking to book their cottage. They don't know whether they'll get a good week, so we are playing up on this because we know that we have sunshine here. We have the warmth and all the reasons they love the destination during the winter and we're playing up on it. It's a great alternative to get sunshine and all the beaches. Ms. Becker asked about the second voice in the ad. It's much more pleasant than the first. The first was a little shrieky. Ms. Laurelli said the first one was a broadcaster on The Weather Network team. That's not our talent. She came from Canada to be part of that. She's not part of our team. The second one is our talent, someone we love to work with. Chairman McDaniel asked if she was a known figure from The Weather Channel who was doing it because she's familiar and has a fan base. Ms. Laurelli said yes. M N O N ti �L a Q c 0 c� 13 c a) a� a c d E z 0 0 Q 0 Packet Pg. 666 36.A.2 March 20, 2023 Chairman McDaniel asked Mr. Beirnes if they did all that for $200,000. Mr. Beirnes called it borrowed money. Chairman McDaniel said it's not really borrowed. It was earned, reappropriated out of our state taxation. He thanked him. That was amazing. He didn't realize what he was doing on Day 2 after the hurricane, when he was in shorts directing traffic. That was a really astute move. Our community coalesces after a natural disaster on a regular basis. For you to see the value and reappropriate funding out here is astute. Mr. Beirnes gave kudos to the leadership at Visit Florida. Over his career, he's had amazing conversations with them. He was at Visit Orlando in 2008 or 2009 and approached The Weather Network to point out that they had a missed business opportunity where their talent should be going into destinations and promoting. His was the destination they first embraced and after a few years, he brought Visit Florida into that. They saw the value of what that could generate. They decided to use The Weather Network. Canadians are fixated on weather, understandably so. C. Lou Hammond Group — Mackenzie Comerer, VP PR [Ms. Comerer detailed a PowerPoint presentation, "Services Conducted in February 2023. Part 2. Marketing Partner Reports D. Collier County Tourist Tax Collections — Paul Beirnes, Tourism Director Mr. Beirnes detailed a PowerPoint presentation, telling the TDC. • The first form shows a year-to-year comparison against where we were last year, when all our hotels were open, while now we have two properties still closed, recovering and being repaired for a possible opening this summer or fall. • We're looking at potential, if they are down for the entire year, a difference/missing income of about $8 million in collections for those two properties, which have about 650 rooms. They are upscale, high-ADR collections. • Right now, we are 9.26% behind in collections, which is very good when you consider that. • When we enter a fiscal year, we are highly conservative. We do a very conservative estimation of what collections will be. It's like an allowance, our budget guidance for how we need to plan our year ahead. As the year goes by, it allows us to be a little more optimistic and our budget is then reassessed. • When we first went into our adopted budget last year, when we had $47.6 million in collections, it was highly conservative at $32.8 million. But even with the impact of the hurricane, it has been modified and the updated annual forecast could be around $36.8 million. • We are still highly conservative now. That number brings us in at 12.15% ahead of that projected number. • Based on our projected collections and how we are spending during this fiscal year, we are doing exceptionally well, but are being very vigilant about how we continue to keep that. • He hopes to see greater strengths in the April, May, June time frame, when we're trying to push toward the shoulder seasons. • It's important to separate those two to compare where we were last year because that's where we want to be — or exceeding that. But we need to consider how we're conservatively pacing ourselves in our budget. Vice Chairman Hill asked if this will impact his ability to properly market the destination and bring in the tax funds we need to operate. Mr. Beirnes said there are two parts to that. One is "properly market." We are poised well for that because we knew in the summer what our expenditures were, so nothing surprised us. It was that very conservative stance. We looked at what we had and then we identified the best strategy to be able to achieve our goal. As we set ourselves up with that, some of the pacing that we had with that conservative approach was asking whether we should throw a lot of money into the support of season. This is pre -hurricane. Some of our occupancy rates have historically were high 80s into the 90s, depending on the week. Do you expend a tremendous amount of time where you're either coming or you're not? So our strategy this year was to apply enough budget during season, but to focus a little more on the shoulder season, where we felt that we had deltas of 40-50% occupancy. That's where we can really have impact. Our strategy was well aligned and we're in a good spot. It's great that that line M N O N ti �L CL Q M c 0 c� 13 c a) a� a c as E z 0 0 Q 10 Packet Pg. 667 36.A.2 March 20, 2023 in red, which is not truly in the red and less than our projected collections, because that would cause us much greater concern, especially considering those two large hotels that should have directly impacted us into a detrimental place. Vice Chairman Hill called that good planning and a good strategy. Chairman McDaniel said when we come back next month with further correlation to the pennies and the actual percentages of tax, he wants to see where we're at with regard to expenses. These are really good numbers, but he wants to see where we're at on a historical basis in relation to revenues and the correlation to expenses, and where we're at in regard to that within our budget. He understands that's not linear and it's over time with regard to these expenses. Mr. Beirnes said he can provide that. Here, you can see how that lines up for each account and how it's doled out or planned for beach facilities, museums, etc. It's not linear or divided by 12 because there is significant seasonality. The expenditure for the berm was not seasonally adjusted. E. Miles Partnership — Enriqueta Balandra [Ms. Balandra detailed a PowerPoint presentation, `Paradise.com Monthly Report - February 2023 "] Mr. Beirnes noted that what is equally as important is that every one of these agencies here are looking at the same numbers, so while we may see visitation to the website, all are interpreting how that affects them. None of this is in a vacuum. We segment these presentations to make it digestible, but all the agencies are aligned and working together to understand the data metrics. F. Paradise Coast Sports Complex/Sports Facilities Companies —J.P. Terrasi, Adrian Moses [Mr. Terrasi and Mr. Moses detailed PowerPoint presentations.] Mr. Beirnes asked Mr. Moses to explain COGs, Cost of Goods Sold. Mr. Moses detailed COGS and PCSC's budget. • Our budget is set up as a revenue budget, money that comes in through the door. N • We have set expenses, the expenses that will cost the county to operate the facility, such as full-time N salaries and asset expenses, which don't go up or down based upon how much business we do through r� the doors. — L • COGS is the amount of money we have to spend, which can go up and down based upon the amount of C business we booked. • We booked a robust calendar and were expecting more fields, so our COGS for local programming is at -Da capacity during the week. o • We don't add additional COGS if we have additional fields. It's set. If we have four fields running or eight fields running, it doesn't make a difference in how much money we spend. • But if we only have four fields running, we have to try to make up the difference in the revenue that will come in from those additional four fields. That could be through catering events and other events that we a have to spend money for to get that revenue coming through. d [Mr. Moses continued the PowerPoint presentation.] Chairman McDaniel called that the key to success. If you're not doing that on a daily basis, you're never Q going to progress. Mr. Moses said they knew it was good, but they want it to be better. [Mr. Terrasi provided a PowerPoint presentation on website traffic.] Chairman McDaniel asked about the bounce rate. Mr. Terrasi said that's when a consumer bounces from one of our pages to another entity. They leave our page. 11 Packet Pg. 668 36.A.2 March 20, 2023 Councilor Grifoni asked where they stand on the opening of the new fields. Ms. Baker said we're hoping for May for four fields and a fifth field in nine months. 10. Council Member Discussion 11. Tourism Staff Reports —Amanda Townsend [Ms. Townsend detailed a PowerPoint presentation on February visitation.] Chairman McDaniel said the event at Roberts Ranch was well attended with lots to do. It was very family oriented. He recommended that others check it out if they haven't been there. Ms. Townsend said it was Museum Manager Helen Midney's first cattle drive. She did an excellent job. It was absolutely seamless. Chairman McDaniel asked if the CAT bus tours were new. He didn't remember CAT buses taking people to watch the cows before. Ms. Townsend said they'd done it before and appreciate the BCC's sponsorship. Ms. Becker said it was good news that the trains are running at the Naples Depot. Do you know the times they run? Ms. Townsend said she believes they're running Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but will confirm that and get back to her. Ms. Becker said we have all the brochures but have been holding back. Ms. Townsend said the Lionel train display and the little train ride are behind the building, so they stayed dry and will be running through season again. Ms. Becker asked if there was any word on when the Naples Depot would reopen. Ms. Townsend said no. But we're working on it. 12. Detailed Staff Reports (Submitted) Mr. Beirnes said that staff will present reports at next month's meeting. 13. Next Scheduled Meeting Date/Location —1 p.m. Monday, April 17, 2023 Collier County Government Center, Administration Building F, 3rd Floor, 3299 East Tamiami Trail, Naples, Florida 34112 Chairman McDaniel asked how everyone liked the new format, the new day of the week and ending by noon. He apologized for not taking a break. Ms. Becker said she didn't think they needed a break. Chairman McDaniel noted that all this information can wear you out. Do you feel like it was all covered.? Ms. Becker said it was very well covered. Vice Chairman Hill said there's a lot of information but it the budget and tax information was very easy to understand, and we have a good grasp of it. Chairman McDaniel agreed, saying he enjoyed the new format. Mr. Beirnes said we did a trial this week of moving the meeting from the fourth to third Monday, which led to excessive compression in the numbers presented. Some of our results from campaigns will have to come a month later, but everybody did an exceptional job to compress and work late to gather this. It's something we'll have to get used to. One of the challenges is that next month there's already something on the calendar for the third Monday and we could not move that meeting. We can move it to 1-4 p.m. for that month. If not, he'll look at 12 Packet Pg. 669 36.A.2 March 20, 2023 everyone's recommendation. The only other alternative would be to return to the fourth Monday in April. Either way, he'll send out a reminder. There being no further business for the good of the County, the meeting was adjourned by order of the chairman at 11:28 p.m. COLLIER COUNTY TOURIST DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL Bill McDaniel Jr., Chairman These minutes were approved by the Council on , (choose one) as presented, or as amended 13 Packet Pg. 670