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TDC Minutes 11/20/2023November 20, 2023 MINUTES OF THE COLLIER COUNTY TOURIST DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL MEETING Naples, Florida, November 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 a.m. in a REGULAR SESSION in Building F of the Government Complex, Naples, Florida, with the following members present: Chairman: Commissioner Bill McDaniel Jr. (excused) Vice Chairman: Clark Hill Susan Becker Councilman Michael McComas Amanda Cox (excused) Councilor Jared Councilor Grifoni Nancy Kerns Ed "Ski" Olesky Councilwoman Beth Petrunoff ALSO PRESENT: Sandra Rios, CVB PR & Communications Manager Amy Lyberg, Director, Human Resources Alberto Rodriguez, Talent Acquisition Spvr., HR Colleen Greene, Assistant County Attorney Buzzy Ford, Tourism Digital & Social Media Coordinator Marissa Baker, Manager, Paradise Coast Sports Complex John Melleky, Arts & Culture Manager, Tourism Dept. Amanda Townsend, County Museums Director November 20, 2023 Anyone who needs a verbatim record of the meeting may request a video recording from the Collier County Communications & Customer Relations Department or view it online. 1. Call to Order Acting Chairman Hill 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 seven was established by members present in the board room. Ms. Rios said Commissioner McDaniel and Amanda Cox have excused absences. 4. Agenda and Minutes A. Changes and Approval of Today's Agenda Ms. Rios said there are two requested changes. She'd like to move the Human Resources presentation to 5. B and the PCSC Business & Operating Plan Presentation to 5.C. The PCSC presentation will be long and it's best to accommodate the HR staff. There also is an updated 7.A.4 in the Coastal Zone Management section. Acting Chairman Hill made a motion to approve the agenda. Second by Councilwoman Petrunoff. The motion passed unanimously, 7-0. B. Approval of prior TDC Meeting Minutes Regular Meeting October 16, 2023 Ms. Becker made a motion to approve the October 16, 2023, meeting minutes. Second by Mr. Olesky. The motion passed unanimously, 7-0. 5. Presentations A. Executive Director Update [Sandra Rios] Ms. Rios provided a report on the September numbers: • The occupancy rate was up 2.7% year -over -year, while visitation was up 9.6%. • The average length of stay was up 10. l % and party size increased by 8.1 %, collectively increasing visitor days to 20.6%. • Direct spend was also up, increasing 5.1 % year -over -year. • Restaurant spend by visitors was up 32.1 % from September of last year, fueled by the highly successful Sizzle Dining campaign. • We recently completed a partner survey that measured the involvement, effectiveness, responsiveness and impact of the Naples Marco Island & Everglades CVB efforts, and 97% of our partners would recommend involvement with the CVB. • 88% of our partners agree and strongly agree that the CVB is an effective advocate for Collier County's tourism industry. • 82% of our partners agree and strongly agree that the CVB's marketing efforts have been effective. • 85% of our partners rate the responsiveness of the CVB as excellent or good. 2 November 20, 2023 • The average rating of the impact of tourism on Collier County is 9.3 out of 10 (10 is extreme impact). • The average rating of the value of tourism in Collier County is 9.3 out of 10 (10 is extremely valuable). • These numbers represent a measurable vote of confidence in the work our team performs daily on behalf of our partners. • We continually strive to outperform our best scores and always seek out new avenues to improve performance. She's not certain when the last partner survey was done; this was completed a month ago. • In September, we had 560,358 passengers who traveled through RSW, an increase of 9% compared with September 2022. • Year-to-date passenger traffic is down about 12%. • Southwest Florida International had 5,294 aircraft operations, an increase of 14% compared with last year. A lot of new airlift is corning into the region and newly announced inaugural services will add more than 1,800 daily inbound seats into RSW. They include Breeze, which is focused on Ohio, Louisville, New Orleans, Norfolk, Pittsburgh, Raleigh -Durham, Richmond and Syracuse; Frontier Airlines, which is coming out of Buffalo, Detroit, Islip (Long Island), Minneapolis, and Syracuse; Spirit Airlines coming out of Charleston, Richmond, Norfolk, Nashville and San Juan; JetBlue added flights out of Worcester, MA; and two new services are coming into the area from Toronto: Links will come in weekly and Porter is daily. Those are two great new services, considering Canada is currently our No. 1 international market. • International major tour operators are tracking upwards for arrival in 2024 into Florida's Paradise Coast and Florida overall. • Florida's Paradise Coast bookings are trending upwards at 75%, with some leading operators reporting an 81 % increase for 2024. They book a year ahead, while UK and Ireland bookings to Florida are tracking at 58%. • The average length of stay is longer, at 6.5 nights, while the average domestic visitor stays are at 4.3 days. • Florida's Paradise Coast is tracking in the No. 4 position as the destination of choice based on bookings into Florida. We're behind Orlando, Kissimmee, Miami and Tampa Bay -Saint Pete -Clearwater. • That indicates that theParadise Coast is outperforming most other Florida areas, gaining and retaining valuable market share. • Travel spend from the UK and Ireland visitors into Florida is 23% higher than 2019 levels. • OveraIl, Florida UK visitor numbers are 89% of pre -pandemic levels compared with the U.S., which is at 78%, while market share is higher, at 30% of UK travelers visiting Florida, up from 28.7% in 2019. • The projected visitor numbers for UK arrivals is 1.3 million into Florida in 2024. • It's important to keep a high profile with these important travelers as we seek to retain our traveler base from the UK and German markets. • We're getting close to completing the final version of the CVB 2024 Visitor Guide. • We're also rebranding our website. We'll have more detail on those two big projects in the months ahead. • We continue to garner accolades. The Naples Marco Island and Everglades CVB was the recipient of Convention South Reader's Choice Award and was named one of the best destinations in the south to host group and corporate group meetings. November 20, 2023 • Nine of our resorts have been named in Travel & Leisure World's Best Awards survey. • The importance of the votes for the Reader's Choice Award cannot be understated. • We've created a toolkit for our partners that we can share, so we're giving them the marketing support they need. • We need to remember the trajectory we've been on since this time last year (post -Hurricane Ian) and be grateful for our friends, families, colleagues and the lifestyle we enjoy each day in Florida's Paradise Coast. She wished everyone a happy Thanksgiving. Acting Chairman Hill thanked her, John Melleky and the CVB team for the continuity we're seeing now (since Mr. Beirries left) and how each of you stepped up. We haven't missed a beat and that's appreciated. Ms. Rios thanked him. Ms. Petrunoff noted that her presentation showed RSW traffic is down 12%. Ms. Rios that's for the year overall, but it were up in September. She'd have to ask why it was down but believes it was due to weather issues and post -hurricane. Ms. Petrunoff said she wondered because all the other numbers were up. Ms. Rios said one really big number can really bring the average down. Ms. Lyberg and Alberto Rodriguez will provide the next presentation. B. Human Resources Job Search Presentation (Amy Lyberg, HR Director) Ms. Lyberg told the TDC: • We began recruiting for the tourism director position shortly after Mr. Beirrnes announced his resignation and left. We started advertising on November 10. • The position will be advertised for three weeks through December 7. We believe that will give you a good pool of candidates. • We're advertising through several external websites: governmentjobs.com, indeed.com, and are active on LinkedIn. We're reaching out to candidates on Linkedln who have the needed qualifications. • We're also marketing through the Destinations International and Visit Florida websites. • In the 10 days since we advertised the opening, 44 candidates applied, so we'll have a good pool by December, when the job posting closes. • We expect to do the screening and interviewing in December, and we'll have a selection panel set up after the Thanksgiving holiday. • We hope to start with a virtual interview and when we have a good pool of candidates, we'll bring the final candidates onsite for in -person interviews before we make a decision. We'll come back to the TDC for recommendations about how to proceed. • We're hopeful we'll have a new director ready to start by the end of January 2024. Ms. Rios said she and John reached out to each TDC member, shared the job description, requested input and asked if they had any questions or concerns. C. PCSC Business & Operating Plan Presentation (Adrian Moses, PCSC General Manager) Mr. Moses detailed a PowerPoint presentation. Ms. Petrunoff asked about the P&L. When you talk about revenue, cost of goods sold and expenses, what you're not including is depreciation of the building and facility in our overhead. 4 November 20, 2023 Mr. Moses said Sports Facilities Companies is responsible for everything that's been growing and the county is responsible for all fixed assets. For our expenses, we're responsible for landscaping and those aspects. Anything that moves is our responsibility. In terms of depreciation of assets, etc., that's not part of our budget. Ms. Petrunoff asked if those would be liquidated somewhere in our taxes, like with the county. Mr. Moses said he believed so. Ms. Petrunoff said in terms of your benefit to the gross profit, including any of the plan multipliers, do you include a percentage of hotel expenses, etc., that you take credit for on your P&L? Is there a multiplier effect you add to what you're contributing, such as out-of-town events? Mr. Moses said these numbers are very specific to the complex. In our revenue, we receive commissions from our lodging provider. If the tournament operator uses our lodging provider, that revenue comes through and is shown as revenue. In terms of the economic impact, there are models our company has that can identify direct and indirect economic impact into the area. Ms. Petrunoff said those aren't included in the presentation. Mr. Moses responded that. • Those are hard dollars. • There are models there to derive economic impact that are based upon the number of teams or the average number of people who are coming. It's difficult to get specific numbers because we don't know how much a team spent at Tacos & Tequila when they went out for a meal. • We have very close numbers in terms of the number of hotel rooms used by sports teams because any operator may use our lodging provider. But most have their own and they can report back the exact number of hotels used. • That's only the number of rooms picked up by that lodging provider. • The majority of events are not stay -to -play, which means people are free to book an Airbnb, a hotel or they may stay with friends and family. It's very difficult to track specific numbers on that. Ms. Petrunoff asked if they've ever tried to divide the number of days in the year with how you're marketing this complex for out-of-state events, interstate events and local events. She's curious about who your primary customer is. Mr. Moses responded that. • We're fortunate because we don't have to do much outbound marketing to tournament operators. Our facility is that nice and we do such a good job that we typically have multiple operators that want to pick up specific event dates during the year. We have to mark it out on those months that we're low. We have to pick the events that come through to us in our marketing plan. • We spend the majority of marketing dollars in the local area driving interest and awareness of The Factory, which is our gym, and The Cove beer and wine bar. • We structure our marketing calendar into pre -season, in -season and summer season. • We change our marketing plan based upon where we're spending our dollars, where we are in the year and we try to spend more marketing dollars upfront so we're able to market to people before they get to the area. • When they're in the area, we're promoting the events we have there. 5 November 20, 2023 In the summer, we're driving more interest to community events, such as Snowfest, Fall Fest and the Easter Eggstravaganza. Ms. Petrunoff asked what percentage time the facility is used locally during the year. Mr. Moses responded that: • The complex is full with local programs every week night. This is likely the most visited asset the county has. We have numbers to back that up. • The fields are full from 6-10 p.m. on weeknights. • We're starting to stretch that window with programming that starts at 3 p.m., with the addition of the new fields. • The complex is available to the local community daily. We're only closed four or five days of the year, so we are a very event -based venue. • During the weekend, we see big numbers and we're driving revenue in from out of town. During the week, it's used prolifically by the local community. Ms. Petrunoff asked if a lot of the programing is within the state. Mr. Moses said it varies from event to event. A lot of soccer events are statewide, but a few come from outside the state. It's mainly other sports, such as lacrosse, football or cross-country events and the AYF National Championship in the first week of December, which brings in teams from every state, including Hawaii and the west coast. The FBU event also drives nationwide groups. Ms. Petrunoff asked if we ever try to get state dollars for these events. Mr. Moses said it's possible. There is a fund available. Ms. Petrunoff asked if he does that or does someone else in the county look for those grants. Mr. Moses said it's something he and Marissa need to speak about. It's a statewide fund that is available. The purpose of the funding is to drive operators to a particular venue and when we have a full calendar, our need to incentivize operators is not as high as other locations. One of the threats we have as a venue is that there's a new complex opening in a new nice place all the time, so we need to be cognizant that we must continue to improve the facility to ensure we're staying on top. We're leading, but must make sure we remain at the top end of the market. Ms. Petrunoff said that since most of your usage is by is locals, have you done a local survey on what the needs of the community are for usage, such as pickleball? We have the pickleball center on the East Trail, but do we need to accommodate overflow at the complex? Have you looked at the demand of the local region to deliver to your primary customer? Mr. Moses said our No. I need is more sports fields. We have an increasing younger population, kids who need fields to play on. North Collier Regional Park, Big Island Corkscrew Regional Park and the sports complex are fully booked. The need for more sports fields is the No. 1 responsibility to be able to complete this complex so we can meet the needs of the all the local programming groups that currently need somewhere to practice and play. Ms. Petrunoff asked how they determine that. Mr. Moses said she can Iisten to his voicemails. People contact the complex constantly. Every group we have is requesting more fields so we must inconvenience everyone equally. If you want three fields, we can give you two. If you want two, we can give you one. We don't want to roll November 20, 2023 turn anyone away. We're in a situation where more sports fields are required for team sports in this area. Ms. Kerns said it was a nice presentation. Have you been able to take advantage of discounts because they've been going up? Mr. Moses responded that: • Yes. Mid -year we switched from Coke to Pepsi because Pepsi offered a much more compelling deal that provided us with $40,000 in savings year -on -year. • We're constantly trying to find ways to save. • A huge COG for us occurred every time we had to use other facilities because our fields weren't finished. We had to rent fields from the Parks & Rec Department. • The additional fields we have now help bridge that gap. • Within last year's budgeting structure, which we've changed, a lot of operational staff were incorrectly coded as a COGs expense, so staff, who aren't taking money or services that aren't being rented or used, now fall under expenses in the new fiscal year. [Mr. Moses continued his presentation and there were no further questions.] 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. Beach Park Facilities (None) B. Tourism Division (None) 7. New Business A. Coastal Zone Management Mr. Miller noted that Item 4, the tractor, was changed. Ms. Kerns asked if all were approved by the CAC. Mr. Miller said they all were. The order was switched and that caused confusion. 1. Recommendation to approve a Work Order with Humiston & Moore Engineers to provide professional engineering services for state -required Annual Monitoring of Collier County Beaches and Inlets for 2024 under Contract No. 18-7432-CZ for time and materials not to exceed $157,840 and make a finding that this item promotes tourism (Fund 1105, Project No. 90536). Mr. Miller said the first item involves surveying beaches annually to find out where erosion occurred. It's a permit requirement and also is required to show where we might need to do a project in the upcoming year. Humiston & Moore has been our consultant since he's been with Coastal Zone Management and has done a great job and will do that again this year. 7 November 20, 2023 [Mr. Miller read the recommendation.] Acting Chairman Hill moved to recommend approval of a Work Order with Humiston & Moore Engineers to provide professional engineering services for state -required Annual Monitoring of Collier County Beaches and Inlets for 2024 under Contract No. 18-7432-CZ for time and materials not to exceed $157,840 and found that this item promotes tourism. Second by Ms. Kerns. The motion passed unanimously, 7-0. 2. Recommendation to approve Change Order No. 1 to Contract No. 18-7432-CZ with Taylor Engineering Inc. for the construction -phase and final certification for the "Collier County Dune Restoration Planting Project" and make a finding that this item promotes tourism. Mr. Miller told the TDC. • We did an emergency berm project last year and aren't finished yet. • After we built the dune, we immediately set out to get design plans and specifications to do plantings along the emergency berm and contracted with Taylor Engineering. • When we started and brought this work order to the boards, we were unsure about the scope and size of the project related to the number of plantings. We have a much better idea now. • When we approved the previous item, we knew there would be questions about the size and scope, so we told the boards we were going to bring a change order back once we knew what the cost would be for the work. We have that now. • This item is to approve a change order to the original work order to allow the engineer to do post -design services. [Mr. Miller read the recommendation] Ms. Becker asked how much the change order was for. Mr. Miller said $57,007. Acting Chairman Hill said he's seen some of the plannings you're installing and they're great. They're taking hold and he's pleased to see that. Ms. Becker moved to recommend the approval of Change Order No. 1 to Contract No. I8- 7432-CZ with Taylor Engineering Inc. for the construction phase and final certification for the "Collier County Dune Restoration Planting Project" and found that this item promotes tourism. Second by Ms. Kerns. The motion passed unanimously, 7-0. 3. Recommendation to approve the purchase of a Barber Surf Rake from H. Barber & Sons Inc., utilizing Cooperative Procurement Piggyback 341 "Refuse Handling Equipment — RH08-20" using Tourist Development Tax Fund 1105 in the amount of $70,914.00, and make a finding that this expenditure promotes tourism. Mr. Miller said a Barber surf rake is a mechanism towed by a tractor that has a conveyor with tines that sweep debris and trash off the beach. Our beach rakers go out as needed when we've got a red drift or after a holiday event on the beach. They surf rake and clean the beaches nicely. November 20, 2023 [Mr. Miller read the recommendation.] Ms. Kerns moved to recommend the approval of the purchase of a Barber Surf Rake from H. Barber & Sons Inc., utilizing Cooperative Procurement Piggyback 341 "Refuse Handling Equipment — RH08-20" using Tourist Development Tax Fund 1105 in the amount of $70,914.00, and found that this expenditure promotes tourism. Second by Councilwoman Petrunoff. The motion passed unanimously, 7-0. 4. Recommendation to approve the purchase of a John Deere 6135E Cab Tractor from Deere & Company utilizing Cooperative Procurement Piggyback 222 "110719 - JDC Agricultural Tractors & Equipment," with funding from Tourist Development Tax Fund 1105 in the amount of $120,865.39 and make a finding that this expenditure promotes tourism. Mr. Miller said the tractor tows the Barber surf rake. This equipment is primarily metal and it's on the beach daily, in the salt water and salt air. Even though they have a decent life cycle, salt takes a toll on machinery, so these items are not only replacements but they serve as a redundancy because when one tractor is down and it's being maintained, we've got one tractor to maintain the beach, which means Vanderbilt gets done but Marco doesn't, or vice versa. These are not really spares, but redundant equipment. Councilman McComas moved to recommend the approval of the purchase of a John Deere 6135E Cab Tractor from John Deere & Company utilizing Cooperative Procurement Piggyback 222 "110719 - JDC Agricultural Tractors & Equipment," with fundingfrom Tourist Development Tax Fund 1105 in the amount of $120,965.39, and found that this expenditure promotes tourism Second by Councilor Grifoni. The motion passed unanimously, 7-0. Mr. Miller said this item went to the CAC and the price was listed at $102,422.49. The company that supplies the tractor had a price increase in November, which is unusual. We took it to the CAC with the prior quote. This item has the updated quote, $l 20,865.39, but it also includes two attachments, a root grapple and a fixed -pallet fork, so we have a 5% increase in the price and two additional attachments, which is the price increase. Acting Chairman Hill said he imagines this equipment came in handy over the past year and probably got a lot of utilization. Mr. Miller said it has and will. 5. Recommendation to approve Change Order No. 1 to Agreement No. 18-7432-CZ with APTIM Environmental & Infrastructure LLC for professional engineering services providing re -survey, re -design, bidding assistance and post -design services for the remaining South Naples emergency berm and make a finding that this item promotes tourism (Project No. 50280). Mr. Miller told the TDC. This item involves the emergency berm project we just discussed. What occurred on the emergency berm is that around last May or June, we started experiencing turtle nesting and were still in the process of trying to finish Naples Beach and move to South Naples/Port Royal. 9 November 20, 2023 • By the time we got to Port Royal, turtles were occupying the beach and we also needed to acquire easements because South Naples beaches are private. We had easements for the rest of the beaches, Vanderbilt, Park Shore and Naples, but we'd never done Port Royal before, so we had to get easements. • Because we didn't have them and turtles were on the beach, we stopped the project around 2 1 " Avenue South. • We stopped the contractor from continuing the work, anticipating he could return when we had all the easements, and the turtles were gone. • But the contractor isn't available to restart the project. • It complicates things because to do the work, we'll have to re -bid that section of the beach in Port Royal. That means we need to hire another contractor. • The original engineer of record must come back, re -survey and re -design the beach and then assist with bidding the project again. They bid it once but they're going to have to come back and re -bid it, so we need their help doing that. [Mr. Miller read the recommendation.] Ms. Becker asked what the dollar amount was, $24 million? Acting Chairman Hill said it won't exceed 18-7636.25, which was approved in 2022. Mr. Miller said the change order is for $54,136.50. Ms. Becker moved to recommend the approval of Change Order No. I to Agreement No. 18- 7432-CZ with APTIM Environmental & Infrastructure LLCfor professional engineering services providing re survey, re -design, bidding assistance and post -design services far the remaining South Naples emergency berm and found tit at this item promotes tourism. Second by Ms. Kerns. The motion passed unanimously, 7-0. B. Sports 1. Recommendation to approve the expenditure of the Tourism Development Tax Promotion funds to support the October 2023 Advertising Softball World Series event, up to $5,000, waive any irregularities in the process, and make a finding that these expenditures promote tourism. Ms. Baker read the recommendation and told the TDC. • This event is the Advertising World Series, an amateur softball sporting event. • The three-day event was from October 9-11 at North Collier Regional Park. • They reported 585 room nights. The minimum to get funding is 250. • The irregularity we're asking you to waive is that the partner turned in his application in July. For some reason, it didn't make it to her primary in -box, so she first saw it when he followed up in October after the event, but that's OK because funding is determined by actual room nights, which he produced. He met all pre- and post -event requirements. • He also provided other good information. He hosted two dinner parties at the Naples Grande (Beach Resort). All of his rooms were at the Naples Grande. • He also spent $50,000 at Celebration Park, where he rented two boats from Pure Florida. That shows he really did care about the economic impact while they were here. • The total economic impact was $462,961. 10 November 20, 2023 Ms. Becker moved to recommend approving the expenditure of Tourism Development Tax Promotion funds to support the October 2023 Advertising Softball World Series event, up to 55,000, waive any irregularities in the process, and found that these expenditures promote tourism. Second by Ms. Kerns. The motion passed unanimously, 7-0. 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 county website link. The Research Data Services report is presented monthly, and other reports are 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, president [Mr. St. Germain detailed a PowerPoint presentation on September numbers.] Ms. Petrunoff asked how the Implan (Economic Software) multiplier is tabulated. Where it went from 1.49 down to 1.38, we seem to be getting sort of penalized because of how well we're doing. What is that? Mr. St. Germain said it's based upon how much was spent and in what areas, such as hotels, restaurants, etc. While doing annual reports, we've also noticed that a lot of those figures have been lower than 2021 and 2022. Implan said there was a lot of extra money in the economy due to pandemic programs, which changed the overall multiplier. For now, he'd recommend focusing more on direct -spend year -over -year because that's a more apples -to -apples comparison while the Implan showed some fluctuations due to the overall economic market. Ms. Petrunoff asked how he calculates the Implan or is that from the industry? Mr. St. Germain said that comes from Implan, which is widely considered the No. 1 economic impact input-output software calculator in the tourism industry. We input direct spending into Implan and then Implan gives us the multiplier, jobs and wages and other items in the annual report. Ms. Petrunoff noted that all the domestic visits went down. Besides a desire to go out of the country now, were any other factors at play? Mr. St. Germain said there were myriad reasons we've mentioned. In the summer, it was the international and cruises reaching pre -pandemic levels, but as you look at 2021 and 2022, there was some "Florida fatigue" that we've seen not just in Collier County, but elsewhere in the state, such as the sargassum, leprosy and politics, which are an issue for some people across the country. A variety of things caused minor impacts and an overall decrease. Ms. Petrunoff asked how the numbers compare with our largest competitor, such as Sarasota, especially the one where we dropped to 79% and they did not consider another destination. It seems like a high number, and it dropped year -aver -year. What does that mean? Is that typical? November 20, 2023 Mr. St. Germain said considering other destinations is something we've seen across the state. People see more options. In 2021 or 2022, they just went down to Florida, but overall, we've seen it in general statewide. He can't provide specific comparisons and numbers like visitation and economic impact, but overall, as Southwest Florida goes up or down, all the other counties follow. There are minor differences, with the exception of late 2023, when certain counties were impacted more by Hurricane Ian than others, so that affected that relationship. Ms. Petrunoff asked if it's unusual that 80% of people coming here don't consider any other destination. That seems remarkably high, but is that typically what you see? They don't shop around? Mr. St. Germain said we usually see that figure in the 70-80% range when we're looking at all visitors, like this figure. It's when you consider visiting friends and family or going on a day trip, business trip or a sporting event, those destinations are largely picked for them. If we broke that number out only for overnight visitors, it would be a lower percentage if you don't pick that place. When we ask the 70-80% who answer that way, there is a difference with each person. Some people with the early funnel thought of three or four places and then come to Collier County. They may have forgotten that portion. Overall, that percentage is probably a lower percentage, but when we asked that question at other destinations statewide, it's usually in the 70-80% range. Ms. Petrunoff asked about the recommended -area question. "Do you recommend" went down slightly. Was there a cost factor? We're not the cheapest place to visit. We're quite expensive and then you factor in inflation. Did you find that a factor in determining the decrease, whether they recommended Collier County? Mr. St. Germain said yes, because when we when we follow up with those who "do not recommend" or if they "won't return," we ask a follow-up question, why not? "High prices" is the No. 1 reason overall, but it's always a value proposition. If they feel that the experience is great, they may come back. A destination such as Collier having a 93% return rate and a 95-94% recommend rate is strong. Anytime you see above 90%, you're in a good place. It's a good number. No one will ever reach 100. There always will be folks, especially first-time visitors who aren't used to the price differences, who may experience some sticker shock. We see that most months. Ms. Petrunoff noted "quiet and relaxing" was the No. 2 reason people visited. Are you seeing a deterioration in that as we build out? Mr. St. Germain said he'd have to look at the previous monthly reports and get back to her. Ms. Petrunoff noted that this market is safe. She hears that people love the city because they feel safe. It's a very safe place. She believes that especially with the international group or older visitors, safety is a huge factor versus going to another destination. Does that ever pop up and should we subtly be marketing the fact that we're a very safe community? Mr. St. Germain said he's not a marketing expert but can discuss data. Our studies showed that safety is more important for international visitors than for domestic visitors. Safety is a necessary, but not sufficient, item to get people to a destination. They have to feel safe, but that's more of an expectation. Marketers can tell you if it's important to promote safety. Action Item: Mr. St. Germain was asked to review whether there's been a deterioration in the res ones or "quiet and relaxin " as a reason to visit as Collier County has been building out. 12 November 20, 2023 C. Paradise Advertising — Luisa Laurelli, Account Director, Client Services and Cyndy Murietta, VP of Media Ms. Laurelli said she appreciate Sandra Rios' work. We've been working on a transition plan in the meantime, and everything has been working out fine. We're ensuring we're launching all our marketing campaigns and initiatives. We're also working on the winter campaign that we plan to launch in January, which runs through March. We plan to come back and present you with a preview, a recap of how that campaign was performed. To answer the safety question, we include that in our messaging on web articles and the website, but it's never a key selling point for our marketing campaigns. We can take that into consideration next time and work closely with Joseph to look at the data to see how that can be put in our upcoming campaigns. Action Item: Can Paradise Advertising determine whether safey, should be a key selling points in marketing campaigns. [Ms. Murietta detailed a PowerPoint presentation.] During a discussion with Ms. Petrunoff, the following points were made: • Ads can be tweaked within minutes based on weather, such as snowstorms. • People are itching to get out when stuck inside during heavy snow. They want to go somewhere warm. • Collier's winter campaign involves weather triggered target marketing. Some digital advertising and billboards are triggered if temperatures go below 30, and if there's precipitation, there's a different message. That's a key focus for winter campaigns in the two key markets. • People want to stay up north because they have snow. They feel it's not Christmassy enough here, but we do the Christmas holiday well, with palm trees, daily events, such as a movie in a park or faux snow on Third Street. Promoting that could show travelers that the holiday spirit extends to Florida. We could have some positioning around that because it's a missed opportunity. • We're now celebrating the Centennial in the county and city and there are many special daily events starting in a couple of weeks that could drive people down here. • We have an extra hour of sunshine, so we should capitalize a bit on micromarketing and our advantage over the north. • We could target business travelers at airports so they can decide where to go on vacation. • The fall campaign leverages the holiday period. Last year, the hurricane affected the campaign. • Wi-Fi advertising at airports starts Thanksgiving week, when travel picks up. Ads will go through New Year's week, when many families travel. • We're targeting $175,000-plus household income families and couples. It's targeted to travelers we need to reach, but we probably wouldn't do that campaign anytime other than during big travel times. People are still excited about the holidays and the ads are focused in those airports. It's an opportunity to show travelers a beautiful picture and video of our destination. • We don't use Patch.com because we don't find that it's our audience. We're very particular about environments we use to deliver our beautiful creative and speak to the 13 November 20, 2023 right people. It's not the Paradise Coast's level of advertising. It's hyper local. We're very protective of the environment in which we place our advertising. • We have other campaigns that haven't been fully fleshed out. There's not a lot of German usage on Expedia but there is a lot in the London area. We're not using Kayak. Expedia is broken down by country and has a worldwide market. • The Hispanic campaign is targeted to the domestic market, not Spain. It runs in Florida and targets Hispanic speakers. It's the first time we're doing this campaign and we want to try it out to see how we perform. We're working with Joseph St. Germain and running research and surveys for Hispanic visitors to better target them. We're still trying to determine that percentage. • The Spanish -language targeted campaign will start in March in specific advertising venues. • Another market is English-speaking Hispanic travelers, like the many affluent Hispanics from Miami. Fort Lauderdale and Orlando also are highly Hispanic. • Acting Chair Hill noted that hoteliers are equipped to deal with Hispanic travelers. • Our firm is responsible for the top funnel, putting this destination in front of travelers to inspire them. Hotels, businesses and attractions can welcome them and be proactive on their end. • Last year's most profitable customer was from Chicago, which has held that spot for three consecutive years. • We'll be doing a takeover in that market starting in January for four weeks, followed by a an integrated campaign from out -of -home to digital to online. Many placements will be put in front of them during the winter season, when they feel miserable. It shows we have endless, shining warm water here. That campaign has been working during the year, so we want to ensure we still have presence in that market. • We're investing more dollars in our most profitable areas. • We don't like to be spread thin during the winter campaign. We focus on the areas that will bring value to us. We have that proof with Chicago. • We always try to go after an emerging market, such as Cleveland. Last year, it was Hartford and New Haven, which was around No. 9-10 in top visitation and No. 4-5 in September. That shows it's performing well. • For FY24, we'll go after Cleveland with the same hopes, talking to them and being in front of them. If it works, we'll do it again. • We're always on Zartico, the visitation -research platform, and are looking at what the top spending and visitation markets are. There isn't a huge difference. • We look at where people come from and where they're spending the most. We're only targeting $175,000-plus income travelers, one of the highest targeting many of our media partners have seen. • We're going after the affluent audience who can come and spend more, who are least affected by inflation, least concerned about cost and any impending recession concerns. That's always top of mind for us: Where are people spending, where are they corning from and what kind of audience do we want to go after? • We're also leveraging the holiday activities here in our monthly newsletter that's sent in November and December. Our website is always current with events. We work closely with partners to find out what's happening here and are constantly changing content captures. Our social media team comes down for live streams or to build content, so whenever people go to our channels this time of year, they know what's going on. 14 November 20, 2023 We're launching our first Snowfest campaign to highlight (Paradise Coast) Sports Complex events. We're also pushing that through some paid media to increase awareness about the events. Ms. Rios thanked Ms. Petrunoff for her great questions. Action Item: Paradise Advertising was asked to determine through Zartico and other tools wits, St. Louis has risen to the top in its interest in lire Paradise Coast. See E below. C. Lou Hammond Group --- Mackenzie Comerer, VP PR [Ms. Comerer detailed a PowerPoint presentation, "Services Conducted in October 2023. " Ms. Petrunoff asked about Nicoletta Pavarotti (Mantovani) and the event at Opera Naples. Is she selecting a city that she's going to be building her opera in? How does it work? Ms. Rios said Mr. Melleky will be talking about that. It was revealed at a recent press conference. It falls under his arts and culture umbrella. Mr. Melleky said we're working with Opera Naples to find out what the Pavarotti Foundation partnership will be. Then we can figure out how we can best represent it. We're working with them on the Festival Under the Stars, which is in February and March, and other events involving the Pavarotti Foundation. We're still working out what the next steps are. Ms. Petrunoff asked if Nicoletta Pavarotti is looking at other locations or only Naples. Ms. Rios said she believes it's only Naples, but we've only had initial discussions. We want to stay on top of it because it has such name recognition. Ms. Petrunoff said Ms. Comerer mentioned an article about "Best Small Towns for Christmas." Ms. Comerer said we focus on Naples and Marco Island because of the various activities, from the boat parade to the pet parade. We're being included in Southern Living, but pitch that to various media. Ms. Petrunoff asked if we definitely will be in Southern Living? Ms. Comerer said yes. We present that wide pitch to all national media and freelance writers. This is a very popular thing to showcase. Florida destinations that go all out for the holidays are of major interest to writers and are often part of different roundup articles. Ms. Rios said we also reach out to our partners a couple of months prior to a story that's being pitched, such as the holidays. The Ritz -Carlton sent us information about its winter market and gingerbread display, and we also include Third Street and 5" Avenue South events. As partners provide information, we send it to the agency to pitch. It's earned media versus paid media, so it lands based on the relationships the PR agency has or the internal relationship we have with the journalists. Ms. Petrunoff asked where the local input is coming from. Is it people like Ms. Becker and Third Street South? Ms. Rios said we have a robust database of partners. We ask them to send us information about what's going on for the holidays. It often goes to their PR or marketing agencies or an in-house marketing person at a resort. It typically wouldn't go to a GM, but to somebody in the sales and marketing area. 15 November 20, 2023 Part 2. Marketing Partner Reports D. Collier County Tourist Tax Collections (None) Ms. Rios said Chris Johnson, who provides the report, is out of the office. If TDC members have any questions, she can ask Chris and get back to you with an answer. Acting Chairman Hill said TDC members can review that presentation online. E. Miles Partnership — Enriqueta Balandra [Ms. Balandra detailed a PowerPoint presentation, "Paradise. com — October 2023 "] During questioning, the following points were made: • We benchmark against ourselves. • St. Louis, Missouri, popped up organically as a market of interest. • Organic traffic is when somebody finds our website on their own, whether they're using a Google search to find something or find a page on our website. There's also paid media, which is what Paradise Advertising runs. If someone sees an ad and clicks on it through our website, that's paid media versus organic. • You'll often see a correlation between a spike in web traffic based upon our digital ad vibe. An ad that pops up on your phone or computer that you click through is trackable in terms of data and you can see a bump in website traffic. • That's not what occurred with St. Louis. We didn't have an ad or campaign there and haven't had one there in a long time. Someone may have come back from a fabulous vacation or saw someone on social media who influenced people to go to our website. • St. Louis also was at the top the prior month. Ms. Rios said we can have Cyndy look at that through Zartico and other data research tools to see if it's an emerging market that we should put some money toward for a campaign. Action Item: Miles Partnership was asked to include the goal for the ,ear, how Collier is trackinz compared with prior years, and industry benchmarks. Action Item: Miles Partnership was asked to determine what caused St. Louis to jump to the to of the list in terms of interest. F. Paradise Coast Sports Complex/Sports Facilities Companies — Marissa Baker, Adrian Moses, J.P. Terrasi. [Mr. Moses and Mr. Terrasi detailed PowerPoint presentations.] [There were no questions.] G. County Museums —Amanda Townsend [Ms. Townsend detailed a PowerPoint presentation on October visitation.] [Councilman McComas left the meeting at 1: 52 p.m.] [There were no questions.] [C61 November 20, 2023 11. Tourism Staff Reports (Provided in the agenda packet) Ms. Rios said TDC members can review the report at their leisure. 12. Council Member Discussion Ms. Becker thanked Ms. Rios and Mr. McIleky for stepping up when Mr. Beirnes left. She noted they both have other full-time jobs. When Paul Beirnes was first employed here, it was as a deputy director and then he became executive director. What happened to the deputy position? That's who should be up here now. Ms. Kerns said they tried to fill it. She believes those two FTEs still exist. They have not been posted. Ms. Rios said Paul interviewed people for the sports deputy director position but that fell through and was never revisited. We can ask Amy Lyberg about the status of the two FTEs. Acting Chairman Hill said we're so fortunate to have you two and your team. It's just incredible. He agrees with Susan. Action Item: Ms. Rios was asked to determine the status of the two FTE positions, deputy director and sports tourism director. Ms. Kerns asked if the TDC could return to the regular meeting date, the fourth Monday in 2024, for several reasons. We've been without a City of Naples representative this year. January 2 also is a national holiday, so she strongly recommends we start the new year by changing the date or it could affect the interviews for the director position. Ms. Rios thanked her for bringing that up. It's important for us to look into that. Most TDC members support that and have mentioned it to us before. She spoke to Dan Rodriguez about it and he agrees we should reach out to the incoming chairman to ensure he's amenable to it. She's not sure what the next steps will be. Acting Chairman Hill asked if the TDC should vote on that now or do we need to wait? Attorney Greene said it would be good postpone a vote until the next meeting, when you can consult with the chairman. Ms. Petrunoff noted that she and Councilor Grifoni often have conflicts with the third Monday due to City Council meetings. Several of us wish it could be moved back to the fourth Monday. This was her background and career before she retired. She feels like she's missing something when she's not here and always has hundreds of questions. She'd appreciate it if you'd try to change the meeting back to the fourth Monday. Ms. Rios said we'll look into it and do our best to determine the next steps. She'll talk to Dan to help get it done. Ms. Petrunoff said she'd like to see more benchmarking on the marketing reports. We're given a lot of statistics and she's not sure how to interpret them to determine if they're good or if we're heading in the right direction on a lot of expenditures, our marketing investments. We might be missing an opportunity to cross -market the Paradise Coast. We don't hyperlink to each other, and if the target market is mostly locals, we should be cross-pollinating each other. That's a very inexpensive way to do it. You can enrich all the websites and build volume. She'd also like to see strategic thought around Al in the marketing plans. How are we using Al, how do we want to deploy Al in some of the target marketing? She's sure the third parties are thinking 17 November 20, 2023 about it, but it's coming fast and furious, and can be very powerful. She thanked Ms. Rios for stepping up in Mr. Beirnes' absence. Ms. Rios thanked her for all the questions. Action Item: Ms. Rios and the marketing partners were asked to look more at cross marketing and hyperlinking, especially locally, as well as telling the TDC how they plan to incorporate AL 13. Next Scheduled Meeting Date/Location 9 a.m. TUESDAY, January 16, 2023 Collier County Government Center, Administration Building F, 3rd Floor, 3299 East Tamiami Trail, Naples There being no further business for the good of the County, the meeting was adjourned by order of the chairman at 12:05 a.m. COLLIER COUNTY TOURIST VELOPMENT COUNCIL i Clark Hill, Acting Chairman These minutes were approved by the council/Acting Chairman on (choose one) as presented, or as amended 18