TDC Minutes 01/16/2024January 16, 2024
MINUTES OF THE COLLIER COUNTY
TOURIST DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL MEETING
Naples, Florida, January 16, 2024
LET IT BE REMEMBERED the Collier County Tourist Development Council, in and for the
County of Collier, having conducted business herein, met on this date at 9:00 a.m. in a
REGULAR SESSION at 3299 Tamiami Trail East, Yd Floor, Naples, Florida, with the following
members present:
Commissioner Rick LoCastro, Chairman
Clark Hill, Vice Chairman
Jared Grifoni, Councilor
Susan Becker
Amanda Cox
Nancy Kerns
Edward (Ski) Olesky
Michael McComas
Beth Petrunoff, Councilwoman (excused absence)
ALSO PRESENT: Sandra Rios, CVB PR & Communications Manager
And Co -Interim Tourism Director
Buzzy Ford, Tourism
Colleen Greene, County Attorney Tourism
John Melleky, Co -Interim Tourism Director
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.
January 16, 2024
1. Call to Order: Sandra Rio called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m.
2. Pledge of Allegiance: The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
3. Roll Call: A quorum of eight was established by members present in the board room.
Comm. Rick LoCastro, in speaking with the other four Commissioners in January of 2023,
and it was agreed upon that we would juggle these committees around on a regular
basis_
Personal introductions were made by each board member.
4. Agenda and Minutes:
Motion to approve the agenda.
Nancy Kerns moved to approve the agenda as written; second by Ski Olesky.
The motion passed unanimously, 8-0.
Motion to approve the TDC December 18, 2023, meeting minutes.
Susan Becker moved to approve the minutes as written; second by Clark Hill.
The motion passed unanimously, 8-0.
5. Presentations
A. Executive Director Update (PowerPoint presentation provided)
Sandra Rios gave a brief snapshot of what has happened over the November and
December months.
■ December occupancy was down 9.1% and that was mostly due to the fact
that we have more inventory this year than the same time last year. Our
numbers are a little bit skewed year over year because of the hurricane.
• We have 6.3% more inventory than last year at this time.
■ Our ADR continues to remain high — up 21 % over last year.
■ Demand is softening — it's down 3.4%. We are seeing fewer Florida
visitors and the market share in the Southeast, Northeast, Midwest and
West are down slightly. However, the increases in visitation from Canada
and Europe are up.
■ Revenue remains high, climbing 17% year after year.
■ In November, we welcomed 207,000 visitors, which is up 15% from 2022.
• They booked 219,400 room nights, a decrease of 1.3% from 2022 due to
the lower inventory.
• We registered 1,442,800 visitor days and that's an increase of 23% from
2022.
• Spending came in at $226M with an overall economic impact of $313M —
a 7.4% increase from 2022.
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January 16, 2024
■ Our 2024 marketing initiatives will focus on our emerging markets,
maintaining our engagement with our international markets and continuing
initiatives that drive visitation during our shoulder seasons.
■ Sports and sports tourism will play an increasingly more visible role as the
Paradise Sports Complex continues to ramp up and the United Soccer
League starts to formulate its team and marketing strategy and as
pickleball continues to bring regional and national attention.
■ Travelers plan to take more trips in 2024 but will be more price conscious.
■ Shoulder season travel is becoming more attractive due to flexible
working hours and travelers are craving authenticity.
■ Russian visits will become more popular.
■ Visitors want to engage in the history of environmental offerings.
■ The luxury travel market is seeing a record growth with sales of luxury
travel packages jumping 37% in 2023 compared to 2022 and we do
position ourselves as a luxury destination. The growth in this market is
56% higher than the same period in 2019.
■ Business travel continues to gain ground and should rebound back to pre -
pandemic levels by 2025. Thirty percent of all business trips are expected
to have a Ieisure component to them. And beyond selling extra room
nights, one of the greatest opportunities for hoteliers is the use of defacto
offices, as more people can work from anywhere they choose.
■ Nearly 40% of Europeans are likely to visit North America next year. We
certainly want to grab our fair share, if not more of that market. And
nearly 50% of Europeans will travel as couples, so that's important for us
to pay attention to in our marketing efforts.
■ As a reminder, 2024 is an election year, which historically means the
numbers will be down.
■ Our tax collection has been reduced by the expiration of the 1 % surtax. So
total tax is now 11 % rather than 12% and 5% bed tax and 6% sales.
6. Consent Agenda: None
7. New Business: None
S. Old Business: None
9. Marketing Partner Reports
A. Joseph St. Germain, President, Downs & St. Germain Research
(PowerPoint Presentation Provided)
We will go through a snapshot of visitor and metric data to give you a sense of how itis
collected. Highlights:
■ Visitation was up in large part because in November of 2022 not a lot of
people were visiting their second homes or business friends and family post
hurricane.
■ Direct spending is up significantly and most of the increase was in
restaurant and shopping spending. Recovery workers were still in the
January 16, 2024
market in November of last year and they have different spending patterns
than your typical leisure visitor.
■ Occupancy rate for November/December was down, fairly flat, even though
more units were available.
■ Hotel metrics alone, the increase occupancy was a little less but performed
a little bit better than Airbnb and vacation rentals.
• In 2022 the occupancy rate was up for recovery reasons. There were less
units available and more recovery workers. Even with the pre -pandemic
levels in 2019 the occupancy rate was down. But we expect to see a lot of
travel in 2024, however maintaining the levels of 2022 and 2023 projects
to be difficult.
• The bottom graph shows that the revenue per available room was barely
steady in 2021 /2022. Years 2021 /2022 were elevated for a variety of
reasons, most of which domestic travelers were in a travel rut, they
weren't taking cruises, etc. Compared to 2019, there is a very significant
increase and that's a large indigenous increase in the average rate.
■ We see a big decrease year over year in visitors from Florida but will see a
bit more stability in future months. In 2023, the international visitor was
recovering; it was largely due to the Canadian visitor. November was the
first month where the European visitation exceeded the Canadian
visitation. They were coming from the UK, Europe, and Germany.
■ For January through November overall visitation was down 7%; visitor days
down 3%. But it was an increase in overall metrics compared to 2022.
• Spending down 8%; economic impact down 14% -- so much different money
in the economy (COVID and other programs) and how the money was
moving around the US.
• Calendar year to date metrics, pre -pandemic, last five years you see a similar
trend that we saw in November.
■ Visitation overall is down compared to 2021/2022 and pre -pandemic
numbers. Room nights are up.
■ Direct spending and economic impact compared to 2019 is all significant, but
the value per visitor has increased significantly over the years.
• Overall visitation of this year to date, 2022 to 2023, we lost some ground in
Florida, the Southeast and Northeast, and the Midwest market share.
However, Canada and Europe and Central America are increasing. The
international visitors tend to spend a bit more money.
• Reasons for visiting -- vacation getaways; less recovery work; transportation
increased in percentage who flew to the area.
■ There was a small decrease in first time visitation. But we are starting to see
the heavy loyal visitor, a good base of folks who instead of being on vacation
are making this an annual tradition.
■ How did we do? You have a significantly higher percentage who will return
to the Naples area and a higher percentage will recommend the Naples area,
Paradise Coast and Collier County. They are getting better value for their
dollars.
Q&A:
Q. Susan Becker asked about not having the December report.
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January 16, 2024
A. The December report, because of the timing of this meeting, was not yet
finished.
Q. Amanda Cox: How occupancy metrics are skewed by products that we
opened post hurricane, knowing that the Ritz Carlton and Naples Resorts
were two of our last destinations to reopen, any thoughts on year over year
2022 to 2023, what our actual ADR growth is versus just the room nights
that are coming online in luxury? Is there a way to isolate that? It would
be an interesting exercise once we do a full year. The ongoing
conversation with businesses in the area of hotels, restaurants, as we look
at that five-year trend you share with us from 2019 to 2023, would you be
able to provide us some figures on what I would call real ADR growth and
saying that I mean, I'm going with normalized for inflation. Is that
something we can look at in a future meeting?
A. We could compare growth year over year and compare it to the inflation
rate year over year. We would need to see inflation rates by industry. I
could find a general inflation rate and apply that. I will add this to our
annual report.
Q. Clark Hill: Interested in transportation methods — there's a growth in
people that are flying into a destination — RSW is up by about 3%; Fort
Lauderdale is down; Miami is flat; Tampa is down. I wonder if that is
significant as far as market share and plugging those customers that are
visiting the East Coast over to the West Coast for a few days.
A. One of the things that we've noticed, in general and in talking to tour
operators in Europe, is that a lot of your international visitors are flying
into Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Orlando and Tampa. One good thing about
this type of study is why things happen. I think it's an important discussion
to have and to watch moving forward.
Q. Susan Becker. Interested in the visitor tracking, and at some point, using a
process about how the visitor tracking is conducted and to know if you
provide props or if you provide a list, or if the people you consult with
make up their own lists or provide their own funds because we've seen a
little bit of a variety. What we have found doesn't always coincide with
our personal or work experiences.
A. Most of our data is done via intercepting reviews, so we're at events and
brand hotels, beaches, downtown shopping areas and cultural and nature
events. Our goal is to get a representative set of visitors, so the sports
visitor is going to be different than the general leisure visitor, as well as
the business visitor. It's a very salient point. A lot of our data collection is
hampered by availability, so we want to be at every different type of place.
That's a constant work in progress. We will get a team together to get a list
of where the data is coming from, person to person, or electronic and what
that percentage is.
B. Cindy Murietta, Vice President of Integrated Media, Paradise Advertising
(PowerPoint Presentation Provided)
■ We just finished up the Fall campaign, which ended at the end of December.
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January 16, 2024
■ The Always On campaign started in October and it goes through the whole year.
It is that performance media, things that we are going to be able to see the ROI
from — like Expedia, Kayak and Adora, also paid search and paid social and e-
mail marketing. These are like the bedrock of every tourism plan, and that is
happening in the background.
■ The Winter campaigns are going on in January and February. We have been in
Chicago for the last three years. We also try and find an opportunity market for
digital targeting. We see a lot of website visitation and the top ten markets in
bookings we identified last year were Hartford and New Haven. This year is
Cleveland. We feel there's opportunity in Cleveland.
■ The first campaign, which launched last week is Chicago.
■ Ms. Murietta proceeds to explain the strategy, campaign overviews and the details in
each of the markets for the Winter campaign for both Chicago and Cleveland.
■ Ms. Murietta explains what is coming up at the end of February which are two
international campaigns -- the UK and Germany. And then the Canada campaign for
Spring/Summer launches usually at the end of March or the beginning of April.
■ The swarm cars (usually 8 to 10) are impactful because of its two elements — all the
cars drive around/up and down the road and we tell them exactly when we went them
to do it and where. We usually pick a Saturday around noon to 2:00 p.m. in high foot
traffic of places.
■ The cost for the two campaigns is somewhere around $200,000 — Chicago being 60-
70% of that and Cleveland the rest of that amount.
• Sandra Rios: Additionally, we are taking advantage of this campaign hosting a
meeting planner event at a pickleball court in Chicago on January 31 —there will be
30-35 meeting planners and local media from Chicago to help cover the event.
C. Mackenzie Comerer, Vice President Tampa, Lou Hammond Group
(PowerPoint Presentation Provided)
■ Ms. Comerer shared highlights and an overview of the services conducted this
December.
D. Enriqueta Balandra, Senior Project Manager, Miles Partnership
(PowerPoint Presentation Provided)
■ We help with the website, Paradise Coast.com.
■ Ms. Balandra gave an overview of the website's performance.
E. Adrian Moses, General Manager, Paradise Court Sports Complex
(PowerPoint Presentation Provided)
■ The project we have been working on for the last 18 months, both behind the
scenes and. somewhat public, and thank you Commissioner for announcing our
first professional sports franchising in Collier County tomorrow.
• Mr. Moses gave a recap of the financials, the challenges/transitions for some of
the events, vendor equity, how many people are using the facility, the uses of the
facility in many ways, and the impact of the economic and health of the
community.
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January 16, 2024
■ January 27, around 2:00 p.m., is an opportunity to announce the team to the
community.
10. Tourism Staff Report:
Sandra Rios: The Museum presentation is included in your packet. Amanda was not
available today.
Susan Becker: February 4, benefit for the baggage car at the Collier County Museum and
includes a jazz performance. Starts at 4:00 p.m. and the ticket price is $100.
11. Council Member Discussion:
• The Everglades Seafood Festival is February 2-4. There is no charge to get in but
they do ask for a donation. Lonestar Band will perform on Friday night.
■ January 20, Marco Island, Island Rocks concert at the Veterans Community Park
which is a new facility. Start time is around 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
• The Everglades Visitor Center is open every day. It's a volunteer run center so I am
not sure of the times.
■ January 21, Sunday, on 3`d Street is the Pet Parade at noon but the events begin in the
morning.
■ We have eight candidates for the director position. Most of those interviews have
been scheduled for the 18'.
■ The minutes from the last meeting has Commissioner McDaniel's name on it for
signing.
Commissioner Rick LoCastro:
A renewed focus by all the commissioners, we are not here as elected officials or even people
that serve on committees to amass money and collect money, we are here to manage it properly.
Conservation Collier, we have $16M in the bank over two years and only spent $5M and that's
not proper management. People who voted for it expected that the money they were contributing
to that program was being utilized. A lot of money flows through here and a lot of exciting ways
that it is being spent and being appropriated but the conversation we had with Paul when it came
to grants and how much money comes out of this organization, all these amazing organizations
in town that trim the trees and bring more business here, but it also provides an amazing service
for our citizens, for visitors, whether it's a museum, the gallery, or a music event. We just want to
make sure that the folks that are getting that money have earned it, and in their mind, they're
working just as hard as we are, as you all are, and other ways to either wean themselves off the
tourism dollars so that maybe they can find a little bit more balance. And if they can't and we're
really the only thing keeping them afloat, well then just prove to us why it's impossible for you to
get the funds elsewhere. We're not trying to squeeze anybody out from getting any kind of
funding through a funding source. What we want to do is make sure that we're not wasting
money, because if we can save some money here and there, we have some responsible
organizations that say, you're always giving me $10,000 when I ask for more. If you ask honestly
if we didn't give you the money tomorrow, would you go out of business. Absolutely not -- this
is the above and beyond, the extra; we've been getting other funding from three or four different
sources. So, the $10,000 has never decreased. One of the things we want to explain to them is we
are not trying to be the Grinch and squeeze them for the money.
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January 16, 2024
There are so many new things that might be coming to the forefront that can benefit from the
reallocation of money. So I am trying to put money in our back pocket. It's not about saving the
money, it's about managing it properly and finding some of those organizations out there that
maybe haven't benefited at all, maybe they don't know the grant process, maybe have gotten a
small amount every year, but their programs have grown. We might invest a little bit more in
something that has a bigger bang for our buck.
We want to make sure that there's accountability and that we're not wasting an opportunity to
create funds for other things that may be growing more, but they've been at the end of the line.
When we catch a spear or somebody throws a rock and says, why are you throwing money at this
one? They get millions of dollars from investors. Part of the reason why we write maybe a small
check is that we want to be vested as the County, we want to show that we're part of the event,
the organization, show that we are part of the list of investors. We want to make sure that we're
able to explain that and justify what we're doing with the TDC dollars. Keep our radar on for
some of these small things that might pop up that could be bigger things down the road.
The application that folks use to apply for grants, it looks like we're expecting more on it. The
application will be much more intense, even if it's an organization that has worked with us for the
last ten years.
12. Next Scheduled Meeting: February 20, 2024
13. Adjournment: Meeting adjourned at 11:05 a.m.
There being no further business for the good of the County, the meeting was adjourned by order of
the chairman at 11:05 a.m.
COLLIER COUNTY
TOU DE LOP N
Commissioner Ric oCastro, Chairman
These minutes were approved by the Chairman on - -1-�,H (choose one) as
presented, X or as amended
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