City of Lawrence

Lawrence Convention & Visitors Bureau Advisory Board

Tuesday, January 24, 2006 minutes

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Michael Moore, David Longhurst, Brad Kemp, and Maria Martin,  Derek Felch, Constance Wolfe, Ron Desch

 

MEMBERS ABSENT:

Kate Kelly, Doug Holiday, Karen Christilles, and Bob Schumm

 

STAFF PRESENT:

Judy Billings, Bob Sanner, Debbie White, Ashlee Roll-Gregory and Susan Henderson

 

PUBLIC PRESENT:

none

 

The meeting was called to order by Maria Martin. Longhurst moved, Kemp seconded to approve the minutes as presented.  Motion carried.

 

Financial Report

Billings noted that the financial report was from November and that December’s numbers would be included in the end of the year report which will supplied at next month’s meeting. Billings also said that invoices have been sent for $11,000 for Visitor Guide advertising, but that the money has yet to be collected. The goal of the CVB is to get all outstanding invoices paid as soon as possible.  Billings noted the bed tax collected has increased somewhat and the projected budget is doing well terms of cash. In January of 2004, the bed tax rose from 4% to 5% so it will be easier to compare numbers now that the bed tax number is the same amount from the previous year.

 

Billings then explained the Annual Estimate of Tourism Economic Spending worksheet to the Board. The worksheet covered the method in which the numbers overnight direct spending and daytrip spending are calculated. The worksheet numbers are based on using the actual bed tax collected with a formula adopted from the International Association of Convention & Visitor Bureaus (IACVB) with assumptions made from the voluntary reporting from hotels.

 

Billings then noted that it was important to get this information out to the public and show them that tourism is a big industry, with $41+ million making a big statement.

 

Old Business

            i.          We continue to carry the business of enhancing the visitor website as a project that will be reported on in the next few months.          

                       

New Business

 

i.          No new business

 

Staff Updates of involvement

 

Susan Henderson reported on a new ad campaign that is trying to reach the local populations and address the reasons to bring their meetings to Lawrence. The ads will run in the University Daily Kansan and the Journal World for the next few months. The ads will not run in the summer, but will pick back up in September. There has been a significant increase in the number of leisure travel ads running in 2006 due to the increase in that budget line item for the year. The “Stay the Night” ads will cover Minnesota and Iowa more thoroughly this year.

 

Henderson also noted that the new “Stay the Night” ads have changed shape and layout.  The ads have the visitlawrence website on them, therefore number of visitors that have been driven to the CVB website can be tracked and their activity reported.

 

 

The KC Star travel section began running a series on the “Cities of the Big 12,” in which Lawrence was featured. The CVB will run ads in conjunction with those stories.  There will also be ads running in “Spaces” magazine, which is a publication of the KC Star. The magazine focuses on the high end Kansas City market with focus on interior design and the arts.

 

           

Bob Sanner reported that his current focus is on conventions. In April, the Kansas State Firefighters conference will be in Lawrence. It has been a number of years since they have held their meeting here. In June the WWII Rangers will bring their annual reunion to Lawrence.  This year Lawrence won the bid over Colorado Springs and Washington, DC (in spite of the incentive offered by Washington). There will be 300+ Rangers and family members in Lawrence. We will be providing airport shuttle service and anticipating a lot of special needs.

 

This year the Lawrence Sports Corp. will be handling all facets of the Downtown cycling event. The race will be held Downtown on a Sunday. Therefore, the churches will receive a lot of attention in order to make the race as non invasive as possible due to the fact that the race will be held on Mother’s Day. There will be volunteer groups to identify and help where needed, for example the check in/check out of the Eldridge Hotel which is on the race route.

 

Junior Olympics Cross Country ’07 event has been awarded to Lawrence. The opening ceremonies will be held the Friday before the race the first week in December.

 

Lawrence is in the process of bidding for the Shrine Bowl ’08. This high-school football event benefits the Shriners hospital. Sanner noted that he is trying to be as responsive as possible to make it positive for both Lawrence and the Shriners. The key components to making it a successful bid are publicity, the parade and the venue for the game.

 

Judy Billings reported on that Congress has been in recess until recently, but that she is headed to Washington in February to meet with the staff of the House Resources Committee and staff of the Kansas delegation to work on moving the heritage bill forward.  She’ll also attend the annual meeting of the Alliance of National Heritage Areas (ANHA) and participate in a reception for Congressional members and Department of Interior staff.

           

Ashlee Roll-Gregory reported that monthly users on visitlawrence.com had increased 175% from 12/05, and in addition daily use had increased 175% from 11/05. The number of reservations made on the online booking site had decreased 60% from 11/05, and the number of reservations stayed had decreased 70% from November of last year.

 

Debbie White reported that the new outdoor maps for the Visitor Center were up. In addition, the pictures on the wall inside the visitor center had been updated and refreshed.  New racks for visitor guides had come in and were to be distributed to hotels.

In addition, Debbie reported that the visitor center is preparing to celebrate their 10th anniversary and they’re working with Lisa Patterson to make the celebration city-wide.

           

 

Meeting Adjourned

 

Future Meetings

           

February 2006, SpringHill Suites