5:45 p.m. - Travel Dubuque Work Session Copyrighted
September 18, 2023
City of Dubuque Work Session - Top # 01.
City Council Meeting
ITEM TITLE: 5:45 p.m. -Travel Dubuque WorkSession
SUM MARY: Keith Rahe President& CEO of Travel Dubuque will provide a Travel
Dubuque Update presentation.
SUGGESTED
DISPOSITION:
+ MANY DEDICATED PART-TIME EMPLOYEES WHO HELP WELCOME GUESTS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR
SARA HANTENVice President of Operations
KEITH RAHEPresident & CEO
BECKY CARKEEKSales ManagerJOHN SUTTERVice President - Field of Dreams Operations
JULIE KRONLAGEVice President of Sales
WILLIE TIGGESContent Marketing Manager
TAYLOR KELLOGGVice President of Marketing
MICHELLE RAHEDirector of Guest Services
CARRIE KOELKERVice President of Community Engagement
NOAH WESTHOFFSports & Events Manager
UPDATES
Here are highlights of what has happened and what is to come.
MARKETING
Adventure Guide.
Travel Dubuque launched its first Adventure Guide
in Fall of 2022. These seasonal guides are mailed
out by request, with Travel Guide requests, to
existing mailing lists, and distributed in the Welcome
Center and with brochure distribution. Fall + Winter
2023/24 is currently in production.
FALL + WINTER 2022/23
7,561 MAILED ~6,000 DISTRIBUTED
SPRING + SUMMER 2023 (TO DATE)
11,711 MAILED AND ~8,000 DISTRIBUTED
Taylor Kellogg
VICE PRESIDENT OF MARKETING
MARKETING
Ad Buy
Travel Dubuque continues to share out content
driven outlets (Travel Guide, Adventure Guide,
and traveldubuque.com) to targeted audiences via
paid advertising. The results are continued growth
on social media, increased guide requests, and
increased website hits.
AD BUY
SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGNS, GOOGLE AD WORDS,
SPOTIFY (MUSIC & PODCASTS), PRINT ADS
WEBSITE 12% GROWTH IN USERS
INSTAGRAM 3.9% GROWTH IN AUDIENCE
FACEBOOK 2.5% GROWTH IN AUDIENCE
TRAVEL GUIDE 309% GROWTH IN REQUESTS
*WHEN COMPARED SEASON OVER SEASON
Taylor Kellogg
VICE PRESIDENT OF MARKETING
SALES
Group Tours
Between March to August, Travel Dubuque
welcomed 54 motorcoach groups in the community,
totaling 2,130 guests. 4,260 caramels were given to
the groups. This is one of our complimentary services
to motorcoach planners to make Dubuque stand out
and show our appreciation for booking business in
Dubuque.
2,130 GUESTS
4,260 CARAMELS DISTRIBUTED
CAME FROM WI, IA, IL, KS, MI, IN
14 HISTORIC PROGRESSIVE DINNERS WERE BOOKED
Becky Carkeek
SALES MANAGER
SALES
Meetings
Great Lakes Chapter of the American Airport
Association Executives was here in July 2023, and
they had an excellent time. Four days of activities were
planned for kids, spouses, and conference attendees.
10+ were states in attendance. In September, the
Iowa Grocery Industry Association will return
to Dubuque, and in October, the Iowa Library
Association will be in town October 11-13.
N4C NORTH CENTRAL CAMERA CLUB SEP 14-17 100+
ANTIQUE STUDEBAKER CLUB JUN 23-29, 2024 100
IOWA RECYCLING & SOLID WASTE OCT 7-9, 2024 500+
IOWA LEAGUE OF CITIES SEP 2027 800+
Julie Kronlage
VICE PRESIDENT OF SALES
SALES
Riverboats
The riverboat season is off to a great start, with weekly
arrivals from large excursion boats. We’ve seen a
91.7% increase in passengers for these vessels since
2022. The Riverboat Twilight and Celebration Belle
are also having a great season. On her first trip into
Dubuque in July, the Celebration Belle was nearly sold
out (almost 750 passengers). The Riverboat Twilight
continues to be near capacity as well.
JUNE – JULY 2023: 2,324 PASSENGERS
AMERICAN CRUISE LINES 762 PASSENGERS
AMERICAN QUEEN VOYAGES 831 PASSENGERS
VIKING MISSISSIPPI 731 PASSENGERS
JUNE – JULY 2022: 1,212 PASSENGERS
AMERICAN CRUISE LINES 692 PASSENGERS
AMERICAN QUEEN VOYAGES 520 PASSENGERS
VIKING MISSISSIPPI 0*
*DIDN’T START CRUISING UNTIL SEPTEMBER 2022
Julie Kronlage
VICE PRESIDENT OF SALES
UPCOMING
USS LST 325
This ship returns to Dubuque September 6-12, 2023.
We are excited to have the USS LST back in the Port of
Dubuque and anticipate large crowds. In 2018 when
the ship was in, we had just over 16,000 people tour
in four days. The event will include military reenactors
on Friday – Sunday and a performance by the East
Dubuque Drum and Bugle Corp.
OPENING CEREMONIES
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2023 AT 9 AM
AMERICAN TRUST RIVERS EDGE PLAZA GAZEBO
Julie Kronlage
VICE PRESIDENT OF SALES
SPORTS & EVENTS
Beyond the Game
Normally taking place in downtown Dyersville, the
2023 event was held at the world-famous Field
of Dreams Movie Site on August 11-13. The event
featured a game between the USA Patriots and Ghost
Players, autograph sessions, a home run exhibition,
and a ACO Pro-Am Cornhole, and more.
Noah Westhoff
SPORTS & EVENTS MANAGER
UPDATE
Field of Dreams
In May of 2023, Travel Dubuque took over the Field of
Dreams Movie Site management, private development
projects, and the This Is Iowa Ballpark stadium project.
With that acquisition, John Sutter was hired to manage
the operations of these projects. John has been a leader
in the tourism industry for over 13 years.
FIELD OF DREAMS
Youth Tournaments
The Field of Dreams Movie Site has been busy
facilitating youth sports tournaments with Baseball
Factory since May of 2023. These teams came from
22 states, totaling 373 teams across ten tournaments
May through July.
APPROXIMATELY 18,000 PEOPLE WITH PLAYERS AND
FAMILIES FROM THESE TOURNAMENTS
John Sutter
VICE PRESIDENT - FIELD OF DREAMS OPERATIONS
FIELD OF DREAMSYouth Tournaments
MINNESOTA: 20
WISCONSIN: 81
MICHIGAN: 2
NORTH CAROLINA: 1
MISSOURI: 37
ARKANSAS: 1
KENTUCKY: 2
CALIFORNIA: 1
TEXAS: 1
NORTH DAKOTA: 1
NEBRASKA: 26
COLORADO: 8
NEW YORK: 1
CONNECTICUT: 1
KANSAS: 1
ARIZONA: 2
SOUTH DAKOTA: 1
IOWA: 33 ILLINOIS: 109 OHIO: 8 MARYLAND: 1
INDIANA: 25
TOP 15 STATES
TOP 610 STATES
MAY 27 – 29: 64 teams
JUNE 23 – 25: 62 teams
JUNE 30 – JULY 3: 56 teams
JUNE 2 – 4: 54 teams
JULY 7 – 9: 40 teams
JUNE 15 – 18: 29 teams
JUNE 9 – 11: 24 teams
JULY 28 – 30: 16 teams
JULY 14 – 16: 15 teams
JULY 21 – 23: 13 teams
TEAMS PER AGE GROUP
12U – 129 teams
11U – 78 teams
13U – 61 teams
14U – 59 teams
10U – 31 teams
9U – 14 teams
FIELD OF DREAMSThis is Iowa Ballpark, Inc.
A nonprofit organization that was created to own a multi-purpose
stadium. The public and private partners will have balanced
representation on the nonprofit board, allowing the government
bodies and nonprofit development organizations to actively
participate in ownership and oversight.
LEASE
This Is Iowa Ballpark, Inc. will establish a
long-term lease with Go the Distance Baseball, LLC. to
establish a long-term lease of the land.
OWNERSHIP
This Is Iowa Ballpark, Inc. will
own the stadium structure.
MANAGEMENT
An operating agreement will govern
Go the Distance Baseball, LLC's man-
agement of the stadium.
THIS IS IOWA BALLPARK, INCGO THE DISTANCE BASEBALL, LLCField of Dreams Movie Site: Campus Overview
THIS IS IOWA BALLPARK, INCGO THE DISTANCE BASEBALL, LLCField of Dreams Movie Site: Hall of Fame Plaza
THIS IS IOWA BALLPARK, INCGO THE DISTANCE BASEBALL, LLCField of Dreams Movie Site: Aerial Looking West
Thank You