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Convention & Visitors Bureau Quarterly Report (j) A,' t ..k\ r ~ </\ V ./ DUBUQUE AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU MEMO TO: MAYOR TERRY DUGGAN CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS MIKE V AN MILLIGEN, CITY MANAGER DUBUQUE COUNTY SUPERVISORS JAN HESS, ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT FROM: NANCY WEBSTER, CHAIR SUE CZESHINSKI, DIRECTOR RE: QUARTERLY REPORT DATE: JANUARY 6,1999 Happy New Year! As we begin the new calendar year, the Dubuque Convention and Visitors Bureau is busier than ever! The enclosed report will not only review the past three months, but the past six months' program and budget for FY 98-99. During this time of the fiscal year each division of the chamber including the Convention and Visitors Bureau, does an analysis of each program and how it relates to accomplishing our annual program of work. Each of the goals, objectives, and strategies have been included in this report along with the specific actions that have been or will be taken to accomplish our goals. We submit this report as our second quarter report. If you have any questions on the enclosed information, please do not hesitate to contact Sue Czeshinski at the Chamber office 557-9200. Thank you for your continued support. 770 TOWN CLOCK PLAZA P.O. BOX 705 DUBUQUE, IA 52004-0705 (319) 557-9200 FAX (319) 557-1591 VMOI 'Jnoneno )nn-IQ )..110 SIt.. 'YO '7 kl./t'ri 00 or blfJ hT NlJr 66. G - ~ t......~. ( .:3 / \ c' . . ,. . The Dubuque Convention and Visitors Bureau Six Month Review December, 1998 Awareness Development GOAL: The Convention and Visitors Bureau will increase local, regional, national, and international awareness of Dubuque and the tri-state area by the year 2000. Festivals Task Force Objective: Promote festivals and events held in the Dubuque area. Strategy 1: Provide ongoing media relations assistance to festival organizers. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau staff have written and distributed media releases for upcoming festivals as requested by organizers. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau has maintained an ongoing list of festival dates and contact information for requests from the State Tourism office and publications. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau is maintaining a library of slides and photos for use by travel writers. Strategy 2: Provide resources to festival/event organizers. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau has maintained a list of festivals "Do's and Don'ts" which was provided by festival organizers and combined into one list. ./' Organizers continue to share information on grant writing opportunities, as they become available or aware of different options. ./' The Festivals Task Force is reviewing the possibility of hosting another seminar in the spring for festival organIzers. ./' Festival storage location continues to be made available at Mercantile Bank. ./' The Festivals Task Force continues to review opportunities for training centers for festival volunteers. ./' Rocco Budda Center is available for volunteer sessions. Strategy 3: Develop support materials to distribute to visitors. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau will be printing a six-month festival brochure for the 1998 schedule combining the calendar of events and festival brochure. Strategv 4: Increase the number of festivals in the Dubuque area by 10 percent. ./' Several festivals are looking for opportunities to expand and include additional activities making festival growth achievable in the 1999 year. Strategv 5: Coordinate festival dates with all festival organizers. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau continues to keep calendar of all festivals. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau continues to serve as central contact for date coordination to avoid conflicts between major festival dates. Film Bureau Task Force Objective: Promote the Dubuque area as a film location. Strategy 1: Customize fulfillment requested by film production companies. ./ The Convention and Visitors Bureau Film Bureau Task Force maintains a photo library of potential locations for film production and provides those to leads obtained from the Iowa Film Office upon request. Strategy 2: Set up scouting site visits for film production companies. ./ The Film Bureau Task Force members continue to assist film production companies as needed. Strategy 3: Serve as a clearinghouse when the Dubuque area is selected as a film location. ./ The Film Bureau Task Force members would continue to provide services and assistance as needed if and when Dubuque is selected as a film location. Travel Writers Task Force Objective: Generate favorable editorial publicity by exposing travel writers and other media to travel opportunities available in the Dubuque area. Strategy 1: Provide promotional materials to media interested in the Dubuque area. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau continues to maintain media kits with brochures, color slides, black/white photographs, and story ideas which are distributed to media as requested from Bureau promotions. ./' CD-ROM project will be launched as a new promotional tool. Strategy 2: Provide ongoing information to travel writers and media. ./' The Travel Writers Task Force continues to send a bi-monthly newsletter, Destination Dubuque, to over five hundred travel writers. ./' The newsletter has maintained a professional design and draws more attention to the Dubuque area. ./' The Travel Writers Task Force used a direct mail campaign sending calendars from the Group Tour Marketing Committee, which generated additional interest in Dubuque. Strategy 3: Develop opportunities for international media exposure. ./' The Travel Writers Task Force continues to explore opportunities for international exposure in the next six months through the Internet and other vehicles. ./' The Dubuque history has been translated into several foreign languages including Chinese and German. Strategy 4: Host an educational seminar for Chamber of Commerce members. ./' The Travel Writers Task Force decided not to host an educational seminar in 1999. Hospitality Task Force Objective: Educate front line employees and citizens of the Dubuque area on the economic importance of the tourism industry. Strategy 1: Develop a series of customer service training opportunities. ./' Task Force members are planning an April seminar. ./' Seminar will be held in April rather than May to avoid finals week for college students. ./' Information will be sent regarding seminar opportunities. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau staff continues to offer on-site Hospitality Seminars as requested by Chamber members. ./' Task Force members are currently reviewing and revising the customer service video to use as a training tool. Target completion date is April 28, 1999 at the spring seminar. Strategy 2: Develop and provide materials to front line staff to assist with visitor information. Action Steps: 1) Develop sheet inventory lists. (Examples: hotel, attractions, restaurants, and calendar of events) 2) Encourage use of wall maps at service stations, etc. 3) Explore Internet kiosk opportunities for 24-hour satellite locations. Strategy 3: Educate the community to the economic impact of the tourism industry as well as Bureau programs and various tourism opportunities available in the area. ./' Task Force will plan a program including public service announcements and other media opportunities to promote twenty years of tourism during National Tourism Week. ./' Task Force will review the option of holding an Open House and tours ofthe community. ./' Task Force will review the interest in the recognition award for those who provide outstanding customer servIce. Strategy 4: Determine the quality of the visitor experience in Dubuque. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau staff continues to participate in the Iowa Department of Economic Development survey program through the Iowa Welcome Center as well as providing comment sheets. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau staff has not developed a Dubuque specific survey but will review the possibility of doing so. Strategy 5: Develop directional sign age in Dubuque. ./' Many key steps of signage process have been completed. Convention Marketing Committee GOAL: The Dubuque Convention and Visitors Bureau Convention Marketing Committee will increase meeting, conference, and convention business to the Dubuque area by 25% by the year 2000. Objective A: Maintain focus on small to medium size meetings while beginning to target conventions of 400-500. Strategy 1: Target association, reunion, and corporate groups in Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau continues to participate in ISAE meetings and WSAE meetings. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau will participate in Christmas Showcase for ISAE and speak to 200 meeting planners. ./' Five Chamber member business representatives will be attending the showcase with Convention and Visitor staff. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau staff participated in Destination Showcase and WSAE Showcase in Chicago and Milwaukee. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau staff is developing a plan to promote the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety for meetings and conventions. ./' The Convention Marketing Committee is researching other meeting incentive programs offered by other communities similar in size to Dubuque to determine what incentive program might work best for Dubuque. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau continues to advertise in Midwest Meetings, ISAE Directory, and Reunion Network publications to attract corporate and association reunion business to Dubuque. Strategy 2: Develop local contacts through service clubs, state associations, and area Chamber of Commerce members. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau staff continues to make follow-up calls to all leads generated through Bureau programs. ./' The Committee is increasing focus on the Hometown Hero campaign by identifying Hometown Heroes and featuring them in the Keynote newsletter as well as maintaining a list of local contacts from Des Moines associations. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau continues to send surveys to committee members to track bookings generated from promotions. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau continues to pursue ways to increase reporting from tourism members. Strategy 3: Redevelop past business. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau staff continues to develop and maintain leads through the MOST database program and contact past bookings from files. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau staff has implemented a survey to past clients to determine future meeting needs. Strategy 4: Reevaluate current facilities for meetings. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Convention Marketing Committee are gathering information from other Bureau's for competitive analysis. Most of the information has been gathered from other communities including pricing, amenities, and contract information. ./ Leads of potential meetings have been gathered from International Association Convention and Visitors Bureau CINET program and the MOST program as well as other association contacts from members to determine the potential for booking meetings in Dubuque. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau staff is currently collecting convention calendars from other destinations to determine the potential of other meetings that may be held in Dubuque. ../ The Committee is researching the possibility of creating an Iowa lead database for sharing bookings. ./ The Convention and Visitors Bureau will complete Convention Marketing Study to determine Dubuque's future potential to attract meetings to Dubuque. ./ Staffwill form a task force with the Department of Leisure Services to assess results and prepare recommendations. Strategy 5: Develop convention services to package everything the area offers. ./ The Convention and Visitors Bureau staff is distributing a coupon book for meetings and conventions in cooperation with the Convention and Marketing Committees. ./ The Convention and Visitors Bureau continues to offer itinerary ideas for after meeting activities and is pursing a coupon program for families of convention delegates. ./ The Convention and Visitors Bureau staff continues to use 101 Things to do in Dubuque as a mailing piece with convention leads. Strategv 6: Continue to provide follow-up materials to meeting planners. ./ Continue to print combined group/meeting publication. ./ The Iowa Convention and Visitors Bureau Association has established a home page on the Internet. ./ The Convention and Visitors Bureau staff is working on a mailing list through the MOST database program, which will be accessed after upgrades are achieved. Objective B: Market Dubuque as a sports and recreation destination. Strategy 1: Identify organizations that cultivate sports marketing opportunities. ./ The Convention and Visitors Bureau has joined the National Association of Sports Commissions and is receiving leads on the events that could meet in Dubuque. ./ The Convention and Visitors Bureau continues to maintain local contacts in all kinds of sports to assist in marketing. ./ The Convention and Visitors Bureau maintains an inventory sheet of facilities and fields available for use as well as contact people in the community. Strategv 2: Maintain local contacts in all types of sports to assist in marketing. Action Steps: 1) Maintain an inventory sheet of all facilities and fields available for use. 2) Involve key people in the community in a sports event when needed. 3) Develop calendar of sporting events. Objective C: Monitor industry trends locally and nationally. Strategy 1: Monitor delegate spending patterns. ./ The Convention and Visitors Bureau continues to receive information from the International Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus on delegate spending patterns. Strategy 2: Monitor delegate interests. ./ Convention services staff continue to provide the committee with delegate interests through convention servIces. Group Tour Marketing Committee GOAL: The Dubuque Convention and Visitors Bureau Group Tour Marketing Committee will reintroduce Dubuque as an economically viable group tour destination by increasing group tours by 25% by the year 2000. Objective A: Maintain Group Tour Marketing Committee efforts to facilitate focus on regional, national, and international tour operator and group leaders while increasing emphasis on the bank club segment. Strategy 1: Target group leaders and tour operators in Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau participated in National Tour Marketplace, the American Bus Association marketplace, Iowa's Banker Marketplace Trade Show, and Bank Travel '99. All shows were extremely successful this year with record number of appointments being scheduled by operators and Bureau staff. ./' Heavy emphasis continues to be placed on the Bank Club Marketplace. ./' The Group Marketing Committee hosted a successful F AM tour in August for Bank Club leaders and did follow-up promotions at Iowa's Bank Marketplace Trade Show. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau continues to investigate co-op advertising options in publications. The Bureau advertised in the July State Group Tour Manual with a full-page advertisement. ./' The direct mail campaign continues to be a successful effort with travel planning calendars targeting group leaders and tour operators. Several inquiries and bookings have resulted from direct mail. Strategy 2: Maintain a focus on promoting the area. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau staff continues to make sales calls to operators and group leaders. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau staff is coordinating mailings for Carl Hurley bookings to package area amenities for the 1999 shows. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau staff continues to assist Delta Queen Steamboat Company with upcoming stops. Staff assisted with twelve stops this year and greeted every boat with a bag of candy and a visitor guide. Strategy 3: Redevelop past business. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau staff assisted in booking international comedian Carl Hurley to attract past operators and new operators to the Dubuque area in 1999. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau staff also coordinated packaged promotions using Convention and Visitors Bureau suitcases to package everything the area offers to extend stay of operators coming in for Carl Hurley bookings. ./' The Committee members continue to evaluate past programs and implement new programs to attract operator and leader interests. ./' Hosted successful multi-day F AM of 15 operators in August. ./' Hosted over 3,000 motorcoach travelers at 1998 Carl Hurley shows. Strategy 4: Provide group leaders and tour operators with promotional materials. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau continues to provide group leaders and operators with promotional materials upon request. (Group Tour Manual, black and white slides and photos, video, itinerary assistance, and familiarization tours). Objective B: Monitor industry trends locally, nationally, and internationally. Strategy 1: Monitor group tour travel spending patterns. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau has not been able to participate in the IACVBINTA survey program since it was not offered during this calendar year. Strategy 2: Monitor group tour traveler interest. ./ The IACVBINT A survey was not available to participate in this year, but the Bureau continues to participate in the Iowa Division of Tourism state survey on an annual basis. Objective C: Begin to develop marketing efforts to attract international groups in cooperation with the State of Iowa. Independent Traveler Marketing Committee GOAL: The Dubuque Convention and Visitors Bureau Independent Traveler Marketing Committee will increase the number of individuals and amount of their expenditures by 25% by the year 2000. Objective A: Maintain Independent Traveler Marketing Committee to focus on Dubuque's main target markets and demographics. Strategy 1: Continue to target individual travelers to Chicago suburbs. -/' The Convention and Visitors Bureau maintained a co-op-advertising program in Chicago and Des Moines with a more coordinated theme and look. The program has been difficult to sell so far. -/' The co-op program requires members to register for all co-op opportunities in advance to determine a schedule for the year rather than a month by month basis. -/' The Convention and Visitors Bureau continues to maintain inbound billboard advertising with a theme coordinated with print advertising. -/' The Convention and Visitors Bureau continues to advertise in regional publications: AAA Home & Away and Midwest Living with the same theme as other print advertising. -/' The Convention and Visitors Bureau will participate in the Chicago Sports, Fishing, Travel, and Outdoors Show to increase exposure. Strategy 2: Target individual travelers in Iowa, primarily Des Moines. ./' The Convention and Visitors Bureau continues to advertise in the Des Moines Register with the co-op program. -/' The Convention and Visitors Bureau will participate in the Des Moines Sport and Outdoor Show through the Spirit of Dubuque during 1999 as well as continue to participate in the publications that reach the Iowa/Des Moines market. Strategy 3: Target individual travelers in Wisconsin (Madison and Milwaukee). -/' Exploration of advertising in the Wisconsin State Journal will take place in December. Objective B: Monitor visitor trends locally and nationally. Strategy 1: Monitor visitor spending patterns. -/' The Convention and Visitors Bureau continues to participate in the Iowa Department of Economic Development surveys and receives results on demographics and spending patterns each year. -/' Visitor spending increased from $129,900,000.00 in 1996 to $143,700,000.00 in 1997. Strategy 2: Monitor visitor interests. The Convention and Visitors Bureau continues to receive information from the Iowa Department of Economic Development Division of Tourism on visitor interests through the Iowa Welcome Center programs. Objective C: Maintain year-round visitor information center. -/' Visitor information center is open seven-days a week. -/' Visitor information center staff have personally assisted 11,000 visitors on site. -/' Visitor information center staff have filled 15,000 requests for information by phone and mail. Attractions/Riverfront Development GOAL: The Convention and Visitors Bureau Attractions/Riverfront Development Committee will implement riverfront development and maintain attractions development to enhance visitor's opportunities. Objective A: Develop a plan to enhance the entire riverfront. Strategy 1: Increase communication with steering committee. ./ Strategy and general chairs recruited and making calls. ./ Substantial gifts have been secured. ../ The Chamber Foundation and the Dubuque County Historical Society have written grants and made a presentation at the Recreation Summit to pursue other funding sources. ../ The Chamber Foundation, the Dubuque County Historical Society, and the City of Dubuque assisted in achieving Federal American River designation for the Upper Mississippi River. Strategy 2: Develop a plan to accomplish riverfront efforts. ../ The Committee and the Convention and Visitors Bureau staff will move forward with the first phase of fund raising calls. Objective B: Maintain attractions development efforts. Strategy 1: Assist in enhancing existing attractions. ../ The Convention and Visitors Bureau staff will continue to assist those interested in expanding and involve new attractions with anything requested of them as needed. Strategy 2: Pursue development of new attractions for the Dubuque area. ./ The Convention and Visitors Bureau continues to pursue passenger rail service as an opportunity for a new attraction.