2015 annual report

Convention and Event Services
20,000+
CONVENTION
ATTENDEES
Groups receive extraordinary customer service and assistance
from GJVCB’s Convention Services Department. From
weddings and reunions to major events, groups visiting
Grand Junction leave with a positive experience. In 2015,
over 120 groups were served utilizing complimentary event
services offered by the GJVCB including welcome packets,
planning resources, attendance builders, visitor information,
and volunteers. We also supported major events such as JUCO,
Ride the Rockies, Special Olympics, and Tour of the Moon.
It took over 460 touches with group and event coordinators
to establish the needs of the participants and the services
necessary for groups planning to visit Grand Junction between
2015 and 2018.
Special Event Funding
A total of $85,063 (a $15,122 increase over 2014) was allocated to support local special events in 2015. Large events
assisted include the Colorado Mountain Winefest, GJ Off-Road Endurance Mountain Bike Event, JUCO
(Junior College World Series), Ride the Rockies, and the Special Olympics Colorado Summer Games.
Over $31,600 of the above total investment was granted as part of the Grand Junction Visitor & Convention Bureau
Board of Directors special event marketing grants. This ongoing program assists events with marketing outside
of Mesa County to drive overnight visitation to Grand Junction. Events funded included:
• CO Lavender Festival
• CPRA Rodeo Finals
• Desert RATS Trailrunning Festival
• Dinosaur Days
• Downtown GJ Art & Music Fest
• Downtown Car Show
• Dreamcatcher Half Marathon
• Grand Junction Air Show
• HITS Triathlon
Staff
• Maverick Classic
• MOG Fest
• Palisade Bluegrass & Roots Music Festival
• Palisade Peach Festival
• Rim Rock Marathon
• Rumble at 18 Road
• Tour de Vineyards
• Tour of the Moon
• Tour of the Valley
Board of Directors
Debbie F. Kovalik
Department Director
Kim L. Machado
Administrative Specialist
Brad Taylor - Chair
Colorado State Parks (Ret.)
Susie Kiger
Curly Q Communications Marketing
Barbara J. Bowman
Division Manager
Kathy Plunk
Administrative Assistant
Sharon Woelfle - Vice Chair
America’s Best Value Inn
Per Nilsson (Through June 2015)
DoubleTree Hotel
Mistalynn L. Meyeraan
Marketing & Public Relations Coordinator
Holly L. Prickett
Marketing & Public Relations Assistant
Kevin Reimer
Main Street Management
Erin A. Chapman
Sales Coordinator
Kerry Graves
Sales Assistant
Glen Gallegos
Gallegos Corp.
Regent - University of Colorado
Kristin C. Lynch
Convention & Event Services Coordinator
Katharina Morrison
Visitor Services Specialist
Kate Graham
Conservation Colorado
Thanks to the VCB Board of Directors and to all of our
Tourism partners for your continued commitment and
support. We live in an amazing destination that has the
ability to create endless “Magic Moments in Hospitality”!
VisitGrandJunction.com
Billie Witham
Two Rivers Winery and Chateau
Sharon Woelfle
Americas Best Value Inn
2015 ANNUAL REPORT
Tourism Matters. Tourism has finally turned the corner and the Grand Junction Visitor & Convention
Bureau has much to celebrate! 2015 was the best year in 5 years for lodging tax revenues –
9.1% increase over 2014 – which is the highest year for collections since 2008! This increase
corresponded with the overwhelming positive year-end stories heard valley wide from tourism partners.
Along with this, Grand Junction experienced a slight increase in occupancy, a $3.56 increase
in the average daily hotel rate to $83.19 and a $2.27 increase in REVPAR to $49.16.
Lower gas prices and large events added to this year’s success.
All national research is indicating that 2016 will also be a strong tourism year, especially with lower
gas prices and the 100th Year Anniversary of the National Parks Service. A beautiful picture,
by local resident Donna Fullerton, of the Colorado National Monument is highlighted as the
cover photo for the National Parks 100th Year Celebration publication!
The GJVCB will be completing a year-long tourism economic impact study in 2016
and will be eager to present the results in early 2017.
Marketing Highlights
Public Relations
INTERNET & WEBSITE
OVER 1.8
MILLION
PAGEVIEWS
In 2015, VisitGrandJunction.com broke previous
year’s traffic records again with the assistance
of Miles Media Group. More than 690,000 total
visits to the website represent over 30 percent
growth from 2014. Successful enewsletters,
content marketing, search engine marketing,
and search engine optimization drove
additional site usage. Personalized homepage
content ensured that tailored messages kept
website visitors engaged as well as increasing
awareness and interest in the destination.
This year, for the first time, the Official Visitor
Guide featured Layar, an augmented reality tool
that enables readers to use their smart phones
to scan the guide’s pages for additional online
content. This kind of emerging technology can
help reach visitors in new and exciting ways in
the digital-savvy 21st century. The GJVCB is an
early adopter for this technology among DMOs.
UNIQUE WEBSITE VISITS
535,204
300 MILLION
IMPRESSIONS
In 2105, Public Relations produced a 73% increase in
impressions and a $402,349.00 estimated ad value for
earned media. Coverage highlights included Yahoo,
Elevation Outdoors, Denver Post, Girlsgetaway.com,
Denver Life, Golf Advisor, CW2, Fox21, Mix 100.3,
Colorado Springs Gazette, USA Today, The Today Show
with Kathie Lee and Hoda, plus many more.
The GJVCB team, with the assistance of Ore Communications, hosted
77 members of media, both domestic and international, on FAM
(familiarization) tours in the Grand Valley.
400,000
300,000
• PR Return on investment (ROI) of $11/$1
200,000
•D
eskside meetings locations included Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs
and New York City.
100,000
0
‘11
‘12
‘13
‘14
‘15
•B
reakdown of coverage placements: Web 40%, Broadcast 14%, Magazine
17%, Newspaper 20%, Blog 8%.
ADVERTISING
WON 2 HSMAI
AWARDS
In 2015, Hill Aevium created a new campaign
for the Grand Junction Visitor & Convention
Bureau. “Dramatically Different” was an overarching concept, which won a Bronze HSMAI
Adrian Award. This campaign was broken out
into seven different ad groups: General, Wine,
Monument, Adventure, Family, Girls Getaway,
and Event. In addition, Grand Junction
returned to its roots with a language change
to Colorado’s Wine Country instead of
Colorado Wine Country.
Lodging Tax Collection
Hold your meeting here and enjoy the dramatic
difference of Colorado’s Wine Country.
Year July AugSept Oct NovDec
‘15 167,188 152,477 154,543 155,527 119,713 75,307
‘14 141,316 135,595140,007136,486 108,813 72,413
Grand Junction is a different side of Colorado, a land where you can be exhilarated.
Where you can mountain bike from a desert trail into any of the 22 wineries…wine
and dine next to majestic rivers…explore the Grand Mesa and Colorado National
Monument in an afternoon.
So come, stay awhile, and enjoy the dramatic difference of Colorado’s Wine Country.
meetgrandjunction.com
800-962-2547
TOTAL
COLLECTIONS
‘15: $1,365,332
‘14: $1,251,285
+9.1%
visitgrandjunction.com or call 800-962-2547
Group Sales
SOCIAL MEDIA
Creating tantalizing and inspirational content
with a focus on quality photography was the
goal for GJVCB social media in 2015. A weekly
calendar keeps the pages interactive, while
organic posts serve content that is relevant
and fresh. The best performing social post to
date has reached nearly 160,000 people via
Facebook with 12,176 likes, 1,317 comments,
9,579 post clicks, and over 2,000 shares of “Two
Seasons Collide”. The GJVCB participated in
two Colorado Tourism Office co-op campaigns
on the state’s channels, resulting in great
success. The GJVCB is grateful to the local
photographer contributors!
10,579 Fans (33% increase over 2014)
1,791 Followers
$2,485,181
IN ECONOMIC
IMPACT
55 Subscribers
570 Followers
1,591 Followers
14 Followers
90 VOLUNTEERS
GIVE OVER
8,800 HOURS
OF SERVICE
The interactive
Visitor Center,
located at 740
Horizon Drive,
provides assistance,
information,
and service to
visitors, plus Grand Valley residents
and businesses. The Visitor Center is
open 7 days a week and is staffed by
90 volunteers who donated over 8,800
service hours at the Visitor Center and
Grand Junction Regional Airport in
2015. The volunteers are also vital in
providing services to special events
and groups business.
International
Additional highlights include over 13,414,735
brand and media impressions through TV,
Radio, Print, Outdoor Billboards and Online
efforts. The group sales efforts included a
direct mail piece inviting organizations to
“Spice Up your Next Group Meeting” in Grand
Junction, resulting in an 13.92% response rate
and an HSMAI Silver Adrian Award.
Year Jan Feb MarchApril May June
‘15 64,253 60,367 67,390 87,996 101,206159,366
‘14 61,01459,053 62,400 86,022 98,401149,765
Grand Junction is a land like no other, a land where
comfortable lodging and meeting spaces sit close to
22 wineries, world-class golfing, majestic rivers, and
Colorado National Monument.
Visitor Center
& Volunteers
• Sales Leads: 97
Often, the Group Sales Department of the Grand
Junction Visitor & Convention Bureau is the first
point of contact for conventions, motorcoaches,
tournaments, weddings, reunions, meetings and
events considering Grand Junction. The expertise
of the VCB staff assists these groups with
information on lodging properties, meeting space,
activities, attractions, restaurants and airlines to
entice them to bring their event to Grand Junction.
• Familiarization Tours: 17
• Industry Tradeshows/Events: 19* (major only)
• Contacts: 3,568
• Site Inspections: 8
The international market continued to
increase in 2015 in Grand Junction as
a result of direct sales efforts by the
Grand Junction Visitor & Convention
Bureau (GJVCB) and working hand-inhand with the Colorado Tourism Office
(CTO). Increased hotel rates in Moab
continue to influence tour operators
to utilize Grand Junction as a hub and
spoke for lodging. The VCB has also
been successful in working to open
new markets such as China and Japan,
in collaboration with the CTO, resulting
in new group tour programs for 2015
and 2016.
•W
orking with 262 international
tour companies.
•T
he Grand Junction Visitor Center
welcomed tourists from 40 different
countries in 2015. The top mostvisited countries were: Canada (357),
Germany (182), England (147), and
from far away Australia (97).
• I nformation translated in Spanish,
German, French, Japanese, Chinese,
and new in 2015 – Italian!
•V
isitGrandJunction.com has
home pages in French, Spanish,
and German
•G
JVCB participates in 3 annual
national tradeshows/missions
for international tour companies:
IPW (Pow Wow), GoWest and the
Japanese Sales Seminar.
Marketing Highlights
Public Relations
INTERNET & WEBSITE
OVER 1.8
MILLION
PAGEVIEWS
In 2015, VisitGrandJunction.com broke previous
year’s traffic records again with the assistance
of Miles Media Group. More than 690,000 total
visits to the website represent over 30 percent
growth from 2014. Successful enewsletters,
content marketing, search engine marketing,
and search engine optimization drove
additional site usage. Personalized homepage
content ensured that tailored messages kept
website visitors engaged as well as increasing
awareness and interest in the destination.
This year, for the first time, the Official Visitor
Guide featured Layar, an augmented reality tool
that enables readers to use their smart phones
to scan the guide’s pages for additional online
content. This kind of emerging technology can
help reach visitors in new and exciting ways in
the digital-savvy 21st century. The GJVCB is an
early adopter for this technology among DMOs.
UNIQUE WEBSITE VISITS
535,204
300 MILLION
IMPRESSIONS
In 2105, Public Relations produced a 73% increase in
impressions and a $402,349.00 estimated ad value for
earned media. Coverage highlights included Yahoo,
Elevation Outdoors, Denver Post, Girlsgetaway.com,
Denver Life, Golf Advisor, CW2, Fox21, Mix 100.3,
Colorado Springs Gazette, USA Today, The Today Show
with Kathie Lee and Hoda, plus many more.
The GJVCB team, with the assistance of Ore Communications, hosted
77 members of media, both domestic and international, on FAM
(familiarization) tours in the Grand Valley.
400,000
300,000
• PR Return on investment (ROI) of $11/$1
200,000
•D
eskside meetings locations included Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs
and New York City.
100,000
0
‘11
‘12
‘13
‘14
‘15
•B
reakdown of coverage placements: Web 40%, Broadcast 14%, Magazine
17%, Newspaper 20%, Blog 8%.
ADVERTISING
WON 2 HSMAI
AWARDS
In 2015, Hill Aevium created a new campaign
for the Grand Junction Visitor & Convention
Bureau. “Dramatically Different” was an overarching concept, which won a Bronze HSMAI
Adrian Award. This campaign was broken out
into seven different ad groups: General, Wine,
Monument, Adventure, Family, Girls Getaway,
and Event. In addition, Grand Junction
returned to its roots with a language change
to Colorado’s Wine Country instead of
Colorado Wine Country.
Lodging Tax Collection
Hold your meeting here and enjoy the dramatic
difference of Colorado’s Wine Country.
Year July AugSept Oct NovDec
‘15 167,188 152,477 154,543 155,527 119,713 75,307
‘14 141,316 135,595140,007136,486 108,813 72,413
Grand Junction is a different side of Colorado, a land where you can be exhilarated.
Where you can mountain bike from a desert trail into any of the 22 wineries…wine
and dine next to majestic rivers…explore the Grand Mesa and Colorado National
Monument in an afternoon.
So come, stay awhile, and enjoy the dramatic difference of Colorado’s Wine Country.
meetgrandjunction.com
800-962-2547
TOTAL
COLLECTIONS
‘15: $1,365,332
‘14: $1,251,285
+9.1%
visitgrandjunction.com or call 800-962-2547
Group Sales
SOCIAL MEDIA
Creating tantalizing and inspirational content
with a focus on quality photography was the
goal for GJVCB social media in 2015. A weekly
calendar keeps the pages interactive, while
organic posts serve content that is relevant
and fresh. The best performing social post to
date has reached nearly 160,000 people via
Facebook with 12,176 likes, 1,317 comments,
9,579 post clicks, and over 2,000 shares of “Two
Seasons Collide”. The GJVCB participated in
two Colorado Tourism Office co-op campaigns
on the state’s channels, resulting in great
success. The GJVCB is grateful to the local
photographer contributors!
10,579 Fans (33% increase over 2014)
1,791 Followers
$2,485,181
IN ECONOMIC
IMPACT
55 Subscribers
570 Followers
1,591 Followers
14 Followers
90 VOLUNTEERS
GIVE OVER
8,800 HOURS
OF SERVICE
The interactive
Visitor Center,
located at 740
Horizon Drive,
provides assistance,
information,
and service to
visitors, plus Grand Valley residents
and businesses. The Visitor Center is
open 7 days a week and is staffed by
90 volunteers who donated over 8,800
service hours at the Visitor Center and
Grand Junction Regional Airport in
2015. The volunteers are also vital in
providing services to special events
and groups business.
International
Additional highlights include over 13,414,735
brand and media impressions through TV,
Radio, Print, Outdoor Billboards and Online
efforts. The group sales efforts included a
direct mail piece inviting organizations to
“Spice Up your Next Group Meeting” in Grand
Junction, resulting in an 13.92% response rate
and an HSMAI Silver Adrian Award.
Year Jan Feb MarchApril May June
‘15 64,253 60,367 67,390 87,996 101,206159,366
‘14 61,01459,053 62,400 86,022 98,401149,765
Grand Junction is a land like no other, a land where
comfortable lodging and meeting spaces sit close to
22 wineries, world-class golfing, majestic rivers, and
Colorado National Monument.
Visitor Center
& Volunteers
• Sales Leads: 97
Often, the Group Sales Department of the Grand
Junction Visitor & Convention Bureau is the first
point of contact for conventions, motorcoaches,
tournaments, weddings, reunions, meetings and
events considering Grand Junction. The expertise
of the VCB staff assists these groups with
information on lodging properties, meeting space,
activities, attractions, restaurants and airlines to
entice them to bring their event to Grand Junction.
• Familiarization Tours: 17
• Industry Tradeshows/Events: 19* (major only)
• Contacts: 3,568
• Site Inspections: 8
The international market continued to
increase in 2015 in Grand Junction as
a result of direct sales efforts by the
Grand Junction Visitor & Convention
Bureau (GJVCB) and working hand-inhand with the Colorado Tourism Office
(CTO). Increased hotel rates in Moab
continue to influence tour operators
to utilize Grand Junction as a hub and
spoke for lodging. The VCB has also
been successful in working to open
new markets such as China and Japan,
in collaboration with the CTO, resulting
in new group tour programs for 2015
and 2016.
•W
orking with 262 international
tour companies.
•T
he Grand Junction Visitor Center
welcomed tourists from 40 different
countries in 2015. The top mostvisited countries were: Canada (357),
Germany (182), England (147), and
from far away Australia (97).
• I nformation translated in Spanish,
German, French, Japanese, Chinese,
and new in 2015 – Italian!
•V
isitGrandJunction.com has
home pages in French, Spanish,
and German
•G
JVCB participates in 3 annual
national tradeshows/missions
for international tour companies:
IPW (Pow Wow), GoWest and the
Japanese Sales Seminar.
Convention and Event Services
20,000+
CONVENTION
ATTENDEES
Groups receive extraordinary customer service and assistance
from GJVCB’s Convention Services Department. From
weddings and reunions to major events, groups visiting
Grand Junction leave with a positive experience. In 2015,
over 120 groups were served utilizing complimentary event
services offered by the GJVCB including welcome packets,
planning resources, attendance builders, visitor information,
and volunteers. We also supported major events such as JUCO,
Ride the Rockies, Special Olympics, and Tour of the Moon.
It took over 460 touches with group and event coordinators
to establish the needs of the participants and the services
necessary for groups planning to visit Grand Junction between
2015 and 2018.
Special Event Funding
A total of $85,063 (a $15,122 increase over 2014) was allocated to support local special events in 2015. Large events
assisted include the Colorado Mountain Winefest, GJ Off-Road Endurance Mountain Bike Event, JUCO
(Junior College World Series), Ride the Rockies, and the Special Olympics Colorado Summer Games.
Over $31,600 of the above total investment was granted as part of the Grand Junction Visitor & Convention Bureau
Board of Directors special event marketing grants. This ongoing program assists events with marketing outside
of Mesa County to drive overnight visitation to Grand Junction. Events funded included:
• CO Lavender Festival
• CPRA Rodeo Finals
• Desert RATS Trailrunning Festival
• Dinosaur Days
• Downtown GJ Art & Music Fest
• Downtown Car Show
• Dreamcatcher Half Marathon
• Grand Junction Air Show
• HITS Triathlon
Staff
• Maverick Classic
• MOG Fest
• Palisade Bluegrass & Roots Music Festival
• Palisade Peach Festival
• Rim Rock Marathon
• Rumble at 18 Road
• Tour de Vineyards
• Tour of the Moon
• Tour of the Valley
Board of Directors
Debbie F. Kovalik
Department Director
Kim L. Machado
Administrative Specialist
Brad Taylor - Chair
Colorado State Parks (Ret.)
Kate Graham
Conservation Colorado
Barbara J. Bowman
Division Manager
Kathy Plunk
Administrative Assistant
Sharon Woelfle - Vice Chair
America’s Best Value Inn
Susie Kiger
Curly Q Communications Marketing
Mistalynn L. Meyeraan
Marketing & Public Relations Coordinator
Holly L. Prickett
Marketing & Public Relations Assistant
Don Bramer
Hospitality Industry (Ret.)
Per Nilsson (Through June 2015)
DoubleTree Hotel
Erin A. Chapman
Sales Coordinator
Kerry Graves
Sales Assistant
Kevin Reimer
Main Street Management
Kristin C. Lynch
Convention & Event Services Coordinator
Katharina Morrison
Visitor Services Specialist
Glen Gallegos
Gallegos Corp.
Regent - University of Colorado
Thanks to the VCB Board of Directors and to all of our
Tourism partners for your continued commitment and
support. We live in an amazing destination that has the
ability to create endless “Magic Moments in Hospitality”!
VisitGrandJunction.com
Billie Witham
Two Rivers Winery and Chateau
2015 ANNUAL REPORT
Tourism Matters. Tourism has finally turned the corner and the Grand Junction Visitor & Convention
Bureau has much to celebrate! 2015 was the best year in 5 years for lodging tax revenues –
9.1% increase over 2014 – which is the highest year for collections since 2008! This increase
corresponded with the overwhelming positive year-end stories heard valley wide from tourism partners.
Along with this, Grand Junction experienced a slight increase in occupancy, a $3.56 increase
in the average daily hotel rate to $83.19 and a $2.27 increase in REVPAR to $49.16.
Lower gas prices and large events added to this year’s success.
All national research is indicating that 2016 will also be a strong tourism year, especially with lower
gas prices and the 100th Year Anniversary of the National Parks Service. A beautiful picture,
by local resident Donna Fullerton, of the Colorado National Monument is highlighted as the
cover photo for the National Parks 100th Year Celebration publication!
The GJVCB will be completing a year-long tourism economic impact study in 2016
and will be eager to present the results in early 2017.