2014-15 Annual Report - Las Cruces, New Mexico

Poolside at Hotel Encanto on the Green Chile Walk of Flame
2015 annual report
2016 marketing plan
Las Cruces Convention & Visitors Bureau
211 N. Water Street, Las Cruces, New Mexico
VisitLasCruces.com
575-541-2444, [email protected]
CVB staff
Executive Director
Philip J. San Filippo
Director of Sales & Service
Jennifer Bales
Director of Marketing &
Communications
who we are
The Las Cruces Convention & Visitors Bureau (LCCVB) is the official
tourism marketing department for the City of Las Cruces. The
Convention & Visitors Bureau serves as a catalyst for the area’s
hospitality industry; working in concert to build a year-round
destination that offers a quality experience to all visitors as well as
sustainable economic and social growth for the local
community. Toward this end, the LCCVB plays a leading role in
defining and branding Las Cruces as a desirable destination offering
a variety of activates, attractions and events now and in the future.
Chris Faivre
Convention Sales Manager
Albert Herrera
Sports Sales Manager
Ed Carnathan
Tourism Sales Manager
Rochelle Miller-Hernandez
Services Coordinator
vacant
Sales Coordinator
Hilary Dutcher
Administative Assistant
Kelly Cordova
Communications Specialist
Karla Walton
Distribution Specialist
Sergio Salinas
Visitor Information Specialist
Sonia Bañuelos
CVB Intern
what we do
The LCCVB works nationally and internationally to enhance travel
and tourism to Las Cruces and the immediate surrounding area.
Our five full-time sales staff works to target the meetings and
conventions, sports, and group travel markets in Arizona, Texas
and New Mexico with research-driven marketing programs touting
sports, arts and culture, food-based opportunities and year-round
sunny weather. The LCCVB also partners with local attractions and
industry partners to develop initiatives that strengthen the travel
and tourism market within the City.
Tiffany Schroer
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cvb organizational
chart
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executive director’s letter
As the Executive Director of the Las Cruces Convention and Visitors Bureau,
it gives me great pleasure to present our FY2015 annual report and offer an
overview of our plans moving forward. Thanks to a dedicated and professional staff, we have made greats strides in providing a quality visitor
experience to those who visit our great city. Of course, our progress would
not be possible without the strong support of the hospitality industry, City
Council, Advisory Board and community-at-large.
We pride ourselves on being a welcoming community; and we work hard to
ensure that our visitor’s center presents a warm and inviting setting to all
who walk through our doors. We have freshened our appearance and added
two iPad kiosks that feature our award-winning visitor’s app. Most importantly, visitors are greeted with a friendly and courteous representative who
can provide up-to-date and accurate information on all that Las Cruces has
to offer.
There is always a lot of work going on behind the scenes. Our staff is busy working to bring conventions,
events, group tours and sporting activities to Las Cruses. They are constantly making presentations, planning
itineraries, attending tradeshows and making sales calls to keep Las Cruces top-of-mind. We are proud to
represent Las Cruces; and work hard to make Las Cruces proud of what we do.
There is much to Explore, Experience and Discover in Las Cruces. Through a strong collaborative effort
between City government, the business community and the CVB; Las Cruces will continue to be a desirable
place for people to visit.
Thank you for your continued support.
Sincerely,
Phil San Filippo
cvb advisory board
Chair
Mark Santiago, Director, New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum
Members
Mike Beckett, Owner, Coas Books, Inc.
Vince Vaccaro, Owner, Lorenzo’s Restaurant
Shannon Duffy, Business Travel Sales Manager, Heritage Hotels & Resorts
Victor Delgado, General Manager, Holiday Inn Express - Telshor
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year in review
The Las Cruces Convention and Visitors Bureau,
as always, continues first and foremost to create
a more positive experience for our visitors. Our
Visitor Center is more visible and welcoming than
ever before. Window
treatments have
made the building
stand out more to
visitors and our
lobby has been decorated to be warm
and inviting. Along
with new, fun merchandise, the lobby
houses two iPad
kiosks on which our
guests may browse our
award-winning app, which
was voted best app in New Mexico for 2015 by the
New Mexico Press Association. Our Visitor Center
hours have been extended during the busiest time
of the year to include Saturday mornings, allowing us to provide visitors with more information,
services and souvenirs.
sales
The staff also worked to create new experiences
for visitors around the city. We continued our partnership with the Consulate General of Mexico and
extended the Mexican Cultural Series to include
several free performances featuring some of the
top visual and performing artists from Mexico.
Additionally, the CVB capitalized on Las Cruces’
love of green chile and created the Walk of Flame
Green Chile Trail which compiles all the spots in
Las Cruces to experience unique foods and products that feature green chile.
Another way in which the Las Cruces CVB
has continued to create a positive experience
for visitors is by hosting workshops that support
the development of the local hospitality industry. In
September of 2014 we held a workshop focused
on using social media to engage and attract visitors, and in March of 2015 we held a workshop
focused on communicating to lead and attitudes of
service. Both workshops received positive feedback from our guests, who ranged from new to
very experienced within the hospitality industry.
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Las Cruces COnvention Center
FY2015 was a success at the Las Cruces
Convention Center. Spectra Venue Management
has focused on booking conventions for the City
and, despite existing infrastructure challenges, has
grown this sector of the business in fiscal year
2015. 14 conventions were booked by the convention center sales team inside the fiscal year.
For the first time, conventions were the highest
grossing event type at the facility and the number
of conventions have more than doubled over the
last two years. The team at the convention center
continues to provide top notch customer service
which is continually recognized by customers by
way of testimonials and customer surveys. Spectra Venue Management continues to prioritize
partnership and stewardship within the community
and has proven to be a strong partner for the City
of Las Cruces.
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paigns that invite user generated content. Our
Sales Department plans to remain focused on
fine-tuning core strategies and proven tactics that
reach key feeder and target growth markets, while
working to develop new markets with high-energy
initiatives. Both departments will work together to
develop dynamic, research-driven content to target
each respective market.
Marketing
FY15 was another great year for the marketing
efforts of the CVB under the Explore. Experience.
Discover. brand. For every $1 spent on marketing
Las Cruces, $5 was generated in economic impact.
Through our efforts with our public relations partner, Tucker & Associates, we generated $503,700
in free media exposure for Las Cruces and the Las
Cruces Country Music Festival in various regional
and national publications. Social media audiences
increased, including a 36% increase in the Facebook audience for the Country Music Festival and
a 29% audience increase on the CVB Facebook
page.
We expect 2015 and 2016 to be filled with many
exciting changes, including the beginning stages
of the expansion of the Las Cruces Convention
looking forward
In the year to come, we will be working on
enhancing our existing branding to keep it fresh
and up-to-date. Our branding remains Explore.
Experience. Discover.; however, we will be referring
to ourselves as “Visit Las Cruces” in all external,
visitor-targeted communications. We believe that
“Visit Las Cruces” will resonate more easily and
effectively with the public because it sounds more
familiar and inviting to travelers than “Convention
and Visitors Bureau”. Additionally, we will be able
to carry the same recognizable name under each
social media platform, creating uniformity.
Center. We also hope to announce plans for a new,
permanent home for the CVB in the near future.
This new home will be even more inviting and
accessible to visitors, and will allow us to continue
to seek out better ways to help guests find their
reason to Visit Las Cruces.
The Marketing Department has plans to be more
pro-active in social media by using online video,
strategically paid postings, and advertising cam9
HOTEL
OCCUPANCY
INCREASED
1%
FROM
2013-14
59%
2014-15 LODGING
OCCUPANCY
lodgers tax
collections
The Las Cruces Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) is funded through the collection of Lodgers Tax,
a 5% tax assessed to hotel room nights booked in Las Cruces. The tax is a pass-through tax used by
the CVB to market and promote Las Cruces as a destination for leisure and business travel. The tax
generates about $2 million dollars each year.
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Las Cruces country music
festival
The Las Cruces Country Music Festival continues
to grow and become a signature event for the
state of New Mexico. The third annual festival was
held this past April and was a tremendous success.
Ticket revenue was up 47% over 2014, and overall
attendance was up approximately 25% from the
previous year.
This success stemmed from the growing experience of our staff and partners, as well as our ability to attract an enhanced level of entertainment
each year. The festival sold 78 hotel packages,
nearly a 50% increase from 2014, 261 tickets to
people from outside New Mexico, and 259 tickets to New Mexicans traveling over 150 miles to
attend the festival. In total, 680 people stayed at
least two nights in Las Cruces hotels, an increase
of 37% from 2014.
As the festival continues to receive nation-wide
coverage, we are confident this is an event that
will continue to grow and bring even more visitors
in the years to come.
Dustin Lynch at the 2015 Las Cruces Country Music Festival
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Dustin Lynching performing at the 2015 Las Cruces Country Music Festival
The Whole Enchilada Softball Tournament
2016 action plan
MEETINGS AND CONVENTIONS
Increase the generation of room nights in Las
Cruces through sales initiatives to raise awareness
of Las Cruces as a viable meetings destination,
increasing our partnership with important local
groups, and by providing meeting planners and the
industry extensive and reliable assistance.
•
Focus on corporate, SMERF (social, military,
education, religious, fraternal), state government, and in-state associations.
•
Increase top of mind visibility by becoming
a member of important groups within the
target markets, attending relevant tradeshows, attending open meetings and
networking events.
•
Gain exposure for the CVB through mailings,
telemarketing, newsletters, and
specifically-targeted sales blitzes.
•
Partner with local industry and business
associations to create a better experience
for our clients and to increase overall
awareness of Las Cruces.
•
Regain educational conference/association market share by visiting and presenting
CVB services throughout the NMSU campus
on a quarterly basis, and creating literature
geared specifically toward NMSU.
SPORTS
Increase the generation of room nights in Las
Cruces from sports-tourism business by bringing
new sporting events to the city that will provide
high returns and promote Las Cruces as a destination to participants and media.
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•
Increase number of spectators at current
sporting events.
•
Ensure a positive experience for
participants and spectators by working with
industry partners to ensure a high level of
awareness of incoming events and
participant needs.
•
Continue to attend trade shows and
membership meetings with a focus on
introducing or re-introducing a new
sporting event in Las Cruces.
•
Work with state and association officials to
work towards bringing state-level high
school championship events to Las Cruces.
•
Work with city departments to develop a
streamlined sports facility rental process.
Group Travel
Increase the generation of room nights in Las
Cruces from group tours through sales initiatives
that expand into new market territory, and raise
awareness of Las Cruces to each market based on
specific desires of each group.
•
Identify needs and wants of each individual
target market as well as their sub-markets
and create specialized web pages and
profile sheets for each.
•
Attend student and senior travel
tradeshows and become a member of
beneficial associations.
•
Increase collaboration with venues to
create and introduce new packages and
itineraries.
•
Cinco de Mayo on the Mesilla Plaza
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Work to increase participation with industry
partners to ensure a positive and
memorable experience for visitors.
MARKETING DEPARTMENT
Expand brand awareness and interaction by adjusting the current branding to make it more accessible to visitors, and by developing and releasing
social media and advertising campaigns that
increase the engagement of current users and
invite new users to join.
•
Integrate ‘Visit’ into CVB logo, visitor
communications, advertising, social media,
videos, apps and website.
•
Launch “find your reason” advertising
campaign to get people to share their
favorite things about Las Cruces.
•
Develop public relations campaign to
encourage community use of
#visitlascruces user generated content
(UGC) with #visitlascruces.
•
Continue using social media channels such
as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and
Instagram to get the word out about things
going on in Las Cruces.
Collect and utilize data in order to create a reliable
and accurate profile of people visiting Las Cruces.
•
Use tracking features within Eventbrite
ticket software to build attendee profile and
to increase attendance at the Las Cruces
Country Music Festival.
•
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Create a visitors survey for
•
Create a visitors survey for guests
staying in Las Cruces hotels.
•
Use Google Analytics to expand the
collection of visitor data through CVB
digital advertising.
•
Utilize geographic and behaviorally
targeted digital ads to promote CVB
sponsored events.
Streamline website content to be more
direct and user friendly by integrating up-todate digital offerings that build awareness
and motivate consumer travel.
•
Integrate more video into app
content.
•
Streamline app functionality to better
assist users.
•
Redesign homepage to feature UGC
about Las Cruces, video, and feed
from CVB event calendar.
•
Update website design to include
larger photography, additional video,
and UGC about Las Cruces.
Visitlascruces.com homepage
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