TOWN OF MOUNT PLEASANT, SOUTH CAROLINA ACCOMMODATIONS TAX ADVISORY COMMITTEE Thursday, 12:00 noon Municipal Complex Building A - Public Meeting Room 1 100 Ann Edwards Lane, Mount Pleasant, SC MINUTES Members Present: Edward Riggs, Chairman; Monique Semper-Flynn, Jennifer Bagwell, Matt Galvin, Cheryl Craven, Kenda Sweet, Su McManus-Frost Also Present: Mark Smith, Council Liaison Staff Present: Ashley Richardson Also Present: Perrin Lawson & Walter McCants, CVB Call to Order: Chairman Riggs called the meeting to order at 12:00 p.m. 1. Approval of Minutes from March 27, 2014 meeting Ms. Semper-Flynn moved to approve the minutes; motion seconded by Ms. Sweet. Motion carried unanimously. 2. Financial Statement for period ending March 31, 2014 Ms. Richardson stated that the members had received an updated financial statement that she would review. There has been no revenue payment for the 3 rd quarter received to date. She reminded that the committee has expended funds from Reserve for Projects for the fiscal year. She said there is a $10,768 balance that will be carried over to the next fiscal year if revenue projections are met. She said the latest copy of the FY14/15 budget has been provided that the committee will vote on at this meeting. 3. Presentation from Charleston Area Convention & Visitors Bureau Mr. Perrin Lawson presented a slide presentation as follows: Charleston Condé Nast Traveler gatefold ad focused on spring in Charleston and drove users through a unique URL to a specific spring focused landing page, featuring a special retail oriented Pinterest page. TIME Inc. Coverage begins in May 2014 Culminating in an Insider s Weekend, tentative date is February 2015 Features in: Departures, Travel & Leisure, Food & Wine, Southern Living & Coastal Living Meredith Publications - Family Circle, Better Homes, Ladies Home Journal Print ads in all 3 titles listed below Six 0:30 spots on ESPN2 Additional time spent with ESPN2 talent and Meredith s team of editors
Page 2 of 8 Digital Media - Purchased across the internet on a wide variety of sites based on: User Interest (Charleston, Traveling, etc.) User Behavior (Visiting travel sites, Trip planning behavior, etc.) Website content (Travel Sites, Southern Beach vacation sites, etc.) Retargeting based on previous visits to CVB websites Goal is to introduce the Charleston area as a destination and drive quality referral traffic Digital Media: SEWE - Poor weather caused cancellation of some group & general bookings. Provided immediate support by targeting: Focused on drive markets not under poor weather: Charlotte, Jax, Coastal Georgia, parts of South Carolina User Interest: previous web activity indicating interest in Wildlife, Outdoors, Travel, Boats/RVs Website content: Sites with keywords in content: Charleston, Wildlife, Traveling, Adventure Vehicles, Outdoor Enthusiasts Google searches: SEWE & Charleston Digital Media: SEWE Results Banners launched within 24 hours of weather emergency Over 420,000 users shown the banner ads 1,699 Visitors to the SEWE packages page Charleston Visitors Guide - The Official Visitors Guide is the ONLY guide that reaches visitors before they arrive in the Charleston area...and before they make important lodging, dining, and itinerary decisions 600,000+ Circulation Only guide distributed at cruise ship passenger terminals, DASH Trolleys & Charleston Airport Limo Taxi Assn. Over 2.7 million visits to the ExploreCharleston.com site with over 11.8 million page views Average user visits 4.3 pages per visit Southern Weddings Part of Southern Living Charleston area had 100% SOV for Jan and Feb Site has 200,000 page views per month Wedding Guide - The Official Charleston Area Wedding Guide is a great way to target out of town brides and planners Over 10,000 guides mailed to direct brides each year Over 12,000 leads from The Knot.com sent to investors per year 150,000+ visitors each year to the CharlestonWeddingGuide.com website Nearly 700,000 page views each year
Page 3 of 8 Meetings & Conventions-Tour & Travel SMERF
Page 4 of 8 Charleston Magazine New meeting planner program with 4-page second cover Mailed to 1,000 qualified meeting planners in the DC area Destination Planning Guide - Offers maximum exposure to highly qualified meeting, group tour and reunion planners. Over 32,000 visitors to the MeetCharleston.com site with over 91,000+ page views Websitee undergoingg full redesign currently. Live in Q3 2014. Golf in Print -
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Page 6 of 8 Golf on Web From January 2013 January 2014 the Golf site generated 110,529 visits Web banners were created and utilized to advertise the Charleston area s first Golf Week Golf Week was a cross-promotion capitalizing on the popularity of Charleston Restaurant Week Golf Guide - The Golf Guide serves as a helpful tool in planning a Charleston area golf vacation & is the only guide mailed out before a golfer arrives on vacation. 50,000 guides are distributed each year Golfers stay an average of 4.8 nights and spend $289 per day while here 110,000+ visitors to the CharlestonGolfGuide.com website last year Over 320,000 page views in 2013 Guide is being totally revised for Fall 2014 with new editorial on local craft breweries and distilleries, and waterfront dining. IAGTO North American Convention June 2014 Mr. Lawson concluded his presentation and entertained questions/comments. He commented that with the top three destinations, Charleston compared to Chicago and San Francisco (the top three) was ranked the friendliest and was scored 24 points higher than the others on that category. He said that Condé Nast Travelers research person that this is a real advantage for Charleston since other destinations will never outdo Charleston in friendliness. Chairman Riggs said that this is the most advertising he had seen. He asked if it is because of the matching funds related to advertising. Mr. Lawson said it has a lot to do with it. He said the legislature has been very supportive and they like the fact that private dollars are being leverage against public dollars. They see the results not just here, but in Myrtle Beach, Hilton Head, Columbia and Greenville. He said that everyone has been able to move the needle up and that means there is much more money to be plowed back into the communities as a result. Mr. Smith thanked Mr. Lawson for an excellent presentation. He said it is clear that a lot of people are working hard to win all of the Number One awards and they are thankful for that. He agreed with Mr. Lawson that we will not be able to out shop Chicago and San Francisco, but we can outrank them in southern friendliness and niceness. He asked what Mount Pleasant is missing since Daniel Island has the Family Circle Cup, North Charleston has the Convention Center; what is next? Is it another events gathering place, a sports complex, etc.? Mr. Lawson said there is not any one thing Mount Pleasant is missing other than a full-service hotel. He said that Mount Pleasant has several unique things going for it other than the proximity to downtown and the beaches. It also has things to attract people such as Patriots Point, Shem Creek and Boone Hall Plantation. There are a lot of things here for people to do and it is considered very family-friendly and very safe. Also, there are a lot of restaurants in Mount Pleasant and it is more affordable. Mr. Lawson stated that in the sports market, Mount Pleasant and the other surrounding municipalities are maxed out. It is a matter of finding things that are unique and they are looking at things that are water-based such as stand-up paddle boarding, kayaking, open water swimming, power boat races, etc. He said they have been talking about
Page 7 of 8 creating something called Water Month. This is something that Sumter, Rock Hill, etc. do not have. Myrtle Beach does not have the type of water that we have, so that is a real advantage. He said we also have the best county park system anywhere and they can do a lot of self-contained events. He said the best part is that they do not have to have 5k 10k people which sometimes create infrastructure management issues with public services and police, etc. If things can be self-contained on the county parks property, they have the staff to do it. Maybe that will bring in 400 500 people in and that will help three or four hotels right here in this area. He said they are looking at more and more events at times when they need them without severely impacting the infrastructure. He continued to express that a large sports complex is not currently being considered, nor does the money exist to do it. Mr. Smith stated that if they can tap into that private/public economic partnership, the sky is the limit. If Mount Pleasant is already great, how can they go from great to excellent? He said they are always challenging themselves and looking for different ways to do things. Chairman Riggs asked how important, from a visitor s standpoint, is having the shrimp boats on Shem Creek. If they went away, what impact would it have? Mr. Lawson replied that would be a very bad thing. They are an iconic image like horse carriages and Fort Sumter. You do not want that going away, he said. Mr. McCants said that is one of their number one questions at their visitor s center aside from Patriots Point; they want to go and see the shrimp boats and go walking around. They love to see that and if they disappear, that takes away an amazing skyline that Mount Pleasant has going for it. Chairman Riggs said that is important from a city s perspective. Mr. Lawson said they have a great perspective on the creek anyway and it would be worse if they go away. Mr. Smith said that connecting Shem Creek all the way up to the Memorial Waterfront Park through a boardwalk and allowing paddle boarding, etc. so that public access to the waterfront can happen all the way through. That is phenomenal and it is not far from happening. Mr. Lawson said that if they do that, they will have something that will blow the socks off anything and everything else because people are so attracted to the water. If you can connect them, that will be a magnet for people and investments. People will want to have restaurants and retail to serve that. It will make everything around Patriots Point much busier. He said it cannot happen soon enough for him. Ms. Frost asked if many people at the visitor s center ask about whether there is a museum. Mr. McCants replied in the negative. He said they enjoy the downtown Charleston Museum. Ms. Frost said that is one thing that is lacking in Mount Pleasant. There is no live theater and no art museum.
Page 8 of 8 Chairman Riggs said the Mount Pleasant pier has all of the history of the harbor as you walk out the theater. That is a kind of living history. Ms. Semper-Flynn said the Crab Pot Players is opening in Mount Pleasant. Chairman Riggs thanked Mr. Lawson for coming. 4. Approval of Proposed FY 14.15 Budget to be forwarded to Budget Committee of Council Ms. Richardson said this is the budget that was reviewed last week. Chairman Riggs said he would entertain a motion to accept the report as submitted unless there are any questions. After a few minutes of the members looking over the report, Chairman Riggs called for a motion. Ms. Semper-Flynn moved to approve the FY14/15 Budget as presented; motion seconded by Ms. Bagwell. Motion carried unanimously. 5. Tourism Activity Report Mr. McCants said the visitor s centers are packed. There are lines wrapped around the corner at the downtown center. The biggest thing coming up this weekend is the Cooper River Bridge Run that is impacting the entire Tri-County area. He said the Family Circle Cup finals are this weekend and the Flowertown Festival in Summerville. He said the hotels are packed everywhere and April will continue to be busy with Charleston Race Week and Blessing of the Fleet & Seafood Festival later this month. He said April is definitely one of the busiest months. He said they see a huge increase of visitors around Easter when typically school spring breaks are scheduled. 6. Adjourn Ms. Craven moved to adjourn the meeting at 12:36 p.m.; motion seconded by Ms. Bagwell. Motion carried unanimously. Submitted by: Patty Wallis 040314