TOWN OF OSOYOOS COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE OCTOBER 17, 2016 PRESENT: Mayor McKortoff Councillors Rhodes, Youngberg, Campol and King Staff: Barry Romanko, CAO Sarah Dynneson, Program Supervisor Brianne Hillson, Deputy Corporate Officer Mayor McKortoff called the meeting to order at 9:00 AM. INTRODUCTION OF LATE ITEMS/ADOPTION OF AGENDA None MOTION C 47/16 Moved by Councillor King Seconded by Councillor Youngberg That the agenda of October 17, 2016 be adopted as presented. DELEGATIONS CARRIED 1. Destination Osoyoos Mid Term Review - Presentation by Kelley Glazer, Executive Director - A copy of the PowerPoint presentation is attached to and forms part of the minutes. ACTION: The presentation was received for information. BUSINESS 1. Special Event Permit Policy - Report from Program Supervisor - AI-374 ACTION: That staff be directed to draft a policy that does not allow for private multi day events occupying public space and bring back the policy including a fee structure for other events and bring back to Council for input. ADJOURNMENT MOTION C 48/16 Moved by Councillor Campol Seconded by Councillor Rhodes That the meeting be adjourned. The meeting was adjourned at 9:56 AM. CARRIED 1 P a g e
TOWN OF OSOYOOS COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE OCTOBER 17, 2016 APPROVED: CERTIFIED CORRECT: Original signed by Mayor Sue McKortoff MAYOR McKORTOFF Original signed by Brianne Hillson DEPUTY CORPORATE OFFICER 2 P a g e
2016 Semi Annual Report
VISION Destination Osoyoos will lead the Osoyoos community in delivering Canada s Warmest Welcome and in becoming an all season destination of choice with a vibrant, sustainable economy.
MISSION Destination Osoyoos generates results for its stakeholders and the community by growing visitation and yield on a year round basis and by assisting Town Council and staff in creating economic conditions conducive to business attraction, expansion, and retention.
GOVERNANCE The Board determines the strategic plans, the vision, and the mission of Destination Osoyoos, as well as the goals and priorities of the organization based on input and feedback from the Partners, staff, and stakeholders.
GOVERNANCE BOARD MEMBERS Osoyoos Hotel Motel Association Appointees (19%) Peter Bueschkens, Safari Beach Resort Don Brogan, Walnut Beach Resort Paul Scanlon, Watermark Beach Resort Nk Mip Resort Appointee (6%) Charlotte Stringam, Nk Mip Resort Association RDOS Area A Appointee (6%) Joanne Muirhead, Jo-Jo s Cafe
GOVERNANCE BOARD MEMBERS Town of Osoyoos Appointees (19%) Rob Rausch, WakePilot Len McLean, McLean Construction Vacant as Aug 2016 Spirit Ridge Owners Association (6%) Mykaela Coty-Scholl, Spirit Ridge Owners Association. Elected Directors (19%) Lee Sapach, Osoyoos Golf Club Myers Bennett, Valley First Chad Jensen, South Okanagan Concrete Products
GOVERNANCE BOARD MEMBERS Non-Voting Partner Representatives Town of Osoyoos: Jim King (6%) RDOS Area A : Mark Pendergraft (6%) Nk Mip Resort: Chris Bower (6%) Spirit Ridge Owner Assoc.: Mike Campol (6%)
OVERVIEW OF 2016 FUNDING MODEL Forecasted Municipal & Regional District Tax (MRDT) & Destination Marketing Fee (DMF) ($406,816 = 69%) ($376,816 + $30,000) Osoyoos has the benefit of collecting a 2% hotel tax from the 28 participating accommodators within the Osoyoos Hotel Motel Association. This tax has been the primary funding source for the visitor attraction and tourism marketing efforts of Destination Osoyoos year over year. Destination Osoyoos also receives a graduating DMF from Spirit Ridge Owners Association as of April 2016 for the next 3 years, 2016 $30,000, 2017 $40,000, 2018 $50,000
OVERVIEW OF 2016 FUNDING MODEL Regional Tourism Marketing Agreement ($102,125 = 17%) DO s Regional Tourism Marketing Agreement, in place until December 2018, includes three funding partners (Town of Osoyoos, RDOS A, and Nk Mip Resort Assoc.) to capitalize on the regions unique strengths and emerging resources to achieve three fundamental goals: Develop new tourism products and services Diversify our tourism markets; and Promote the community as a prominent four-season destination in British Columbia
OVERVIEW OF 2015 FUNDING MODEL Economic Development Agreement ($88,000 = 14%) The new 5 yr. Economic Development Fee for Service Agreement (signed February 14, 2014) poises the Town of Osoyoos to achieve the following fundamental goals: Encouraging economic development that is appropriate to Osoyoos in that it provides employment and investment opportunities, maintains high quality of life for its residents based on the principles of sustainable development;
OVERVIEW OF 2015 FUNDING MODEL Economic Development Agreement ($88,000 = 14%) Taking advantage of the Town s strengths, including its strategic location, diverse economy, and unique environment; and Encouraging a wide range of employment, investment, education, and lifestyle opportunities for all members of the community.
OVERVIEW OF 2015 FUNDING MODEL Economic Development Agreement ($88,000 = 14%) To this end, the deliverables for the Economic Development Agreement include: Encouragement of business and family relocation that generate an increase in commercial and residential tax base; Business support practices that enhance entrepreneurial growth and cause Osoyoos to grow its employment levels and diversify its products and services;
OVERVIEW OF 2015 FUNDING MODEL Economic Development Agreement ($88,000 = 14%) Identification and generation of increased investment opportunities; Establishment of new community and economic development partnerships within all levels of government, NGOs, and the private sector that create new financial and in-kind contribution leveraging opportunities; Development of strategic goals and objectives and the implementation of actions aimed at maintaining our Resort Municipality status;
OVERVIEW OF 2015 FUNDING MODEL Economic Development Agreement ($88,000 = 14%) Cooperative support and promotion for existing local events and the collaborative identification and facilitation of new shoulder season events and community programs causing increased and extended visitations and resulting in increased revenues and profitability for local businesses; and Provide Osoyoos specific information services causing increased visitor awareness of local businesses products and services and increased interest in potential relocation opportunities resulting in longer stays and/or return visits.
JANUARY - SEPTEMBER 2016 ACTIVITIES Stakeholder Development: DO and Okanagan College partnered to develop a pilot project aimed at developing School District 53 high school students for the workforce in Osoyoos. The program consisted of 12 courses consisting of essential employment skills, professionalism in the workplace, cashier training, front desk agent, room attendant, Food Safe level 1, WorldHost Fundamentals, WorldHost Service Across Cultures, Serving it Right, BC Wine Server, WHIMIS and Worksafe BC Occupational First Aid. The target number of students for the program was 12 and we had 8 participants. Within the program DO partnered with OIB to implement a job fair for students as an additional piece to the project. The feedback received from students demonstrated a need for this type of training and interest with some adjustments to the timing of the delivery of the training. To date we have one student that participated in the training that was hired in the community. Ongoing we will look to add more partners to the program to enhance the funding as well as make adjustments to attract a larger group of students and possibly provide internship opportunities for the students through the summer into the fall.
. JANUARY - SEPTEMBER 2016 ACTIVITIES FAM Tours & Media Coverage: Year to Date DO has invested $29,558 in Public Relations, the circulation received was 8.9 million and the ad equivalency was $85,627 a 288% rate of return on our investment. Each FAM / Media Tour was designed to specifically showcase Osoyoos and its uniqueness of products, services, and destination. Economic Development & Tourism Development Highlights: A new Economic Development specific website was launched in September, ongoing improvements into 2017 include; new updated content, rss feeds, Google analytics for each months activity, newsletter and data base building component. Another successful Oysterfest was hosted by DO April 20 th to the 24 th of this year. Visitation for the month of April increased by 48% over last year, as per MRDT submissions, and tickets sold for our events were 610.
JANUARY - SEPTEMBER 2016 ACTIVITIES We hired a Project Manager in August her main responsibility will be to manage DO projects and events. In addition to Oyster Festival, we are planning to introduce another Destination Development Event featuring food, wine and film from our region. The film portion of the event allows us to target new visitors and adds an interesting twist to how the food and wine will be presented. This event, called Devour!, is expected to be a 2-3 day event in May, attracting at least the same amount of visitors the Oyster Festival does, but the experiences within Devour! will fetch a slightly higher ticket price.
JANUARY - SEPTEMBER 2016 ACTIVITIES Economic Development & Tourism Development Highlights: DO continues to provide exceptional one on one visitor information services, in June of 2016 we made the decision to contract a local tourism concierge service to also deliver visitor services on our behalf. The relocation of the services made a significant impact on the ability for Osoyoos to deliver a warm welcome to our town. We saw a 250% increase in visitors in 2016 over last year for the same months visitor services were offered from the current DO office location in 2015. However we did realize after some stakeholder feedback that our enthusiasm for finding an affordable and successful solution to a long experienced difficulty in DO s resources to deliver Visitor Services clouded our decision. Our interpretation and clarity on the terms and conditions of our agreement with the Town in our Economic Development Fee for Service agreement should have been more closely reviewed with more consultation with all of our stakeholders.
JANUARY - SEPTEMBER 2016 ACTIVITIES Economic Development & Tourism Development Highlights: We are currently reviewing our Ambassador program and looking at ways to grow our volunteer base as well as provide regular opportunities for involvement. Our goal will be to have in place for early in the New Year a full complement of volunteers ready and trained in WorldHost Service First Program to help represent the best of what Osoyoos has to offer.
JANUARY - SEPTEMBER 2016 ACTIVITIES Economic Development & Tourism Development Highlights: DO is credited with successfully bolstering the shoulder seasons (October through June) by directly target marketing local events and campaigns that showcase our unique cultural, weather, and geographic area. DO continues to develop the award winning Snowbird Attraction Campaign, this year and into 2017 we will support stakeholders with funds to promote specific campaigns aimed at visitors and developing partnerships and packages amongst the stakeholder groups. This will be supported with DO sponsored stakeholder workshops on packaging and social media tactics. Additionally we will implement a print ad campaign targeting the Prairie Provinces sharing interesting stories about the area and things to do as well as driving traffic to our website to assist with connecting visitors to our stakeholders directly and access to our Snowbirds guide online.
JANUARY - SEPTEMBER 2016 ACTIVITIES Economic Development & Tourism Development Highlights: We are expanding our image bank with a little more focus on lifestyle and attracting young families with cultural experiences and activities they can see themselves doing, beyond fun in the sun. The new images will enhance our new Economic Development website as well as our main Destination Osoyoos website.
JANUARY - SEPTEMBER 2016 ACTIVITIES Economic Development & Tourism Development Highlights: This campaign will work towards encouraging the snowbird market to come earlier and stay longer, as the properties that participate in the snowbirds market have indicated the traditional booking periods to be full and a need to boost the months of November and December. The 2015 figures were estimated to have an extra 2000 more people into Osoyoos between November and end of April. With an average population of 5000 people, this is a 40% increase in population during these months. The success of the Snowbirds program has in many cases seen rates and room blocks increasing for the 2016-17 season.
JANUARY - SEPTEMBER 2016 ACTIVITIES Economic Development & Tourism Development Highlights: The South Okanagan Real Estate Board continues to report an increase in home sales to the 45+ age group. Snowbirds traditionally visit 2 to 3 times before looking at purchasing home. As of the end of the third quarter, 2016 saw a 27% increase in unit sales from 550 to 700. The average price has increased by 12.8% to $369,000, but is forecast to decrease by 2.9% for 2017. The 2017 forecast also shows an increase in personal disposable income growth, but a continued downward trend in residential supply overall.
JANUARY - SEPTEMBER 2016 ACTIVITIES Economic Development & Tourism Development Highlights: DO continues to support the Destination Wedding market. We will look for more directly targeted methods to attract destination wedding through social media and online ad campaigns through our Destination Osoyoos Wedding landing page.
JANUARY - SEPTEMBER 2016 ACTIVITIES Economic Development & Tourism Development Highlights: DO delivered its 5 th successful Osoyoos Oyster Festival in 2016 netting a revenue of $32,286 before expenses, a 210% change over last year. We attracted a strong following of media to this Signature Event which transpired into over 25 published Osoyoos specific visitor attraction stories, and garnering an estimated $52,000 in advertising value.
JANUARY - SEPTEMBER 2016 ACTIVITIES Regional and Social Media Marketing Highlights: DO has continued to develop our website resulting in 140,000 visitor sessions. Over 88 % of them being NEW VISITORS. We have also maintained our landing pages, showcasing Osoyoos as a destination for weddings, wintering, and Chinese tourism attraction. Results for each webpage: Osoyoosweddings.ca = 2,735 page views Winter page = 7,101 page views
JANUARY - SEPTEMBER 2016 ACTIVITIES Regional and Social Media Marketing Highlights: Facebook: At the end of quarter three, we have shown an increase of approximately 11,000 followers up 14% over 2015. Our average age demographics are 45 54 and 55 64; and average reach is 600,000 monthly. Twitter: Our Twitter feed has seen substantial increase in engagement. Our profile visits are an average of 1,178 a month, and our followers are approaching 2,000. Instagram: Our Instagram profile has reached 1,600 followers and is expected to flourish as Instagram is rapidly becoming the platform of choice for Millennials.
JANUARY - SEPTEMBER 2016 ACTIVITIES 2016 Top 10 Website Visitors by City 1. Vancouver 8.04% 2. Calgary 4.98% 3. Osoyoos 3.09% 4. Edmonton 2.51% 5. Surrey 2.49% 6. Kelowna 1.68% 7. Toronto 1.61% 8. Burnaby 1.45% 9. Richmond 1.07% 10. Winnipeg 1.05%
JANUARY - SEPTEMBER 2016 ACTIVITIES 2016 Top Webpages by Visitors 1. Homepage 57,487 ( 24.93% ) 2. Event Calendar 29,596 (12.83%) 3. Campgrounds 14,006 (6.07%) 4. Hotels & Resorts 7,854 (3.41%) 5. Wintering Osoyoos 7,101 (3.08%) 6. Hiking/Biking 6,076 (2.63%) 7. Bed & Breakfasts 4,071 ( 1.77%) 8. Mapping App 2,515 (1.09%) 9. Weddings 2,063 (0.89%)
JANUARY - SEPTEMBER 2016 ACTIVITIES 2015 2016 MRDT Comparisons Highlights Month 2015 2016 Yr./Yr. Variance January 2% revenue $4,823.40 $4,469.03 -$354.37 February 2% revenue $6,893.62 $8,776.45 +$1,882.83 March 2% revenue $6,736.03 $9,514.34 +$2,778.31 April 2% revenue $12,349.62 $18,291.00 +$5,941.38 May 2% revenue $29,901.06 $29,215.62 -$685.44 June 2% revenue $51,539.88 $58,317.64 +$6,777.76 July 2% revenue $81,168.07 $104,028.41 +22,860.34 August 2% revenue $88,325.31 September 2% revenue $50,532.71 October 2% revenue $15,206.72 November 2% revenue $6,614.20 December 2% revenue $6,073.24 Total $360,163.86 YTD Increase of 20%