Tourism Committee steps back from STR subscription

At the January 10 Maryville Tourism Committee meeting, discussion was held on subscribing to STR reports on local hotel occupancy.

The committee had decided in fall 2023 to subscribe. This decision was put on hold when the annual subscription rate jumped from $3,000 to $6,540 per year. Tourism Director DeAnn Davison feels the information from the city’s tourism finance reports, Placer.ai and the strategic plan, when completed, will allow the committee to make informed decisions about hotel occupancy. The committee decided to look at STR upon the completion of the strategic plan.

The subcommittee for the Strategic Planning Request for Qualifications, came back with the recommendation to use Red Letter Communications, Cape Girardeau as the potential vendor at a projected cost of $30,000. The 10 RFQs ranged from $17,500 to $58,000. The committee had budgeted $2,500 for the project.

Member Becky Albrecht said, “We need to facilitate our vision, do a needs assessment. We need a work session ASAP.”

After the committee has bullet-pointed its needs, then it will start negotiations. Davison is looking at possible financing the strategic plan within the current budget and through grants.

The tourism committee received 20 website development requests for proposals. The range in price was from $9,500 to $102,500. The subcommittee narrowed the selection to Earth Driver, Salt Lake City, at a cost of $16,500 which includes development, hosting, maintenance for one year and search engine optimization.

Earth Driver’s clients are all tourism related. It is on the Missouri Department of Tourism’s approved vendor list. The committee approved.

It was decided to continue another three months at $1,000 per month with Alpha Media Advertising. The company provided a digital report for the campaign which began September 22, 2023. The last several months of the campaign added Omaha, Kansas City and Des Moines  as target areas but didn’t receive much traction. The most engagement came from Macon, Kirksville, Queen City, New Cambria, Powersville, Lancaster, Excello in Missouri and Ottumwa, Fairfield, Centerville and Chariton in Iowa.

The focus continuing forward will be on smaller communities to the east and north. The message will be adjusted to springtime travel.

Placer.ai was discussed. This program tracks attendance at events by cell phone. It can be narrowed to location, day and time of events. Jeff Stubblefield had utilized it to see where city park attendees were coming from. The Thomson Splash Pad had a wide range of areas that visitors came from.

The Transient Guest Tax and tourism fees for October and November 2024, the first two months of fiscal year 2024, were down from the same time period in FY 2023. Reasons for the decline were discussed with no Northwest Bearcat Football playoffs being considered as the reason.

Rotary Club President Skye Pournazari and member Juergen Steininger were at the meeting to answer questions on the tourism grant application for the Rotary’s Blooming Peonies Tour at Hollingsworth Peony Farm on May 18 and 19. The group asked for $5,000 to use for signage and port-a-potties. Pournazari said Rotary is expecting 500 to 600 people from outside the area to attend. It was approved.

Davison has begun to schedule workshops and conferences which she will attend. Davison reported she was able to list several December events in “Rural Missouri” magazine.