Tourism committee hears action reports from Davison

The City of Maryville’s Tourism Committee met August 23; the first meeting since June.

Transient guest tax and tourism fees are up for fiscal year 2023. The city collected $27,817.53 in July with year-to-date totals of $211,169.25. The fiscal year is October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023.

Under old business, Tourism Director DeAnn Davison went over proposals from facilitators for strategic planning, Lilly and Associates and DMOproz and website developers Sav Creative and Madden and Simple View. No action was taken.

Under new business, the proposed budget for FY 24 was reviewed and approved as presented. It will now be approved by the Maryville City Council in the city’s FY24 budget.

The Maryville Florists grant application for $5,000 was approved. Owner Keitha Klapp submitted an application to paint a floral scene with Maryville written in it on the south wall of Maryville Florists. Board member Becky Albrecht suggested it should have #visitmaryville on the mural where it could be seen by the public. Davison said she would speak to Klapp about it.

Davison attended the Missouri Travel Leisure Trade Show at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia. She will attend the Missouri Governor’s Conference on Tourism in Cape Girardeau in October. She purchased three retractable backdrops to use at the Missouri State Fair and smaller events. Being fast to set up and easier to transport, they were ideal for an event like the fair.

Visit Maryville was present at all of the Northwest Missouri State University SOAR dates.

Davison is working with Alpha Media to create an Eat/Shop/Play/Stay campaign to begin running in early September. She is identifying target areas to market with digital advertising that can then be tracked to determine impact. She was also able to develop additional advertising campaigns to target new students/visitors to Northwest, holiday shoppers, game days, etc.

She has been working with NCED, the Chamber, Downtown Maryville and other entities to identify a way to gather and communicate the many events that are going on throughout the county.

Visit Maryville and tourism is the over-arching entity that can really work to promote efforts in the region. The group is working to create print materials highlighting the area that can be distributed in businesses, the university, online and more. The group has a goal of starting with the upcoming holiday season and working to create additional collateral pieces for the spring, summer and fall to eventually create a yearly calendar.