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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-01-17 Regular MeetingCITY OF GRAPEVINE, TEXAS GRAPEVINE CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING Thursday, January 17, 2013 — 8:00 a.m. CVB Headquarters Grapevine, Texas AGENDA CALL TO ORDER II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES III. LIAISON UPDATES A. HERITAGE FOUNDATION ACTIVITIES B. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ACTIVITIES IV. OLD BUSINESS A. REVIEW OF CHRISTMAS CAPITAL OF TEXAS B. ATTRACTIONS UPDATE C. WEBSITE UPDATE D. TEXAS WINE TRIBUTE V. NEW BUSINESS A. ST. PATRICK'S DAY NEW YORK SALES MISSION B. 2013 SALES MISSIONS AND TRADE SHOWS VI. SALES & MARKETING REPORT VII. HOTELS /ATTRACTIONS ACTIVITIES VIII. ADJOURNMENT State of Texas County of Tarrant City of Grapevine MINUTES The Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau Board of Directors met on Thursday, January 17, 2013 at 8:00 a.m. at the Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau Headquarters, Grapevine, Texas with the following persons in attendance: Paul Slechta Tom Cherry LuAnn Chapman Gatts John Imaizumi Lance Marrin Dennis Roberts Joe Szymaszek Dan Weinberger Perry Leonard Duff O'Dell Paul W. McCallum George Kakos Michael Woody Absent: Sharron Spencer Jennifer Hibbs Chairman Board Member Board Member Board Member Board Member Board Member Board Member Board Member Chamber Liaison Heritage Foundation Liaison Executive Director Assistant Executive Director Assistant Executive Director Council Liaison Assistant City Manager CALL TO ORDER Chairman Slechta called the meeting to order. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion to approve the minutes from the December 11, 2012 meeting was made by Dan Weinberger and seconded by Dennis Roberts. Motion carried. LIAISON UPDATES Heritage Foundation Activities Duff O'Dell reported that the Palace Arts Center had a wonderful Christmas season including a concert by Kraig Parker, the Christmas movies, and 6 performances by the Texas Tenors. Nash Farm hosted a Victorian Christmas. The Board participated in the Parade of Lights. The Holiday Decorating Contest merchant winners were; Bermuda Gold — first place, Chic Boutiques — second place, and Good Things for All Seasons — third place. At Nash Farm the Soil Conservation Office is almost complete and will be used for 4w education when finished. Nash Farm hosted a Butchering and Curing educational program which drew approximately 90 people over the two days. Board of Directors Meeting January 17, 2013 Page 2 of 5 LIAISON UPDATES cont. Heritage Foundation Activities cont. The Membership Development Committee met to discuss renewal of previous members and ways to seek out new members. The Grapevine Heritage Foundation Board met yesterday. Chamber of Commerce Activities Perry Leonard reported that 2012 was an awesome year for the Chamber and they are in the best financial position ever. A main goal for this year is to get the Chamber accredited. The paperwork has been submitted and they should know mid -year if approved. Best practice visits were made to Lubbock and Irving Chambers. The Program of Work focuses on three objectives; leadership, business partnerships, and stewardship. The Chamber Board Retreat was held this past Tuesday, the Chamber Banquet is next Thursday and a trip to China is planned for October. OLD BUSINESS Review of Christmas Capital of Texas Mr. McCallum reported that Christmas Capital of Texas (CCOT) has been in the marketplace for a while and more partners are marketing it. Leigh Lyons, Communications Manager, led a huge promotion push and the focus was put on television advertising. Grapevine Mills reported 1.5 million visitors; ICE! Reported 281,754, an increase of 7% over last year; North Pole Express public runs had just under 34,000 riders, up 13% over last year; North Pole Express school runs were just under 4,000 riders. Train runs between Christmas and New Year's held steady. Merlin reported their Scuba Christmas and Holly Jolly Holidays had 12,000 visitors and their New Year's Eve event had 1,800 visitors. The Texas Star Dinner Theater increased from three to six shows a week during Christmas with almost 3,000 people. The Parade of Lights saw 25,000; the Twinkle Light Parade on Lake Grapevine had 19 entries; the Carol of Lights saw 5,000 and Nash Farm Victorian Christmas had 300 participants. Santa's Helpers Drop Off received 2,400 toys up from 1,700 last year. There were 13 media fam tours with 27 media folks and press coverage was $700,007. Council recognizes the economic impact of CCOT and we expect to soon have some general fund dollars to work with. Many individual businesses said this was the best Christmas season eve. Leisure travel was strong across many of our hotel properties. Shuttle ridership was up 43% over last year. Board of Directors Meeting January 17, 2013 Page 3 of 5 OLD BUSINESS cont. Attractions Update Mr. McCallum reported that the City has signed a contract with Bob Masterson, one of the top attractions developers in the country, to assist with developing an attractions district and bringing some more attractions to Grapevine. Last week we took five councilmembers to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge to better understand the concept of an attractions district. While there they met with city folks and called on several attractions. This past Monday a council workshop was held regarding the need to create an attractions district. To grow the convention industry in today's world, you must first grow the leisure component. Website Update Michael Woody reported that the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and the website design continue to progress. All data has been uploaded and testing of the CRM tool will begin this week. Staff is finalizing the 2nd and 3rd levels of navigation on the website. The creative process is underway and all content is being reviewed and updated as needed. The CRM will be completed and customized within the next two weeks and we will be able to utilize that platform prior to launching the new website. Texas Wine Tribute Mr. McCallum reviewed the presentation of proposed changes to the Texas Wine Tribute from the November board meeting and requested a motion to confirm those changes. LuAnn Chapman Gatts made a motion to move the Texas Wine Tribute to the Saturday before GrapeFest, to host the event in the Grand Hall, to use a committee to select the recognized winery, to have the event benefit Metroport Meals on Wheels, to have the festival chair be the honorary chair of the event and to host the silent auction downstairs for this event. Tom Cherry seconded the motion; motion carried. NEW BUSINESS St. Patrick's Day New York Sales Mission Mr. McCallum reported that staff will go in earlier to make sales calls and the rest of the delegation will go up on Thursday to join in on a final day of sales calls and to participate in the event on Saturday, March 16th. The base of operations will be the Grand Hyatt and the Saturday event will be held at the Andaz Hotel. Besides parade watching, meeting planners will be able to participate in some cooking activities by preparing their own hors d'oeuvres. There will be activities for children. (W Each full-service hotel will have a display. Through this event we will touch 4,500 meeting planners in the northeast eight to nine times with the pre -promotion activities. We are expecting 150 qualified meeting planners at the event. Board of Directors Meeting January 17, 2013 Page 4 of 5 2013 Sales Missions and Trade Shows Mr. McCallum reported that, on the convention sales side, for the last two years the bureau has stepped back from trade shows and sales missions due to the economy. This year we are reengaging with trade shows where our hotel partners have expressed an interest via the marketing plan. Staff has also put in sales missions to areas that our hotel partners have requested. On the leisure side we are returning to the large trade shows. We had maintained the consumer shows over the last few years. Media plans to be in Austin and New York in March, cover Main Street Days in April, SummerBlast in May, participate in Travel Media Showcase, cover GrapeFest in August and Christmas Capital of Texas in November. SALES AND MARKETING REPORT December Report Mr. Woody reported that during the month of December, Convention Sales produced 34 leads representing 39,495 potential room nights; 21 of which are for 2013. They assisted with 16 definites representing 6,000 plus room nights; 14 for 2013. They conducted three site inspections; participated in the State of Texas CVB Holiday Event for 150 planners in the DC area, participated in Holiday Showcase in Chicago and participated in two Cowboys FAMs with a total of 10 meeting planners. Tourism Sales produced five leads with 71 potential room nights, three for 2012 and two for 2013. They assisted with four leads representing 41 room nights three for 2012 and one for 2013. Staff hosted 17 travel agencies on familiarization tours and distributed 28,519 brochures. The Visitor Information Center sold 19,621 tickets primarily driven by the GVRR and performances at the Palace Theater. They welcomed just under 9,000 guests in the Center. Destination Services provided registration and information assistance to eight groups representing 5,600 delegates. Grapevine Shuttle ridership was 4,700. The Convention Center had 32 future bookings with 5,061 attendees and total sales of $41,200. The Palace Arts Center had 20 future bookings with 500 attendees and total sales of $39,600. The Concourse had five future bookings with 350 attendees and total sales of $4,000. Grapevine Vintage Railroad has total ridership for December of 24,409. The North Pole Express and wine trains were very successful. The after Christmas runs had 2,000 riders. There were 195,371 unique visitors to the website of which 11 % used a mobile device to access it. 720 of our visitors reached us through VisitDallas.com. There were 23 print trade publications and online insertions, 60 print consumer publications insertions, Board of Directors Meeting January 17, 2013 Page 5of5 SALES AND MARKETING REPORT cont. December Report cont. 1,166 TV/radio insertions and 65 online advertising insertions. Public relations generated $231,203 in print, $318,240 in electronic. HOTELS / ATTRACTIONS ACTIVITIES • Andrew Pena is the new Director of Sales at the Great Wolf Lodge replacing James Keaveny. • Bob Jameson has accepted the position of President of the Fort Worth Convention & Visitors Bureau. He was general manager of the Fort Worth Worthington Hotel for the past 29 years. • Jay Burress, former president of the Arlington Convention Bureau, has accepted a -- position position as President of the Anaheim Bureau. • Academic Center 4 Tutoring has opened an office on Main Street. • Jeff Fegan will be leaving his position as CEO of DFW International Airport effective September of this year. He has served as CEO for the past 19 years. • Craig Krieger, second in command at American Airlines has resigned to take the presidency of Virgin Atlantic Airlines. • Giddens Gallery will host an Artist's Reception on Saturday, January 26th from 6- 9 p.m. • Main Street Station is now located at 103 W. Worth Street. • This morning at 9 a.m. American Airlines revealed their new logo and new plane appearance. • Dan Weinberger was featured in the Community Impact Newspaper. • Grapevine had a four-page feature article in the Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine. Adjournment Mr. McCallum recognized George Kakos for his many years of service to the Board, the CVB and the community. Chairman Slechta thanked George for all his contributions. There being no further business to come before the board, Lu Ann Chapman Gatts made a motion to adjourn seconded by Dan Weinberger. Motion carried. ATTEST: DATE: