Greg Blodgett
Economic Development Deputy Director
2024/2025 GGTID Visit Anaheim Annual Report – City of Garden Grove City Council Recap Feb 24, 2026
As we reflect on another year of progress, the Garden Grove Tourism Improvement District (GGTID) continues to demonstrate the strength and resilience of the TID investment model. Through its longstanding partnership with Visit Anaheim, the District remains focused on driving measurable economic impact for Garden Grove’s hotel, local businesses and other stakeholders. Even amid evolving market conditions and increasing regional competition, this collaboration has sustained Garden Grove’s visibility and competitiveness within the Southern California tourism and convention landscape, delivering consistent value and positioning the destination for continued growth.
Through an integrated marketing platform that includes direct sales, advertising, trade show participation, digital campaigns, public relations, and social media engagement, Visit Anaheim continues to drive incremental visitation, expand market share, and support long-term demand growth.
Convention and meetings initiatives supported by TID funds delivered exceptional performance, exceeding Board-approved booking goals and securing high-profile events that will generate significant economic impact through 2030. Complementing these efforts, marketing and communications programs produced substantial returns, with advertising investments yielding measurable revenue and engagement. Signature initiatives such as the 100 Days ’Til Summer campaign and the Imaginagency public relations program drove incremental room nights and visitor spending across hotels, restaurants, and attractions, while innovative content marketing and digital activations reached millions of prospective travelers in both domestic and international markets.
Together, these results reflect a disciplined, data-driven strategy designed to maximize TID investment, strengthen hotel performance, and reinforce Garden Grove’s position as a dynamic and competitive destination within the global tourism economy.
Garden Grove’s proximity to the world-class Disneyland Resort and the Anaheim Convention Center continues to be a strategic advantage, amplified through a coordinated and data-driven partnership with Visit Anaheim. By aligning focused group sales deployment with layered domestic and international marketing initiatives, the District has strengthened demand generation across key segments. These efforts have supported higher-value bookings, optimized occupancy, enhanced rate performance, and reinforced Garden Grove’s long-term positioning within a highly competitive resort and meetings marketplace.
Key Accomplishments and Impacts
In FY 2024–2025 alone, Visit Anaheim’s initiatives delivered outstanding performance, including:
• 630.1K room nights booked tied to convention sales and group travel with 949.5K requested attendees.
196 million digital impressions generated across consumer and group market campaigns generating 111.7 million in trackable destination revenue for Anaheim and Garden Grove combined. • 1.5 million Website visitors representing a 31% year over-year-growth, driving direct bookings. • Over 3,080 travel trade agent engagement, significantly elevating global awareness.
These initiatives contributed directly to compressed market demand, meaning higher occupancy and stronger ADR for Garden Grove hotels during key citywide and regional events.
Hotel Industry Confidence and Continued Support
The ongoing engagement and active participation of Garden Grove’s hotel operators reflect continued confidence in Visit Anaheim’s strategic leadership and execution. Hotel partners consistently cite measurable returns from coordinated sales and marketing initiatives and have reaffirmed their support for sustaining, and strengthening this collaborative partnership.
Visit Anaheim’s disciplined strategic planning, robust market intelligence, and established national brand presence enable Garden Grove hotels to compete at a scale far beyond what could be achieved independently. This strength-in-partnership model continues to position the GGTID effectively within an increasingly competitive hospitality landscape, driving visibility, demand, and long-term market resilience.
Strategic Budget Visit Anaheim Overview: FY 2026–2027
For FY 2026–2027, the GGTID budget is strategically focused on high-impact programs and performance- driven initiatives implemented in partnership with Visit Anaheim. The investment categories below reflect targeted allocations designed to drive measurable outcomes and maximize return on investment:
GGTID/Visit Anaheim FY 2026–2027 Budget Overview
Category Allocation Description
1. Marketing
Expenses
$681,000
Covers advertising, promotions, collateral production, and associated staffing costs. Supports broad awareness campaigns across key leisure and group segments.
2. Tourism
Development
$238,000
Includes international representation, sales missions, consumer marketing efforts, trade shows, meetings and conferences, travel trade association fees, and other tourism-facing initiatives.
3. Convention Sales
$626,000
Dedicated to attracting meetings and conventions through client events, sales missions, familiarization tours, partnerships, promotional exhibits, and sales travel efforts.
4. Destination
Services
$115,000
Enhances the visitor and event planner experience through dues and registration fees, client servicing tools, promotional materials, and welcome collateral.
5. Business
Intelligence $63,000 Supports data analytics, market research, and staffing to inform pricing strategies, campaign performance, and demand forecasting.
6. Operations &
Administration
$264,000
Covers administrative functions including staffing, general operations, compliance, financial reporting, and overhead necessary for effective program execution.
🔹🔹🔹🔹 Total FY 2026–2027 Budget: $1,987,000
Looking Ahead for 2026–2027
As we look ahead, Visit Anaheim remains focused on proactively addressing external challenges while advancing strategic initiatives designed to strengthen visitation, increase destination awareness, and support long-term industry sustainability. Despite headwinds including declines in international travel, inflation, and broader geopolitical pressures, Visit Anaheim continues to pivot, deploying targeted investments, and launching high-impact programs to position Anaheim and Garden Grove for continued growth in 2026 and beyond as follows:
• Advancing new demand-driving initiatives, including a second iteration of the 100 Days ‘Til Summer campaign, securing the return of the Savannah Bananas, and launching the Stand Up, Chow Down Comedy and Culinary Festival in 2026.
• Strengthening the meetings and conventions pipeline by securing the ConferenceDirect CDX Annual Meeting in 2026—one of five major industry events booked in Anaheim through 2030, collectively bringing more than 20,000 meeting and travel professionals to the destination. • Celebrating the launch of the Anaheim Tourism Improvement District (ATID) Hotel Workforce Housing Program, a first-of-its-kind hospitality workforce initiative, while strategically reallocating $2.2M annually to support Anaheim TID hotel employees.
• Preparing to launch a new brand identity in 2026, informed by stakeholder and community input, to reflect Anaheim’s ongoing evolution and future growth
To provide context and support for the proposed FY 2026–2027 GGTID budget allocations, the following section highlights key results from Visit Anaheim’s FY 2024/2025 Annual Report. This report details the performance outcomes and strategic initiatives executed in support of Anaheim and Garden Grove and the broader Orange County tourism ecosystem.
Although the GGTID operates on a July–June fiscal cycle and Visit Anaheim reports KPIs on a calendar- year basis (January–December), the CY 2025 performance results directly support and align with the strategic priorities and investment framework outlined for the upcoming fiscal year.
Collectively, these results demonstrate measurable return on investment generated through our partnership with Visit Anaheim, spanning convention and meetings sales, leisure marketing, international market development, digital engagement, and sports tourism. The performance metrics and initiatives summarized in the following pages illustrate how Visit Anaheim continues to elevate Garden Grove’s brand presence, stimulate hotel demand, and reinforce our competitive positioning within the regional and national tourism marketplace.
Please see the following pages for a comprehensive summary of Visit Anaheim’s 2024/2025 Annual GGTID Report as it relates specifically to Garden Grove Tourism Improvement District performance and accomplishments.