La Quinta City Council
February 17, 2026

HAND OUTS

CITY COUNCIL

MEETING
FEBRUARY 17, 2026
2026
Approved
Goals & Objectives
CITY COUNCIL MEETING - FEBRUARY 17, 2026 - HAND-OUT BY VISIT GREATER PALM SPRINGS ANNOUNCEMENTS, PRESENTATIONS, AND WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS ITEM NO. 2 - 2026 APPROVED GOALS & OBJECTIVES Destination Future Planning
As we look ahead, the global tourism industry stands at a pivotal crossroads shaped by normalizing travel demand following the post-pandemic surge and a rapidly shifting digital ecosystem. Nationally, rising media costs and the integration of Generative AI into the travel planning journey have fundamentally transformed how visitors discover destinations, moving the “search-to-booking” path away from traditional websites and toward direct, AI-driven answers. Internationally, economic headwinds and fluctuating currency exchanges—particularly in key markets like Canada—require a more agile and targeted approach to maintain our global competitiveness.

In response to these external dynamics, Visit Greater Palm Springs is embarking on a landmark year. A central milestone for 2026 will be the development of our updated, comprehensive Destination Stewardship Plan. This forward-thinking roadmap will not only guide our long-term growth and sustainability but also ensure that tourism continues to enhance the quality of life for our residents while preserving the unique character of our oasis. The Destination Stewardship Plan will deliver nine city tourism plans that will integrate into our regional plan. The individual city plans will be funded by VGPS.

By prioritizing economic diversification, expanding international reach through campaigns like “Thrive and Shine” (economic development), “Escape Your Ordinary” (national campaign), and “Where You Shine” (international and LGBTQ) while leveraging major global moments such as the 2026 FIFA World Cup, we are positioning Greater Palm Springs as a premier, year-round destination that remains resilient in an ever-changing global economy.

Destination Stewardship Plan
As we plan for the future, a major milestone will be underway in 2026: the development of our updated comprehensive Destination Stewardship Plan (previously called the Destination Development Plan) for Greater Palm Springs. This forward-thinking initiative will serve as a strategic roadmap to guide the region’s long-term growth, competitiveness, and sustainability as a premier travel destination. Equally important, it will ensure that future tourism development enhances resident quality of life while preserving the character, culture, and natural beauty that make our oasis truly one of a kind. The plan will align closely with our organizational priorities—including driving offpeak visitation, expanding air service, growing meetings and conventions, advancing sustainability and DEI, strengthening the hospitality workforce, and promoting economic diversification across the Coachella Valley.

At the end of 2025 we conducted a competitive bid process, and we recently conducted three interviews with CSL, Resonance, and Hunden Partners with our team and three board members (Rolf Hoehn, Doug Watson, and David Feltman). The interview panel determined that Hunden Partners is best suited to work with our region and accomplish our goals. The entire Hunden team will bring a unique and creative approach to the master planning process and ultimately a plan that is actionable and measurable.

During the interview process, we decided to expand the scope and add nine city-level plans alongside the regional plan, focusing on tactical implementation steps tailored to each city.

As part of this expanded scope, we asked for deeper, tourism-specific analysis and recommendations across key categories, including:
• Large hotels and resort properties
• Short-term rentals
• Small and boutique hotels
• Restaurants
• Attractions and experiences
• Retail that supports the visitor economy
• Event venues and supporting infrastructure
• Outdoor recreation assets
For each category, we are seeking insights that help translate the master plan into practical guidance for cities. This may include, but is not limited to:
• How current city policies, regulations, and planning frameworks impact each category
• Identification of gaps, needs, or barriers within each city • Market opportunities and risks
• Action-oriented considerations that cities can use to inform policy decisions, planning priorities, and future investment
Key additional tasks include:
o Organizing an in-person session with city leaders and touring key assets. o Conducting customized focus groups for each city.
o Enhancing research on destination products and gaps specific to each city.
o Developing unique plans for each city that address policies, identify gaps, and recommend actionable priorities.

The overall timeline was adjusted to 12-13 months, with the regional plan taking 10 months and city plans an additional 2-3 months.

Indoor Sports Complex
In 2026, Visit Greater Palm Springs will continue advancing plans for a ~200,000 sq. ft.

Indoor Sports Complex, a long-term regional asset projected to generate a $46.3 million annual economic impact, 34,300 annual hotel room nights, 561,500 total annual attendee days, and $384,600 in annual net operating profit (excluding debt service).

This project is critical to increasing demand during the summer months.

With sports tourism rapidly growing nationwide, this facility is critical for the destination to remain competitive, secure year-round tournament business, and drive much-needed summer and off-peak visitation to support local hotels, restaurants, and attractions.

Building on strong feasibility results and demonstrated demand for indoor, climatecontrolled space, VGPS will focus on securing funding, aligning regional partners, and advancing key pre-development milestones to position the project for a 2027/28 groundbreaking.
2026 Priorities
• Finalize funding strategy: Partner with Kosmont to identify viable financing models, incentives, and investment tools, and develop a clear funding pathway for the facility.
• Engage regional stakeholders: Share funding findings and economic impact potential with cities and prospective partners to build multi-jurisdictional support. • Attract developers and investors: Actively pitch the project to qualified developers, operators, and investment partners, both within and outside the region, to drive interest, explore public-private partnership models, and identify potential long-term operators for the facility.
• Advance pre-development work: Support site analysis, feasibility refinement, governance structure exploration, and partner outreach to keep the project moving toward 2027.
• Strengthen the case for impact: Continue quantifying projected economic benefits, including visitor spending, job creation, and increased off-season activity, to ensure regional alignment and investment readiness.

AI-Driven Efficiency & Productivity
In 2026, Visit Greater Palm Springs will continue to leverage AI to drive organizational efficiency, enhance productivity, and enable teams to focus more time on highimpact, strategic work. AI will be integrated as a practical business tool, supporting faster insights, smarter decision-making, and streamlined workflows across marketing, communications, sales, research, partnership, and operations while maintaining brand integrity, data privacy, and human oversight. By using AI, the organization can respond more quickly to market changes, maximize ROI, and operate with greater agility in an increasingly competitive tourism landscape.

Examples of AI applications include:
• Marketing & Content Efficiency: Using AI to accelerate first-draft development for campaign and website copy, social content, itineraries, media pitches, and internal reports, allowing teams to focus on refinement, storytelling, and brand alignment.
• Data & Insights: Applying AI to analyze performance dashboards, identify trends in booking windows, traveler behavior, and source markets, and generate faster insights to inform media spend, co-op strategies, and air-service support. • Sales & Meetings Productivity: Leveraging AI to summarize RFPs, analyze lead quality, draft customized follow-ups, and identify patterns that support off-peak and midweek group demand.
• Research & Reputation Management: Monitoring media coverage, social sentiment, and competitive positioning in real time to surface opportunities, mitigate risks, and inform proactive PR strategies.
• Internal Operations: Automating meeting summaries, project updates, utilizing Zapier to automate Basecamp projects and to-do’s, and cross-departmental reporting to reduce manual workload and improve alignment across teams.

AI will support Visit Greater Palm Springs’ commitment to innovation, accountability, and results—ensuring the organization operates smarter, faster, and more efficiently in 2026 and beyond.

Research/Dashboards
Research remains a critical foundation for how Visit Greater Palm Springs makes informed, strategic decisions, ensuring marketing investments, sales efforts, and destination initiatives are grounded in data and aligned with both visitor demand and community priorities.

In 2026, Visit Greater Palm Springs will continue to leverage a robust research portfolio to generate actionable insights that guide long-term strategy, optimize resource allocation, support stakeholder decision-making, and advance destination stewardship.

Key research initiatives include:
• 2025 Tourism Economic Impact Study – Quantifies the total economic value of tourism to the region, including jobs supported, tax revenues generated, and household savings.
• 2025 STVR Economic Impact Study – Assesses the economic value of short-term vacation rentals, including revenue, visitor spending, and job creation, to guide policy, planning, and destination development decisions. • Resident Sentiment Study (initiated in 2025; finalizing in 2026) – Captures resident perceptions of tourism, quality of life, and community benefits to guide responsible growth and stakeholder alignment.
• Image and Awareness Study (initiated in 2025; finalizing in 2026) – Evaluates brand awareness, destination perception, and traveler motivations across key domestic and international markets.

• Visitor Intercept Study (initiated in 2025; finalizing in 2026) – Provides real-time insights into visitor behavior, spending patterns, and experience drivers while in destination.
• Destination Stewardship Plan – Establishes data-informed strategies to balance visitation growth with sustainability, resident quality of life, and long-term destination health.
• Meetings – Evaluates the effectiveness of “The Oasis is Real” campaign and identifies opportunities to better support meetings and group business. Identifies behaviors, motivations and booking patterns of meeting planners. • Restaurant Week Survey – Measures program performance, visitor engagement, and economic impact to inform future culinary and off-peak visitation strategies.

Visit Greater Palm Springs will also complete the rollout of customized destination dashboards in partnership with Rove in 2026, transforming complex data sets into clear, intuitive visualizations that deliver meaningful, actionable insights. By seamlessly integrating multiple data sources into a single platform, these dashboards centralize information that previously lived across disparate tools and reports, streamlining workflows, reducing manual reporting, and improving consistency in how performance is measured and communicated. The result is greater operational efficiency, faster access to insights, and more confident decision-making.

Beyond internal use, the Rove dashboards significantly expand the value of Visit Greater Palm Springs’ data by enabling cities, partners, and stakeholders to access the same trusted insights in real time. This shared visibility creates a common source of truth, supports more productive and informed conversations, and strengthens alignment across the organization and destination community, reinforcing transparency, collaboration, and data-driven decision-making at every level. _________________________________
Board Priority: Increase Demand

CONVENTION SALES
The team delivered an exceptional year-end performance in 2025, achieving 115% of its annual room-night goal by securing 262,061 room nights against a target of 228,500.

This result exceeded the stretch goal of 235,000 room nights and surpassed the previous high-water mark set in 2018 (242,084 room nights).

A key driver of this success was the team’s intentional focus on booking business in offpeak and shoulder periods, amplified by the Meetings Oasis Incentive Program.

Together, these efforts generated 140,696 room nights during targeted need periods across the in-year and three-years-out windows—up significantly from 99,461 room nights in 2024.

Year-end performance across all goal categories included:
• 1,620 total leads distributed – 105% of annual goal (1,550) • 284 new bookings – 103% of annual goal (275)
• 849 new leads generated – 105% of annual goal (805)
Geographically, top end-user markets were led by Southern California, the Mid-Atlantic, and Northern California, while the highest-producing industry segments included high tech, healthcare & medical, and trade/commercial.

In 2025, the team established targeted booking goals to drive room nights during offpeak and shoulder months (May & September, Summer, and Q4), delivering outstanding results:
• May & September: 183% of goal – 47,545 room nights (goal: 26,000) • Summer: 127% of goal – 31,218 room nights (goal: 24,500) • Q4: 206% of goal – 61,933 room nights (goal: 30,000)
Overall, the team successfully booked 140,696 room nights during these need periods against a goal of 80,500. This performance was driven by a combination of focused direct sales efforts, strategic partnerships, targeted marketing campaigns, booking incentive program, expanded trade show and sales mission presence, and increased in-market familiarization tours, demonstrating a results-oriented approach to demand generation and long-term growth.

Looking Ahead to 2026
The renovation and expansion of the Palm Springs Convention Center (PSCC) is anticipated to begin in Q3 2026 and conclude in Q3 2028. While this investment is critical to the long-term competitiveness of the destination, construction activity during this period may impact near-term booking production.

For context, PSCC-related booking production has been strong in recent years:

The data below highlights the short-term nature of the booking window and the impact it will have on our ability to confirm groups during the renovation/expansion process. • 2024: 43,171 total room nights booked
o In-year: 12,219 (2024)
o 1 year out: 20,753 (2025)
o 2 years out: 10,013 (2026)
o 3 years out: 7,275 (2027)
• 2025: 61,598 total room nights booked
o In-year: 8,115 (2025)
o 1 year out: 14,934 (2026)
o 2 years out: 18,230 (2027)
o 3 years out: 11,612 (2028)
Additionally, the Riviera Resort is scheduled to be closed from May through December 2026, with the potential to extend into 2027. This temporary closure will further impact available inventory and booking potential. For reference:
• 2024: 20,647 room nights booked (in-year and future years combined) • 2025: 17,899 room nights booked
Future Pace for 2026 shows the destination down by 1% year over year, with room nights on the books (RNS OTB) tracking 2,122 fewer room nights than same time last year. • Quarterly breakdown points to a stronger back half and a need and focus into the first half of the year:
•
Q1: Down -6%, (-6,457 room nights)
Q2: Down -23% (-14,535 room nights)
Q3: Up +13% (+4,376)
Q4: Up +56% (+14,494)

Future Pace for 2027-2029 are as follows:
• 2027: Up +3% (+2,835)
• 2028: Up +17% (+8,819)
• 2029: Up +43% (+8,064)
CBRE Hotel Market Forecast (as of November 2025)
2026 Outlook
• Overall market occupancy is expected to stay flat in 2026 at 60.6%, while the downside projects a decline of -3.4%.
• ADR is expected to grow 2.5% in 2026.
• RevPAR growth is expected to grow 2.2%.

HISTORICAL GOALS/2026 GOALS
2024
GOAL
2024

STRETCH
GOAL
2024
ACTUAL
2025
GOAL
2025

STRETCH
GOAL
2025
ACTUAL
2026
GOAL
2026

STRETCH
GOAL
ROOM
NIGHTS 207,000 225,000 237,182 228,500 235,000 262,061 250,000 260,000 LEAD
DISTRIBUTION 1,650 1,730 1,520 1,550 1,565 1620 1580 1600 NEW
BOOKINGS 290 305 268 275 290 284 280 290

NEW LEAD
DISTRIBUTION 870 885 797 805 825 849 835 850
Off-Peak Booking & Sales Focus: In 2026, Convention Sales will continue to prioritize offpeak and shoulder-season demand generation, with a deliberate focus on mid-week occupancy and long-term booking windows.

1. Track & Optimize Off-Peak Performance
Continue to closely track off-peak and mid-week bookings, using data and reporting tools to identify trends, conversion opportunities, and gaps by month, market, and industry segment.

2. Develop Mid-Week Advantage Offers
Launch a Mid-Week Advantage program featuring compelling value-add packages co-developed with hotel partners. Offers may include enhanced concessions, experiential add-ons, or destination incentives designed to increase mid-week occupancy during off-peak and shoulder seasons. These offers will be promoted through targeted newsletters, LinkedIn campaigns, and marketing promotions in collaboration with strategic partners.

3. Increase Off-Peak Conversion Through Enhanced Site Inspections Expand and elevate off-peak site inspections to improve close rates for meetings and events. In partnership with the Marketing and Brand teams, these experiences will more effectively showcase updated venues, resorts, and unique destination experiences that position Greater Palm Springs as a high-value, flexible off-peak option.

Sports Market: Sports tourism will remain a key driver of off-peak demand and economic impact.

1. Establish a Sports Advisory Committee
Assemble a local sports committee with key stakeholders to identify and pursue sports organizations and events that align with off-season availability. The committee will meet quarterly to align priorities, assess opportunities, and coordinate resources.

2. Dedicated Sports Incentive Fund
Allocate a dedicated fund to help offset operational or venue costs for highvalue sports events that deliver measurable room nights during off-peak periods.

3. Enhance Sports Value-Add Programming
Collaborate with hotels, attractions, and local businesses to create value-add offerings for visiting teams, families, and spectators—driving extended stays and increased local economic impact.

Partnership and Collaborations: Strategic destination partnerships will support rotational and multi-program business during off-peak periods.

1. Expand Palms-to-Palms Partnership
Continue to strengthen the partnership with The Palm Beaches CVB and Convention Center, focusing on rotational business opportunities and personalized client hand-offs that target off-peak and shoulder seasons.

2. Joint Client Engagement & Packaging
Host a minimum of three joint client events with The Palm Beaches to promote Palms-to-Palms opportunities. Develop a bundled value package for rotational programs designed to increase multi-year and multi-program bookings during shoulder seasons.

NEW Customer Advisory Board (Mentor/Mentee Structure): A new Customer Advisory Board (CAB) Leadership Exchange will be structured as a mentorship and knowledgesharing program that pairs experienced meeting planners with emerging professionals in the industry. Designed as an extension of the CAB, this program will position Visit Greater Palm Springs as an industry leader committed to talent development, longterm relationship building, and the future of meetings and events while gaining meaningful insights that cross generations.

Robust Travel Calendar & Client Events: Visit Greater Palm Springs will continue to execute a high-impact calendar of client events, tradeshows, and destination familiarization (FAM) trips designed to deepen relationships with meeting planners and decision-makers while showcasing the destination’s diverse venues, refreshed hotel product, and unique experiences. These in-market and outbound efforts are a critical component of the Convention Sales strategy, serving as both a relationship-building and conversion-driving tool.

Building on strong momentum, the team hosted 98 client engagements in 2025, reflecting a strategic activity aligned with off-peak demand generation and long-term booking windows. Collectively, these initiatives reinforce Visit Greater Palm Springs’

commitment to personalized service, proactive sales outreach, and positioning the destination as a premier, year-round meetings and events destination.

Key highlights included in our plans are participation in national and regional tradeshows such as IMEX, ASAE, and PCMA, alongside immersive client events and FAM experiences including the Palm Springs International Film Festival and a Spring FAM designed to showcase the destination firsthand. These efforts are further amplified through collaborative partner activations with organizations such as Visit California and partnerships with Palm Beaches CVB, extending reach and strengthening strategic partnerships.

As part of this approach, we encourage our hotels and resorts partners to proactively bring forward opportunities tied to high-profile client events, enabling Visit Greater Palm Springs to partner alongside them to extend reach, elevate the client experience, and maximize destination visibility.

Marketing & Sales Alignment: Convention Sales will continue to align closely with Marketing to elevate visibility and generate inbound demand.

1. Maximize Media & Partner Marketing Opportunities
Leverage media partnerships and strategic vendors to extend the reach of the “The Oasis Is Real” meetings campaign.

2. Refresh Campaign Assets
Update “The Oasis Is Real” with new video and photography highlighting refreshed meeting spaces, new and renovated hotel product, and immersive destination experiences.

3. Explore Co-Op Content Development
Evaluate and pursue co-op opportunities with hotel and resort partners to support joint video and photo production, expanding Visit Greater Palm Springs’ meetings asset library.

4. Elevate LinkedIn Thought Leadership
Increase LinkedIn activity with strategic content recapping tradeshows, sales missions, and destination FAMs—positioning Visit Greater Palm Springs as an industry expert, showcasing destination momentum, and driving planner interest and inbound leads.

_________________________________
Marketing
In 2025, Visit Greater Palm Springs advanced a comprehensive, multi-channel consumer advertising strategy to expand brand visibility, deepen audience engagement, and deliver measurable results across key drive and fly markets.

Collectively, these campaigns generated a total of 30.8B impressions across all platforms an increase of more than 800 million impressions year over year.

These campaigns elevated the destination’s profile nationally and internationally, supported tourism partners and stakeholders, strengthened community pride, and stimulated off-peak and year-round visitation, reinforcing Greater Palm Springs’ position as a premier travel destination.

BRAND HEALTH & AWARENESS: At the close of 2025, SMARI completed an Image and Awareness Study evaluating how Greater Palm Springs is perceived across key domestic and international markets. The study measured brand awareness, destination imagery, and consumer travel behaviors, including lodging preferences and travel motivations. These insights will directly inform future strategic planning, guide marketing investments, and ensure messaging remains aligned with the expectations of highvalue travelers.

Findings include:
• Emerging fly markets such as Atlanta, Salt Lake City, and Washington, D.C. experienced the most significant gains in destination perception following recent advertising investment.
• Brand perception gains are cumulative and long-term; Greater Palm Springs continues to see strong positive momentum since expanding its marketing footprint in 2018.
• Gateway markets reported the highest familiarity levels, with 74% of consumers indicating some level of awareness of Greater Palm Springs. • International consumers showed notable increases in familiarity, signaling growing global reach and awareness.
• Greater Palm Springs outperforms its competitive set on key product attributes— particularly as a destination for health and wellness and for offering a relaxing, rejuvenating atmosphere.

2026 Goals – Consumer
In 2026, Visit Greater Palm Springs will focus on further optimizing our variety of tactics and marketing strategies to further enhance brand visibility, audience engagement, and drive off-peak visitation. Below is an outline of our key objectives for 2026:

Brand Campaigns
• Escape Your Ordinary – The successful “Escape Your Ordinary” campaign will return in Fall 2026 for its planned third year, supported by refreshed creative assets informed by performance analysis and creative optimization. New photography will be incorporated to ensure fresh content and updated partner representation.
• NEW – Where You Shine: Launch the “Where You Shine” campaign with a focus on international markets and LGBTQ+ audiences, highlighting the destination’s unique positioning as an authentically welcoming and inclusive option for travelers. The campaign will include digital, social, and video assets deployed across all channels in international markets such as Canada and the UK, with additional creative specifically targeting LGBTQ+ audiences and running across LGBTQ+ media platforms. The campaign will also run on standard consumer channels as a test alongside the core brand campaign.

Digital Services
• NEW - Agency Evaluation – In Q4 2025, a comprehensive RFP was issued for Visit Greater Palm Springs’ digital services, with a three-phase approach for our CRM, CMS, and paid digital media, to ensure that we are aligned with the most effective and forward-thinking agency partners in these areas. In early 2026, we will finalize evaluations of each proposal to identify opportunities for shifts in our digital strategy, which may include one or more of these key phases. o Onboard any new agency partners that we agree to contract with, ensuring seamless integration into our digital ecosystem, alignment on goals and KPIs, and a coordinated rollout of new strategies and initiatives. ▪ Phase 1: Paid Services – Select in Q1 with a Q2 launch ▪ Phase 2: CMS – Review and launch by Q3
▪ Phase 3: CRM – Review and decision by Q4
Destination Pillar Support
• NEW - Video Series: “Escapes”
o Promote new series launched in December 2025 in collaboration with production company Part Time Genius. This six-episode series highlights key destination pillars through a fast-paced, voiceover-driven style and will be distributed across programmatic video channels, connected television, and social media.
• NEW – Social Media Video Series: In collaboration with Alle Pierce and Stefan Colson (our partners on the “Your Guide To Greater Palm Springs” social series from 2024/2025), we plan to create a social media video series, “Only in Greater Palm Springs,” focusing on creation of short-form, social-optimized content featuring 15 hyper-local experiences throughout Greater Palm Springs for both consumer and dineGPS channels.

o Each location will be captured in three distinct creative styles – talent-led with voiceover, short-form cinematic, and one utilizing current trending audio and a compilation format to drive engagement via saves and shares. Together, these three formats will allow us to test a variety of content styles across TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, and Facebook, maximizing performance based on our KPIs and providing a flexible bank of content that can be repurposed throughout the year. Performance insights from this testing will directly inform the VGPS team’s social media video creative strategy, revealing which messaging, formats, and hooks resonate most effectively by platform. • Culinary Experiences
o Promote annual Greater Palm Springs Restaurant Week with a dedicated media plan supported by refreshed photo and video assets highlighting participating restaurants.
o Continue to grow and promote the dineGPS Chef Series on social channels, featuring local restaurateurs and chef-owners. o Explore new ways to utilize the Visit Greater Palm Springs app to promote local restaurants, whether through our annual Summer Eats Pass or via other dining-centric promotions.
• Arts & Culture
o Continue promotion of the Oasis of Art campaign through visibility of our Visit Greater Palm Springs app as well as promotion of signature events, museums, and public art via digital advertising, ongoing video campaigns, and social channels.
• Health & Wellness
o Build upon the success of our inaugural Spa Month in 2025 with an expanded media plan.
o Produce new health and wellness video assets that highlight our resort spas and wellness offerings.
• NEW - Sports & Outdoor
o Promote Greater Palm Springs as premier destination for outdoor adventure and sports highlighting hiking, horse park, golf, polo, soccer, ice skating, tennis and pickleball.
o Create video content supporting this pillar with new social media series and summer social media for indoor sports
LGBTQ+ Audiences
• Continue to authentically represent LGBTQ+ travelers across all marketing materials, while exploring new advertising opportunities and partnerships to extend the reach of the “Where You Shine” campaign, particularly across video and digital platforms.
• Explore new and updated ways to provide co-op advertising opportunities to our LGBTQ+ and allied hotels, via Lavender Magazine or other publications and platforms.

Off-Peak Visitation
• NEW – Summer Brand + Social Media Campaign - Launch a new summer brand campaign that will build on the success of past campaigns like “Check In. Chill

Out.” and “Born to Chill.” An RFP was distributed in Fall 2025 to four qualified agencies, with three proposals in the evaluation/selection phase. The agency awarded the campaign will begin planning for production slated for spring with campaign deployment beginning in May 2026.
• Summer Television Co-Op – Produce up to ten new :30 commercial spots to enhance our overall brand campaign and provide cost-effective advertising opportunities for destination hotels, attractions, and city partners. • NEW - Explore opportunities to include nightlife and evening activities/events into summer campaign messaging.

NEW - Expedia Ambassador
• Greater Palm Springs’ is the sponsor and host destination for the highly sought after Expedia Ambassador Summit in February 2026. This will elevate destination visibility among top travel influencers and content creators and position the region as a year-round leisure destination. The Summit will be used to showcase key destination assets and activities to an audience with expansive reach across digital and social channels, driving increased visitation to the destination. o 40 total ambassadors will attend with an 11M combined reach and 530K average reach.
o The event will be hosted by the Parker Palm Springs with a vacation rental property as a featured dinner location.
o Visit Greater Palm Springs will attend key Summit events and present an Education Session about the destination as part of programming. o Expedia will promote Summit content across their channels (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest) in addition to influencer content. o Visit Greater Palm Springs will create a dedicated Expedia Travel Shop (recommendation hub and storefront for the destination) featured on the Expedia app for 30 days.

Live Sports
• NCAA – Acrisure Series: Build on the success of past sponsorships of the Acrisure Series by continuing to support this high-profile event, with the goal of increasing visibility and audience engagement to further position the destination as a premier sports and travel location.
o Support new dates for 2026 across both November and December games.
o Maintain branding at Acrisure Arena with Greater Palm Springs brand messaging and social handles, including full LED ring visibility, scoreboard signage, and prominent placement of court floor logo.
o Ensure inclusion of Greater Palm Springs brand commercials in game airings, maximizing reach to millions of live sports viewers. o Highlight destination offerings, including both group and leisure travel opportunities, through marketing efforts targeting visitor fans during Thanksgiving and early December.
• NEW - FIFA World Cup and 2028 Olympics: Coordinate new and ongoing targeted live sports placements as part of the overall television advertising strategy, intentionally leveraging moments when global attention is at its peak.

With billions of viewers actively engaged around the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Olympic Games, this approach positions Greater Palm Springs in front of a highly attentive, international audience actively consuming travel and destination content tied to these marquee events. The strategy focuses on driving awareness and future visitation across priority domestic and international feeder markets, while ensuring the destination is visible during culturally relevant, high-impact moments. Strategic partnerships and co-op opportunities with travel and media partners such as Expedia and similar platforms will be evaluated annually and integrated when they demonstrate strong audience alignment, premium placement, and measurable performance lift.

TED Partnership
Visit Greater Palm Springs will build on our successful TED partnership by sponsoring TED2026. This prestigious partnership provides unique opportunities to showcase Greater Palm Springs as a hub for innovation, inspiration, and connection to this highly influential audience. For the upcoming year, this sponsorship includes:
• Exclusive Travel Partner Sponsor – As the Exclusive Travel Partner Sponsor, Visit Greater Palm Springs will have prominent brand visibility throughout preconference communications (including on the TED website and newsletters) as well as logo placement throughout the conference venue. Last year’s conference included a highly influential audience of over 1,600 attendees representing 53 countries, a large portion of which are senior leaders and decision makers.
• Sponsorship Dinner: “Dine Around the World” dinner experience, with an invitation-only event with a targeted group of “c” suite attendees. This event focuses on curated conversations and networking.
• Social Media Exposure: Additional promotion across social media channels will part of the sponsorship, including a LinkedIn Live presentation post-conference, or similar opportunities. In addition, added value posts on Meta and LinkedIn channels will be included during the conference period. • NEW Restore Lounge - An immersive takeover of TED’s most frequented space:
the Restore Lounge—a calm, wellness-focused destination where attendees recharge throughout the five-day experience.
• NEW Content Production & Promotion – This targeted plan is valued at $250K and includes production and promotion of a 2-3 minute longform video and :15-30 cutdown spots for usage on Ted.com and YouTube as well as TED social channels (LinkedIn, Meta).
2026 Goals – International
Marketing initiatives in key international markets will continue to adapt to ongoing headwinds and potential shifts in the travel landscape in 2026.

Key Market Strategies:
o Canada: Expected decreases in visitation from Canada, Greater Palm Springs’ #1 international market caused by recent shifts in travel behavior driven by economic and political factors, currency exchange, and evolving traveler preferences. This has created some uncertainty around near-term outbound travel to the U.S. Scheduled flights from Canada to PSP continue to trend down slightly entering the winter season, and this trend is expected into 2026. We continue to maintain conversations with our Canadian airlines, uncover additional partnership opportunities, and reach out to our loyal Canadian visitors through targeted messaging, ongoing media partnerships, and seasonal promotions focused on wellness, signature events, and extended stays.
▪ NEW – Co-ops with Canadian airline partners:
▪ Porter Airlines – in partnership with PSP – create a campaign to encourage inbound and outbound Canadian travel –
▪ NEW – Brand USA Co-ops
• Air Miles (ran in 2025) or similar program Canada’s most recognized loyalty program
• Optimize Audience – utilizing Brand USA’s first party data with targeted ads and messaging
o UK / Ireland – Continue partnership with Finn Partners agency with an evolving media plan efforts that highlight our destination’s most impactful assets to travelers in these markets.
• AI Integration: Continue to utilize AI-based advertising platforms such as Google’s AI Max search feature (a key performance driver in 2025) as well as Demand Gen, which utilizes AI to create optimized digital ads. In partnership with Finn, new and emerging AI-based platforms and products
will be evaluated and tested.
o NEW – German Market Expansion – Expansion into the German market, while delayed in 2025, will be prioritized.
o NEW – Asia Market Expansion
▪ Launch China social media campaign to increase visibility and engagement in this key market.
o Brand USA Partnership
▪ Leverage Brand USA’s reach via Optimized Audience campaigns in markets like France, Germany, Mexico, Canada, and the UK, which utilize first-party data to reach international audiences during key timeframes throughout the year.
▪ Participate in specialized campaigns via Brand USA partners such as Canada Air Miles, Price Travel in Mexico, and other emerging opportunities.

2026 Goals – Vacation Rentals Marketing
Visit Greater Palm Springs will place a strong and visible emphasis on vacation rentals throughout its 2026 marketing strategy. This segment continues to play a critical role in attracting key visitor audiences, including luxury travelers seeking high-end private accommodations and families or multi-generational groups looking for more space, amenities, and shared experiences. Through targeted campaigns, dedicated creative assets, and close collaboration with industry partners, vacation rentals will remain central to driving visitation, generating economic impact, and supporting regional tourism goals.

Custom Campaigns Supporting Vacation Rentals
These customized campaigns are designed to reach high-value audiences and influence travel decisions during key periods.

Expedia Ambassador Program
• Vacation rentals will be featured prominently within the Expedia Ambassador Program, leveraging the reach of 40 top Expedia influencers. Their content will highlight properties that appeal to families, luxury travelers, and group travel— showcasing space, privacy, and amenities that differentiate vacation rentals from traditional accommodations.

VRBO Summer/Fall Campaign
• Building on three years of strong performance, the 2026 VRBO campaign will again promote vacation rental stays during essential need periods. This program is especially effective for reaching families and multi-generational travelers planning longer summer vacations, as well as luxury guests seeking premium rental homes. New creative and enhanced targeting will inspire both new and repeat bookings.

Content Partnerships
• Through premium partnerships, including Sunset Magazine and additional lifestyle media, vacation rentals will be showcased in year-round editorial content and photography. These placements naturally appeal to audiences researching family getaways, multi-generational gatherings, and upscale escapes with private pools, spacious layouts, and resort-style amenities.

Influencer Marketing
• Influencers will share authentic, relatable content demonstrating how vacation rentals enhance family travel, offer flexibility for groups, and provide elevated experiences for luxury audiences. This storytelling helps travelers picture themselves in unique homes, discovering neighborhoods, and enjoying the region together.

Collaboration with the STVR Advisory Group
• Continue to work closely with the STVR Advisory Group to identify and develop new marketing opportunities and expand Visit Greater Palm Springs’ media library.
• Leverage the group’s insights to align marketing strategies with evolving industry trends and community priorities.

Year-Round Integration Across Brand Campaigns
In addition to customized efforts, vacation rentals will maintain a continuous presence in Greater Palm Springs’ broader brand marketing.

Campaign Creative Integration
• Vacation rental imagery and messaging will appear across digital, native, video, and content placements in every season. This ensures rentals are consistently represented as a core lodging option—particularly appealing for luxury visitors and families who prioritize comfort, privacy, and unique experiences.

New Creative Asset Development
• Visit Greater Palm Springs will invest in refreshed photography, video, and campaign assets that highlight a broad range of rental options—from luxury estates to family-friendly homes. These assets will support major initiatives such as the summer brand campaign, new social media series, the VRBO partnership, and additional media programs throughout the year.

Data-Driven Insights and Optimization
Visit Greater Palm Springs continues to prioritize data-driven decision-making to maximize marketing performance, improve operational efficiency, and ensure responsible use of digital resources. In 2026, the organization will further strengthen its analytics and technology ecosystem by leveraging advanced measurement tools, optimizing media platforms, streamlining internal workflows, and reinforcing data privacy and compliance. These efforts ensure marketing investments are accountable, adaptable, and aligned with evolving consumer behavior and regulatory standards. • Arrivalist – With a full year of Arrivalist data now available, Visit Greater Palm Springs will deepen its understanding of campaign-driven visitation and traveler movement across key drive and fly markets. Insights will be used to evaluate channel and advertising effectiveness, refine audience targeting and geographic focus, optimize messaging, and inform future media planning and budget allocation to drive stronger ROI. Advertising measurement compares exposed visitators to unexposed visitors to calculate incremental lift impact advertising has on arrivals.
• NEW - Media Partner Consolidation & Optimization – As the digital advertising landscape continues to evolve, Visit Greater Palm Springs currently leverages multiple platforms and DSPs—including Basis (formerly Centro), Cadent (formerly AdTheorent), Sojern, Perion, and others—to execute campaigns across diverse channels and formats. In 2026, the organization will conduct a comprehensive

performance and efficiency review of these platforms to assess ROI, reduce redundancy, and identify opportunities for consolidation that improve effectiveness, streamline operations, and maximize media investment impact. • NEW - ITI Digital (Event Calendar Management) – ITI Digital will be used to modernize and streamline the Visit Greater Palm Springs event calendar by consolidating event submissions into a centralized dashboard. This will significantly reduce manual data entry, accelerate approvals, and enable faster, more accurate publishing—resulting in improved internal efficiency and an enhanced website experience for visitors.
• NEW - Osano (Data Privacy & Compliance) – Launched in 2025 and monitored continuously into 2026, Osano will support enhanced data privacy, consent management, and regulatory compliance across Visit Greater Palm Springs’ digital ecosystem. The platform allows for customization across varying state and international regulations, ensuring privacy-first practices are embedded into all digital marketing and website experiences.
2026 Goals – Website
The Visit Greater Palm Springs destination website continues to operate within a rapidly evolving digital environment shaped by major technological, behavioral, and regulatory shifts. In response, the team has proactively adapted by updating content for greater visibility within AI-generated search results, auditing and optimizing high-value pages, and aligning website strategy with how travelers now discover and consume information. The summary below outlines the broader industry dynamics influencing website performance and how VGPS is adjusting its approach in 2026.

Industry Context & Performance Trends
In 2025, the slowdown in website session growth and the decline in traditional on-site conversions were not unique to Visit Greater Palm Springs. These trends reflect structural changes affecting destination marketing organizations industry-wide, driven by evolving technology, shifting user behavior, and the normalization of demand following several years of extraordinary post-pandemic growth.

Privacy Laws & the Changing Digital Landscape
The digital ecosystem has also been significantly reshaped by expanded privacy regulations and the deprecation of third-party tracking, fundamentally altering how destinations measure performance and reach audiences online. • Increased Privacy Regulations such as GDPR, CPRA, and evolving state-level and international data laws have reduced the availability of user-level tracking and limited the effectiveness of traditional cookies.
• Consent-Based Tracking now governs a significant portion of website traffic, resulting in fewer measurable sessions, conversions, and attribution signals—particularly from international and privacy-conscious users.

• Loss of Third-Party Cookies has disrupted retargeting, frequency capping, and attribution models that previously drove website traffic and conversions. • Shift Toward First-Party Data has elevated the importance of owned channels such as email subscriptions, visitor guides, and partner referrals as more reliable, compliant performance indicators.

These changes do not reflect reduced traveler interest, but rather a new reality in which visibility, influence, and engagement increasingly occur beyond the website and outside traditional analytics frameworks.

Digital Shifts Impacting Website Performance
• The travel planning journey has fundamentally changed. Travelers no longer rely solely on destination websites as their primary planning tool. Discovery increasingly occurs through AI-powered search results, social platforms, influencer content, and third-party travel tools—often before, or without, a website visit. • Traditional website metrics are declining across the industry. Year-over-year decreases in sessions and pageviews reflect changes in how users consume destination content directly within external platforms, rather than diminished destination relevance.
• AI-powered discovery has reshaped visibility and engagement. In 2025, AI-driven discovery increased its share of total search exposure by an estimated 240%, as Google’s AI Overviews began surfacing destination content directly within search results, creating meaningful off-site visibility without corresponding click-throughs.

Key Factors Driving the Shift

1. Impact of Google AI Overviews
Google’s AI-generated search results now answer many travel-related queries directly on the search page, often directing users to hotels, attractions, or booking platforms without visiting destination websites. This has led to fewer organic clicks and pageviews across the sector, while still supporting traveler decision-making and demand.

2. Shifting Traffic Dynamics
Following the post-pandemic surge, industry traffic has stabilized as travel demand normalizes and media costs increase. With a higher baseline, year-over-year growth appears flatter, and achieving incremental gains now requires significantly greater investment. Despite this, VGPS continues to outperform industry benchmarks in several engagement metrics.

3. Evolving User Behavior
Travelers increasingly favor mobile-first search, social discovery, and AI-powered tools that deliver fast, targeted answers. Shorter planning windows and closer-in booking behavior result in fewer research-heavy sessions and lower pages per visit—reflecting efficiency, not disengagement.

What This Means
Traditional website metrics such as sessions and on-site conversions are no longer reliable as standalone indicators of success. These industry-wide shifts underscore the need to diversify channels, redefine performance benchmarks, and evaluate success through both on-site and off-site influence.

Despite these external headwinds, Visit Greater Palm Springs continues to outperform industry benchmarks in engagement time, pages per session, and paid media conversion rates, reinforcing the strength of the brand and content strategy. 2026 Website Measurement Approach
In 2026, Visit Greater Palm Springs will transition toward a more qualitative, intent-based framework for website success. Performance will be defined not solely by traffic volume, but by content quality, discoverability, clarity, usefulness, and alignment with traveler intent across the full digital ecosystem.

Internal tracking will continue to include:
• Users and sessions
• Conversion rates
• Search impressions and visibility
• Engagement signals (time on page, visitor guide sign-ups, partner referrals) Qualitative Website Success Priorities
• Implement an AI Content SOP to guide creation and updates of all web content, ensuring pages are structured for AI visibility, featured snippets, tables, and search summaries.
• Measure organic search impressions and AI referral traffic year over year to understand how often VGPS content appears in AI-generated results. • Grow first-party data, with an emphasis on newsletter subscriptions and owned audience development influenced by paid media.
• Ensure content clearly supports traveler inspiration, trip planning, and decisionmaking. • Maintain consistent alignment with Visit Greater Palm Springs brand pillars and strategic priorities.

Traditional metrics like sessions and conversions are less reliable as standalone measures.

These challenges and shifts are industry-wide affecting DMOs everywhere, underscoring the importance of diversifying channels to maintain visibility and impact. Traditional website metrics, such as sessions and on-site conversions, are becoming less reliable as standalone indicators of success.

Despite these external headwinds, VGPS continues to outperform industry benchmarks in engagement time, pages per session, and paid media conversion rates.

2026 WEBSITE GOALS
2024 GOAL 2024 ACTUAL 2025 GOAL 2025-ACTUAL 2026 GOAL
Users 2,604,355 2,935,311 3,082,076 2,756,174 Track only Sessions 3,329,649 3,807,485 3,997,589 3,631,440 Track only Key Pages
Engaged 1,174,048 1,267,972 959,127 Track only
Action 615,733 634,204 462,458 Track only
2026 Goals - Social Media
Social media remains a core pillar of Visit Greater Palm Springs’ marketing strategy serving as a powerful, high-impact channel to inspire travel, spark aspiration, and motivate real-time trip planning. As consumer discovery continues to shift toward visual, social-first platforms, social media allows the destination to showcase its personality, experiences, and year-round appeal in authentic, engaging ways.

Through compelling storytelling, creator partnerships, and timely, culturally relevant content, Visit Greater Palm Springs uses social media to influence traveler intent, reinforce brand positioning, amplify partner experiences, and drive demand across both peak and off-peak seasons—meeting travelers where they are and inspiring them to turn inspiration into action.
2025 SOCIAL MEDIA GOALS
@VISITGREATERPS
@dineGPS
(TOTAL COMBINED)
2024
GOAL
2024 ACTUAL
(Includes
LWK&M)
2024
ACTUAL
(Excludes
LWK&M)
2025
GOAL
2025
ACTUAL
2025

ACTUALS
(excludes
viral)
2026
GOAL
Impressions 53,000,000 57,043,596 56,487,684 57,500,000 65,906,441 64,909,441 68,676,077 Video Views 9,250,000 16,745,597 15,617,086 15,800,000 28,570,109 20,374,367 21,298,642 Website Clicks 221,500 264,955 264,955 266,000 354,255 354,255 300,000 Engagement 1,384,854 1,323,172 1,330,000 1,632,618 1,390,777 1,462,483 Goals were calculated with a 5% increase, organically and paid, from 2025. Website clicks are reduced from 2025 actuals, but higher than the 2025 goal, as nearly 70,000 resulted from UK Meta campaigns that are currently paused in 2026.

Each platform plays a different role in the traveler journey, and our goal is to better align our Paid Social campaigns by platform and KPI goal • TikTok: Reach, awareness, video views, etc. (upper funnel) • Pinterest: Discovery and planning stages Mid funnel awareness and traffic • Meta: Full funnel + retargeting, lookalikes, strong conversions and traffic driver

Integrate AI for Efficiencies
o Trellis Beta – Releasing in January 2026, AI Agent that will turn social data into insights. VGPS will explore how to apply this to current workflows in 2026. o Generate ideas for multi-platform distribution from one piece of content Key Drivers

1. Organic Social Media

2. Paid Social Media

3. Collaborations with influencers

4. International social media
Assumptions
• International social media will remain paused beyond Pinterest in Q1 and will be reviewed quarterly to restart.

_________________________________
PR/Communications
The 2026 PR/Communications Plan builds on the foundation established in 2025, advancing Greater Palm Springs’ national and international reputation through highquality earned media, deeper media relationships, and strategic alignment with destination priorities. The plan continues to emphasize off-peak travel, air access, meetings and conventions, and community stewardship—while placing increased focus on credibility, consistency, and long-term impact.

Success will be measured not just by volume of coverage, but by the quality of storytelling, strength of media relationships, and alignment with Visit Greater Palm Springs’ economic, cultural, and community goals.

Domestic Strategy
Goal: Strengthen national earned media visibility while reinforcing Greater Palm Springs’ positioning as a year-round, multi-dimensional destination.

Key Focus Areas:

National Destination Storytelling
• Elevate coverage across wellness, arts and culture, architecture, outdoor experiences, culinary and agritourism, and film/creative industries. • Ensure earned media reflects the destination’s depth beyond leisure travel.

Air Service Awareness
• Continue promoting PSP accessibility and expanded air service. • Secure targeted national placements tied to air service, meetings, and sports.

Meetings & Events
• Strengthen earned media positioning for meetings, conventions, and events. • Highlight wellness ROI, accessibility, and creative meetings. • Support sales milestones, site visits, IMEX, and IGLTA through coordinated PR.

Off-Peak & Midweek Travel
• Continue promoting travel during May–December.
• Align earned media storytelling with shoulder-season marketing efforts.

Film & Creative Industries
• Support Film Oasis and film-related earned media through targeted press visits and FAMs.

Economic Development:
• Promote “Thrive & Shine” and Greater Palm Springs as a place to live, work, invest, and innovate, not just visit.
• Support business attraction and retention efforts by positioning the region as a hub for entrepreneurship, creative industries, remote work, sports, and innovation.
• Secure earned media that highlights quality of life, workforce talent, infrastructure, and regional collaboration as key economic advantages. • Align PR storytelling with economic development priorities, including air service expansion, sports tourism, meetings, film, and emerging industries.

Tactics:
• Maintain a steady national media outreach cadence across top-tier and midtier outlets such as Travel & Leisure, Wall Street Journal, LA Times, Seattle Magazine. Wanderlust and Rob Report.
• Host 75 individual press visits with tailored storylines. • Execute 6 targeted group FAMs (leisure, meetings, Film Oasis, Desert Region). • Deploy themed pitch toolkits to support meetings, wellness, and accessibility narratives.
• Conduct quarterly proactive outreach to priority domestic media.

Metrics:
• 70–80% of coverage aligned with at least one strategic pillar. • 95 meetings, tourism development, and MICE placements. • 10 high-quality placements tied to air service, meetings, and sports. • Average PR Quality Score of 7+ across domestic coverage.

International Strategy
Goal: Maintain consistent international market presence by promoting luxury experiences, ease of travel, and cultural depth in priority global markets.

Canada – Priority Market Focus (2026)
Objective: Increase awareness of Greater Palm Springs in Canada as an easy, welcoming, year-round escape destination.

Key Focus Areas & Tactics:
• Focus on maintaining strong relationships with key media in Canadian market • Increase awareness of Greater Palm Springs as a year-round escape that is welcoming

• Pursue additional broadcast and high-impact media opportunities, including lifestyle and travel programming.
• Remain agile and responsive to timely editorial and partnership opportunities in the market.
• Metrics:

Contribute to overall international placement and PR Quality Score targets
• Secure broadcast or digital-broadcast exposure when feasible Other Priority International Markets
Objective: To garner additional media coverage from the UK & Ireland, France, Germany, Australia, Canada, Mexico, India, and select Asia markets.

Luxury, Culture & Adventure
• Showcase high-end resorts, cultural events, architecture, and outdoor adventure.
• Continue promoting Modernism Week and other globally relevant events.

Ease of Travel
• Reinforce PSP connectivity and seamless travel experiences. • Align messaging with Visit California and Brand USA campaigns.

Tactics:
• Conduct media missions aligned with Visit California and Brand USA. • Host 3 international FAMs focused on luxury, culture, and adventure. • Maintain updated international media toolkits through agency partners.

Metrics:
• Host 3 international FAMs.
• Secure 10 top-tier international placements.
• Maintain an average PR Quality Score of 7+ for international coverage.

Strategic Partnership
Partner with Italy’s Mille Miglia event to establish a meaningful VGPS presence at the 2026 event while strategically exploring the opportunity to bring the race—or a future stage or affiliated experience—to Greater Palm Springs and potentially California.

This partnership will focus on immersive participation rather than passive sponsorship, allowing VGPS to experience the event firsthand and gain insight into its operations, culture, audience, and brand alignment. While on site, VGPS will host targeted dinners and lunches with select international media, influencers, sponsors, and top-tier participants including potential drivers—to build relationships and position Greater Palm

Springs as a future host destination. The program will also explore bespoke gifting opportunities for drivers and key participants that reflect the design, luxury, and lifestyle identity of Greater Palm Springs. In potential collaboration with Visit California, VGPS will use the Mille Miglia experience as a proof-of-concept for how this iconic event could translate to a California setting, helping build a case for broader statewide involvement. Additionally, VGPS will explore the giveaway of a themed travel package tied to the winner of a specific stage of the race, driving both near-term awareness and long-term positioning of the destination as a natural home for a future Mille Miglia experience.

Live Sports
FIFA World Cup 2026Objective: Leverage World Cup momentum and global media attention to position Greater Palm Springs as a place to escape, reset, and recharge after attending this high-energy events, capitalizing on when travelers are consuming regional content.

Focus Areas:
• Collaborate with the Marketing team to create earned media opportunities highlighting wellness, balance, and open space.
• Use World Cup-related awareness windows to elevate destination storytelling without competing with host-city narratives.
• Coordinate with international offices and the domestic PR agency to monitor and act on relevant opportunities.
2026 KPIs:
• Earned media placements aligned with World Cup timing • Coverage supporting escape and wellness messaging
LA28 Olympic & Paralympic Games
Objective: Position Greater Palm Springs as an engaged and values-aligned participant in the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Focus Areas:
• Continue efforts to work with the LA28 Olympic organizing committee to bring the Torch Relay and/or related activations to Greater Palm Springs. • Use LA28 as a platform for earned media storytelling centered on community pride, wellness, inclusivity, and creativity.
• Collaborate with Marketing, international offices, and the domestic PR agency to remain alert to emerging opportunities.
2026 KPIs:
• Earned media visibility connected to LA28-related moments • Coverage reinforcing Greater Palm Springs’ role within the broader Southern California Olympic narrative

Agency Alignment & Accountability
Goal: Ensure domestic and international agencies operate as strategic, accountable partners.

Key Focus Areas:
• Quarterly planning and alignment with all PR agencies. • Ongoing evaluation of qualitative and quantitative performance. • Maintain updated media toolkits and pitch frameworks.

Metrics:
• Annual performance review.
• Issue Domestic PR Agency RFP in alignment with VGPS five-year review protocol.

Community & Destination Alignment
Goal: Strengthen community trust, regional storytelling, and stewardship across inclusivity, accessibility, and sustainability.

Key Focus Areas:

Community Understanding & Stakeholder Engagement
• Increase clarity around VGPS’s role in economic impact and workforce support • Support partner and community events through storytelling.

Regional Storytelling Across Nine Cities
• Ensure earned media reflects Greater Palm Springs as a connected, multi-city destination.
• Develop city- and region-focused story angles in collaboration with partners.

Diversity, Inclusion & Accessibility
• Continue highlighting Certified Autism Destination status • Amplify Indigenous heritage, workforce development, and inclusive tourism initiatives.

Sustainability & Thought Leadership
• Integrate sustainability and DEIA authentically into earned media narratives.

Crisis Planning & Preparedness
• Build on 2025 Crisis Communications learnings.
• Develop proactive crisis playbooks to support partners and stakeholders.

Tactics:
• Host 2 stakeholder workshops.
• Distribute 2 communications toolkits.
• Publish 2 thought leadership pieces.
• Develop 2 Crisis Playbooks based on 2025 learnings.

Metrics:
• Earned coverage representing all nine cities.
• 2 placements tied to DEIA or sustainability.
• Increased stakeholder alignment and message consistency. 2026 EARNED MEDIA GOALS
*Out of the 11,813 score:
• 1214 can be attributed to IGLTA media
• 1224 can be attributed to one story (This Palm Springs Hotel Blends Mid-Century Cool with Unexpected Value” that was syndicated 136 times • 402 can be attributed to one story (The Year that was and get set for 2026) that was syndicated 67 times
*2024 Goals far exceeded due to media exposure from LIVE with Kelly & Mark and London Design Festival.
• PR Quality Score is a point-based system of evaluating the quality of media.

Media is rated on a scale of 1-12 based on story type, media tier, visuals, URL, DMO mention, and reader response. This is done through an internal point scoring system.

Consumer
Earned Media
2024
GOAL
2024
ACTUAL
2025
GOAL
2025
ACTUAL
2026
GOAL
PR Quality Score 6,900 10,850* 8,500 11,813* 9,200
Media
Outreach/Assists 2,550 2,724 2,700 3,346 3,200
Media Value Tracking $98,732,755 Tracking 109,879,936 Tracking CS Earned Media
Earned Media
Placements 75 83 90 116 120

_________________________________
Tourism Development
The Tourism Development team promotes Greater Palm Springs as a desired location to travel trade clients and airline network planners across all global markets, focusing on attracting tourism and enhancing air service to our destination. By focusing on these strategies and initiatives, Tourism Development aims to drive measurable growth, expand market reach, and position Greater Palm Springs as a premier global destination.

Forecasters predict demand for 2026 to be driven by major events like the FIFA World Cup and the nation's 250th anniversary, which will boost international arrivals and business travel. Domestic leisure travel will remain strong, but growth is expected to slow, and consumer caution is increasing due to economic and political uncertainty.

Challenges:

The biggest concerns for the travel industry in 2026 are expected to be from economic uncertainty and consumer caution, supply-side operational constraints (like labor shortages), and geopolitical and policy issues. The Tourism Development team will also be closely monitoring these other potential challenges and adjusting strategies as needed; Full or partial government shutdowns - Ease and costs of obtaining a Visa for travel to the U.S. - Negative perceptions at our international borders - Traveler concerns due to possible enhanced screening procedures at U.S. borders - Brand USA funding - Possible rising entrance fees at US national parks for non-residents. 2026 Travel Trade Goals
The U.S., Canada, and Mexico source markets represent a significant amount of our visitors in our peak season. Our B2B efforts will focus on high value guest stays, increasing average length of stays, promoting ancillary destination experiences and niche travel segments.

The overseas markets are vital for our summer and fall need periods and require consistent and long-term programming, despite any current geo-political or economic issues. We will continue to strengthen destination awareness with a main goal of driving visitation during our off-peak periods. Primary markets are the U.K., France, Germany, and Australia with secondary markets consisting of Scandinavia, India, Ireland, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, South Korea, China, Japan, Brazil, and Southeast Asia. • NEW - Event Tourism: Targeted marketing, client events, new itinerary development, trainings, etc. to raise destination awareness in countries assigned to World Cup matches on the U.S. West Coast and Western Canada. Additional

focus related to visitation around America 250, Summer Olympics and the Route 66 Centinel celebrations.
• NEW - Summer Activity Offerings: Develop a SWOT analysis of four comp set destinations to compare the depth and breadth of activities and experiences offered in the summer and fall periods while also sharing findings with our partners.
• NEW - Resilient Markets: Initiate and expand client engagement and programming in markets (Eastern Europe, Middle East, Southeast Asia, Brazil demonstrating less travel resilience with current geo-political and economic challenges.
• Client FAMS and Destination Trainings: Destination awareness through hosted FAMS, partnerships with Visit California, Visit USA Committees, and Brand USA. • Collaborative Itineraries: Work with regional DMOs to develop and promote unique, multi-regional itineraries directly to the travel trade. • Educational Webinars: Conduct GPS Next International Edition webinars allowing partners to meet face-to-face with clients across all global markets. • Robust Program of Work: Provide partners with opportunities to engage in person with key travel trade clients through organized programs. • Market-Specific Goals & Programming: Execute targeted destination trainings, client engagements, events, and marketing efforts through full-time representation offices in the U.K., France, Germany, and Australia. Programming in secondary and emerging overseas markets via project contracts with inmarket Visit California agencies. • Vacation Rental Focus: Increase awareness of vacation rental options via destination training and marketing campaigns.
• Cultural and Bespoke Campaigns: Develop campaigns with cultural and tailored experiences to keep Greater Palm Springs top-of-mind globally. • Inspirational Marketing Campaigns: Develop targeted campaigns with strategic alignment addressing country or region-specific travel behavior and perceptions across Europe, Asia, Mexico and Canada.
• Foster Relationships: Build strong client connections through sales missions, client FAMS, and participation in relevant trade shows.

Quantitative Goals – Travel Trade
• Marketing Campaigns
 Execute 25 measurable B2B2C marketing campaigns leveraging multiple channels like digital, print, webinars, and more. Align campaigns with Visit GPS, Visit California, and Brand USA to amplify ROI.
• Sales Missions, Trade Shows, Client Events, Destination Trainings  Attend 100 travel trade programs domestically and internationally, including one consumer show supporting the Desert Region. • Client FAMS and Destination Visits
 Host 100 key travel trade clients through FAMS and destination visits, prioritizing accounts that drive off-peak occupancy.

_________________________________

AIR SERVICE
2026 Goals
Air Service remains an important focus as we will continue to utilize the resources of our aviation consultant, Ailevon Pacific, while partnering with Palm Springs International Airport to responsibly grow air service for both visitors and residents. With a long-range goal of positioning Greater Palm Springs as an alternative gateway to the Southwest while also driving tourist demand in our off-peak periods, we will work to support the airport’s updated Master Plan to better serve new markets, including non-stop, and future overseas routes.

Tactics:
• NEW - Develop a tailored incentive plan (MRGs, marketing, reduced landing fees, etc.) for extended seasonal flights, and / or new routes. • NEW - Implement a new GPS Next Aviation webinar, twice a year, to educate partners on current air service development projects, industry trends, airport updates, etc.
• Season extension and / or year-round: Chicago, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Northeast, Minneapolis, Chicago, and Houston.
• Increase capacity & focus on success: U.S. Northeast and Mid-Atlantic markets. • Pursue new seasonal, nonstop flights based upon data and research/ visa/ leakage/ markets. Examples: Detroit, Spokane, Philadelphia, Kansas City, St.

Louis, Omaha, and Indianapolis.
• Capitalize and leverage the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics to position Greater Palm Springs as an alternative gateway to the Southwest for these events, which help to drive demand during off-peak times. • Proactive communication with airline network planners on airport incentives, destination events, and new products.
• Continue to build relationships with network planners of foreign based carriers • Support PSP’s master plan for an FIS / Customs & Border Patrol. • Work with VGPS Marketing team in co-op destination marketing with airlines, including frequent flyer marketing opportunities.
• Maintain presence at airline industry conferences while making personal visits to airline headquarters.
• Prepare for future international service, advocate for an FIS to allow for new air service from secondary Canadian markets, Mexico, and Europe. • Continue to focus on Canadian recovery and supporting Canadian carries with marketing.

_________________________________
Regional Collaboration

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Market the Region
• Promote “Thrive & Shine” brand
o Launch new campaign to market the Valley as a Lifestyle Destination to attract investment, work force talent (medical), entrepreneurs and remote workers. Highlight our lifestyle amenities, climate, and cultural richness as assets for talent attraction and business relocation. o Highlight local industry “ambassadors” in target industry clusters • Publish 12 blog posts for the Economic Development blog • Distribute two regular economic development newsletters. o One monthly local focused for partners and stakeholders o One quarterly economic development “sales” focused newsletter to clients and sales leads - launch in q2
▪ Develop and implement email lead generation plan (LinkedIn campaign, research buying lists, conference email lists, etc.) • Create at least four organic “thought leadership” content for LinkedIn, in addition to targeted LinkedIn advertising
• Earn at least 1 tier one media placement focused on regional economic development
• Earn at least 25 media placements that highlight regional economic development
• Participate in at least 2 speaking or thought leadership presentation opportunities a year including conference panels, podcasts, interviews, industry group presentations, and more.
• Attend at least the following trade shows to market GPS for economic development:
o Meet the Consultants
o Select USA
o Site Selectors Guild Fall Forum
• Plan and execute at least 8 site and/or FAM tours for site selectors, CEO’s, developers, and others with potential to bring business to the Coachella Valley. o Integrate appropriate clients with other planned FAMs o Utilize tickets/passes from existing sponsorships
• Directly assist at least 6 companies interested in establishing a new presence or expanding in Greater Palm Springs
• Support VGPS sales in targeting Business and Innovation Events o Use resorts and conference centers to attract industry summits, investor forums, and startup showcases.

Placemaking & Development
• Advocate for the Greater Palm Springs Legislative Platform priorities with local, state, and federal lawmakers and agencies to improve infrastructure and reduce barriers for development and support industries
• Identify location, funding, and partnership for an indoor amateur sports facility with groundbreaking in 2027
• Support foreign trade zone utilization and expansion & foreign direct investment for the region
• Provide targeted recommendations to City Managers and Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) members on high-value industry conferences to attend, and actively support their participation: such as the Entertainment Experience Conference and ICSC Las Vegas.

Workforce Development
• Meet at least once a year with industry cluster groups or individual employers to understand workforce development needs and successes
• Work with CSUSB and UCR to Establish Joint Research and Workforce Initiatives o Focus on lithium tech, sustainability, Agtech, and advanced manufacturing.
• Work with OneFutureCV to Support Dual Enrollment and Early College Pathways o Partner with high schools to expose students to higher education programs earlier.
• Identify and engage existing efforts that function as a Regional Talent Consortium, and explore opportunities to amplify, align, and strengthen their collective impact.
o Align curriculum, internships, and job placement across COD, UCR, and CSUSB.
o Host at least one meeting with these organizations to discuss • Research funding and support for a “Stay Local” Fellowship Program: Providing paid internships and mentorships with local employers for recent grads.

Research & Reports
• Facilitate presentations of the Coachella Valley EDSP and promote it to local governments, non-profits, and industry partners to identify Lead agencies for each action item.
• Support Creative Economy Development Plan and share with partners when completed
• Create data/report tool for development support
• Provide JobsEQ and other relevant on-demand data for developers, site selectors, and partners

Events & Engagement
• Host quarterly TAC roundtables
• Develop Advisory Council to support funding and provide feedback and industry support
o Meet quarterly
• Explore Regional Business Concierge Program
o Gather information on what is currently happening in each city for streamlined permitting, licensing, and site selection support o Promote on website
• Develop a Shared Business Incentives Toolkit Online
o Share a guide of all tax credits, fee waivers, and infrastructure support to reduce friction for investors and entrepreneurs.
• Explore options for a model ordinance or consultant that can help Standardize Zoning and Development Review Processes to Promote consistency in land use regulations and timelines across cities.
• Establish a Valley-Wide Business Retention Task Force o Host quarterly
o Coordinate outreach and support for existing employers to prevent relocation or closure.
• Explore Economic Development event partnerships with State of the Fourth District, Commercial Real Estate Event, Off-Season Wellness Festival, or arts & culture event
• Plan study tours for REACH and Greater Phoenix/Scottsdale and invite TAC or other partners
2026 GOALS 2026 Stretch
Revenue $50,000 $65,000
Blog Posts 12 15
Tier 1 Media Placements 1 3
Other Media Placements 25 35
Thought Leadership
Panels, podcast, op-ed
4 6
LinkedIn
LinkedIn Followers 400 450
Impressions
Engagements
Website Clicks
Video Views
397,000
700
12,600
72,200
435,000
800
15,000
82,000

_________________________________
Tourism Foundation & Workforce
Development
Expand Scope
• Continue to facilitate rebranding of the Foundation to reflect expanded mission:
o Create narrative and talking points to launch the TEAM GPS Foundation o Create donor schedule and campaigns to leverage social media o Facilitate dynamic, engaging creation of content for social media reflecting impact of the foundation
• Complete updated annual impact report and publish on website. • Expand Foundation board, update board members role & responsibilities document, create board orientation document
Foundation Fundraising
• Diversify funding streams for the Foundation to support expanded workforce development and youth engagement programs:
o Pursue grant opportunities aligned with foundation priorities – work with a Grant Writer to identify these opportunities
o Explore sponsorship opportunities with local events and organizations to amplify program impact
• Maximize sponsorship and stakeholder experience to produce major fundraising events:
o Champions of Hospitality
o Golf Tournament
• Create a new fundraising event to align with Restaurant Week – Chef/Student Dinner featuring student culinary programs that pairs local Chefs with students from these programs
Champions Program
• 16 in-person training classes at VGPS or at partner sites • Promote online Champions training
o Create and implement a strategy to market to groups – focus on workforce for seasonal and/or events (e.g. Modernism, BNP, Date Festival, etc.) • Develop two new 1-hour TEAM GPS 2.0 training courses with .ppt decks / online delivery
o Topics:
▪ The 4 Cs of Sustainability

▪ Inclusion and Accessibility
• Enhance engagement with the Ambassador network in 2026 through:
o 6 mixers/experiential events
o 6 Huddle Webinars
o 2 bus tours
• Ambassador benefits
o Source opportunities and deliver information via email to TEAM GPS Ambassadors
o Total of 20 opportunities to experience free events and/or discount admission to attractions
• Form an Ambassador Network Volunteer Steering Group of current TEAM GPS Champions, as appropriate, to strengthen engagement, enhance events and experiences, and provide ongoing feedback.

Youth Engagement
• Facilitate year 3 of “Passport to Leadership” high school summer leadership program
o At least 12 students
o Expand curriculum to include industry clusters identified by ED priorities • Host year 2 of Student Hospitality Day in partnership with all three school districts to expose high school students to careers in hospitality o Expand engagement to 120 students
• Provide mentorship and guidance to Young Professionals Advisory Board so that they can produce (1) awareness building/fundraising event in 2026 • Support hospitality industry conference attendance for college hospitality students
o 2 from COD for Visit CA’s Outlook Forum
o 2 from CSUSB for DI’s Annual Convention
o 1 student to attend CalTravel’s Advocacy Day
Supporting Scholars & Students
• Continue to support of OneFuture and school district collaborations as Co-Chair of OneFuture’s Business Engagement Committee:
o Explore production co-op to create content for Economic Development featuring CTE pathways and academies across the 3 school districts o Continue to manage Scholarship Program – college scholars, CVHS Tourism Academy, and study abroad scholarships
Workforce Training & Leadership Development
• Continue to manage partnership with College of the Desert’s PaCE Program:
o Promote Essentials Leaders program
o Launch Visionary Leaders program
• Join COD Palm Springs campus Hospitality Working Group to ensure hospitality curriculum and programs at new campus align with industry needs • Host quarterly Workforce Readiness Committee meetings

• Convene a meeting with organizations in the Coachella Valley focused on providing Leadership Training and Education Programs to align priorities and pathways
• Explore State and County pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship opportunities to unlock funding for the Foundation and other Coachella Valley organizations Promoting Hospitality Careers & Pathways
• Via:
o Social media
o Website updates
o Media campaigns
_________________________________
Stewardship
Sustainability
Visitor-Focused Sustainability Content
• Continue the “Sustainable Stories” social media series to promote Greater Palm Springs as a sustainability-driven destination.
o 4 reels a year
Sustainability Thought Leadership
• Work with Communications & Finn Partners on opportunities to present at conferences like NYC’s Climate Action Week in September 2026 Group Sales Market Sustainability Focus
• Equip partner hotels to competitively address sustainability in Group Sales:
o Continue to deliver sustainability presentation – The 4 Cs of Sustainability during Sales Missions and offer direct consultation with meeting planners to align with their sustainability priorities.
o Promote the Sustainable Meetings Toolkit, including:
o A Sustainability Webinar
o A Sustainability Checklist
o The PCMA Whitepaper
o Ensure these resources are hosted on a dedicated Sustainability page within the Meetings site.

Partnership with Kind Traveler
• Provide support to onboard 5 additional properties to Kind Traveler program and amplify its impact to support local non-profits.

Cultural Tourism
Accessibility Promotion
• Finalize and promote 30 total businesses and Greater Palm Springs being “Destination Verified” by Wheel the World
• Develop Accessibility focused webinar for partners
Certified Autism Destination
• Add 10 more Certified Autism Centers in 2026
• Promote autism certification grant program through foundation Inclusion Training
• Organize comprehensive training for VGPS staff and partners to deepen understanding of inclusion and the diverse experiences of travelers, ensuring a welcoming environment for all – work with Dr. Bella and IGLTA Gender Diverse Advisory on training for partners and staff
• Co-author journal article with Dr. Bella Vongvisitsin from Hong Kong Metropolitan University on “Visit Greater Palm Springs’ initiatives in promoting a sense of community and engaging with youths, especially those from LGBTQ+ backgrounds.”
Support for Underserved Communities
• Promote partnership with Caravanserai Project to support a cohort of local artists and artisans with business training and opportunities to expand their networks and visibility.
o Create visitor facing content featuring artists
o Plan and facilitate showcase event in the Fall of 2026 to highlight this partnership
Advocacy
Legislative Advocacy
• Pursue funding for priority initiatives in the 2026 Legislative Platform:
o Workforce development training programs
o Grants to support businesses in becoming autism-certified • Promote SB 346 cleanup bill to include JPA’s
• Monitor legislation and promote 2026 Legislative Platform • Meet at least once with key legislators and government representatives to share legislative priorities
Regional Sustainability Initiatives
• Engage with Blue Zones initiatives in Palm Springs/Coachella and report to staff/board/partners on initiatives and opportunities.
o Highlight in at least 2 blog or social posts
• Participate in CVAG meetings of Sustainability Directors from the member cities, and Riverside County to strategize and align sustainability goals to create a unified regional approach.

Vacation Rental Education/Research
Refresh local “One Coachella Valley: Short-term rental, Long-term benefits” Campaign • Utilize results of 2025 Coachella Valley Resident Survey to refresh campaign creative and messaging.
• Promote the benefits of well-regulated vacation rentals to the local community. • Enhance awareness and support for vacation rentals as a positive contributor to the Coachella Valley.

Partnership with Rent Responsibly
• Create location regulations guide and share with real estate agents and hosts • Host 2 in-person and 2 online host education webinars with Rent Responsibly o Explore “host verification” program with Rent Responsibly to highlight good operators
Stakeholder & Partner Engagement
• Provide annual STVR TBID marketing update for stakeholders • Meet with all 9 cities and the county at least once to discuss TBID collection and help improve processes
• Meet at least once with Airbnb and Expedia to discuss TBID collection Restaurant Week & Spa Month
Restaurant Week 2026
May 29 – June 7
• At least 120 restaurant participating
• Host restaurant bootcamp to support participating restaurants • Add 2 additional sponsors
• Maintain sponsorship from all nine cities at some level Spa Month 2026
• Add sponsorship levels and secure at least 5 sponsors • Host Spa Month bootcamp to support participating spas • At least 40 participating spas or wellness events
Partnership & Community Engagement
Continued No-Cost Benefits
• Maintain free benefits for tourism-related businesses in the Coachella Valley, including:
o Basic website listings.
o Invitations to partner events.
o Brochure distribution in the Visitor Center.
o Opportunities to participate in FAM tours.

Affordable Advertising & Sponsorship Opportunities
• Collaborate with DTN to offer partners website advertising opportunities. • Provide low-cost co-op advertising and event sponsorship opportunities to help businesses amplify their visibility.

Enhanced Partner Communications
• Strengthen engagement with partners by increasing communication about:
o Visit Greater Palm Springs’ efforts to promote the valley o Opportunities for participation in campaigns and initiatives • Use a variety of channels to connect with partners, including:
o Email communications
o Presentations to local community groups
o Updates via @teamgreaterps social channels
o Webinars to share insights and opportunities

PARTNERSHIP & TOURISM FOUNDATION
REVENUE GOALS 2025 Goal 2025 actual 2026 Goal Stretch goal Partnership Revenue $180,000 $172,929 $180,000 $210,000 DTN-Website $100,000 $113,891 $100,000 $120,000
Restaurant Week $80,000 $86,300 $80,000 $100,000
Spa Month $15,000 $25,000
Total $360,000 $373,120 $375,000 $455,000
Fundraising
Oasis Awards Gala $125,000 $151,695 $150,000 $165,000
Golf Tournament $35,000 $40,109 $35,000 $40,000
Other (auctions, sponsors) $25,000 $19,546 $25,000 $30,000 Grants $50,000 $27,500 $50,000 $60,000
Total $235,000 $238,850 $260,000 $295,000

TEAM GPS
Registrations (in-person) 150 174 150 180
Registrations (online) 200 78 100 130
Visit Greater Palm Springs is committed to adapting and evolving as market conditions fluctuate. We stay closely connected to our stakeholders, ground our decisions in timely research and performance data, and make disciplined adjustments when needed—so our resources are deployed efficiently and deliver the strongest possible outcomes for our nine-city destination.