Visit Mendocino County Annual Report:
Fiscal Year 2020-2021
SUBMITTED TO MENDOCINO COUNTY TOURISM COMMISSION & COUNTY OF MENDOCINO JANUARY 13, 2022
2 VISIT MENDOCINO COUNTY Annual Report | Fiscal Year 2020-2021 VMC Annual Report
Fiscal Year 2020-2021:
Executive Summary
The 2020-2021 fiscal year (FY) started incredibly strong with growth following easeing of the COVID-19 health restrictions when visitors flocked to our destination after months of strict lockdowns. Mendocino County saw issues arise from the sheer number of travelers: abundance of trash, crowded turnouts, packed beaches and subsequent lack of proper waste disposal. Unlike many other California destinations, the rebound from the Shelter-in-Place (SIP) order was fast and furious, ending the FY with massive gains in Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) and Business Improvement District assessment (BID). Mendocino County Tourism Commission (MCTC) began its first soft marketing campaign in October 2020 to an overwhelmingly positive reception from potential travelers. This led the team at Visit Mendocino County (VMC) to develop, build and execute an evergreen campaign to first: focus on brand awareness and second: highlight the open space and natural ability to socially distance. This campaign ran from February to June 2021. This report will outline the strong placement of Mendocino County as a tourism destination and other necessary highlights for the fiscal year. • MCTC worked in collaboration with the reformed Mendocino County Lodging Association (MCLA), ad-hoc of the Board of Supervisors, Mendocino County Public Health Officer, Chambers of Commerce and other business leaders to navigate the safe re-opening of lodging for leisure travelers.
• In an effort to keep visitors, tourism employees, their families and our community safe MCTC partnered with local Chambers of Commerce to build and deploy the #MaskUpMendo campaign. This program paralleled MCTC & MCLA’s #SafeMendocino re-opening campaign.
• With the unexpected influx of recreational vehicle and camping visitors MCTC worked with Mendocino Area Parks Association (MAPA) to conceptualize and launch a campaign targeting visitors in county to pack out their trash or “Leave Nothing Behind but Footprints.”
• MCTC entered a contract with SimpleView to build a lodging booking link on the www.VisitMendocino.com website. This link will allow consumers to book rooms directly on the Visit Mendocino County website. The data and room night information collected from this booking link will help quantify MCTC’s campaigns to our lodging stakeholders. • As required by our county contract MCTC engaged with JJACPA, Inc. for the organization’s annual financial audit that closed with no recommendations.
• MCTC entered into a contract with the Corraggio Group to update the 3-year Strategic Plan. The process began in January with a planned release date of July 1, 2021.
• The Festival & Marketing committees and MCTC staff continued working on the initiative of “cannabis tourism” integration into our marketing programs. Staff gathered partner and stakeholder information and began building out this business sector on the backend of its website www.visitmendocino.com. Further, VMC contracted with Cultivar Strategies to build a program to engage partners and stakeholders in building an official strategy to fold cannabis tourism into MCTC’s marketing programs. This process is scheduled to begin July 1, 2021. • The MCTC team attended the Visit California virtual Outlook Forum in February. They also virtually attended Destination Marketing Association West’s annual Technology Summit held over the four weeks of March with meetings each Wednesday and Thursday morning. The PR team attended TravMedia’s annual IMM virtually meeting with over 80 potential media visitors.
3 VISIT MENDOCINO COUNTY Annual Report | Fiscal Year 2020-2021 • MCTC welcomed Jamie Peters-Connolly to the team as Partner Relations & Communications Manager (PRCM). • The Executive Director (ED) working in collaboration with the Business Improvement District (BID) Advisory Board completed the annual BID report and submitted it to the Board of Supervisors (BoS) for acceptance and approval at their May 25, 2021 meeting.
Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the MCTC future is bright! The team is dedicated to inspiring visitors to experience our miles of pristine coastline, the acres of old-growth redwoods and verdant inland valleys, the unique attractions and our hospitable welcome.
By working together and with our larger community, we can raise visitation numbers, add to economic development, and improve the lives of our residents.
Thank you for the opportunity to promote our beautiful county.
Respectfully,
Travis Scott
4 VISIT MENDOCINO COUNTY Annual Report | Fiscal Year 2020-2021 Strategic Plan
The activities in this report relate to the initiatives set forth in the three-year Visit Mendocino County (VMC) Strategic Plan that was put into action in 2017. The purpose of the plan was to realign the core strategies of the organization. (The Strategic Plan may be viewed at http://1lmo5u1yd9e7vpr6s3zkdv9p.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/VisitMendocino-County-Strategic-Plan-FINAL-4.pdf). This report directly relates the VMC Marketing, PR, Sales and other VMC staff activities during the year to the Imperatives, Objectives and Initiatives contained in the Strategic Plan.
VISION:
Enriching experiences for our guests, enhanced lifestyle for our residents, and stability and diversity for our economy.
MISSION:
Visit Mendocino County stewards and amplifies the total Mendocino county experience VALUES:
• Transparency: We foster trust through openness and integrity. • Accountability: We are outcome oriented and professional. • Partnership: We create alignment through inclusive and meaningful relationships. • Community: We contribute to the fabric of Mendocino County. • Innovation: Our creativity reflects the uniqueness of our culture and landscapes.
IMPERATIVE: Demonstrate and strengthen VMC’s contribution to county and economic and community vitality • OBJECTIVE: BID Assessment growth at 5% over average of top 3 competitors In September 2021, the Mendocino County Treasurer-Tax Collector’s office published their annual TOT/BID collections report. The report shows that revenue from lodging businesses increased to nearly $7.1 million, an increase of 52.6% over the past year. Business Improvement District assessment collections increased 42.5% YOY. These sharp increases began in quarter one with the shelter-in-place restrictions loosening and continued through the year. 5 VISIT MENDOCINO COUNTY Annual Report | Fiscal Year 2020-2021 • In FY 2019-2020 direction was given to staff that the competing destinations for the purposes of reporting would be Humboldt, Yolo, Shasta and Mariposa counties. This changes the objective to “BID Assessment growth at 5% over average of top 4 competitors”. There should also be reference to Napa and Sonoma with regard to competition for tourist draw (SF Bay Area and Sacramento). The data in the chart below is from the Economic Impact of Travel in California 2011-2020p (Dean Runyan), which is an annual report commissioned by Visit California and undertaken by Dean Runyan Associates. The data below is self-explanatory.
To address the objective that Mendocino County should sustain “BID assessment growth at 5% over average of top 3 competitors,” VMC staff took a second look at our competing destinations and how they rank in terms of visitor travelrelated spending, tax revenue, and the number of travel sectors jobs supported by tourism. Realizing that Sonoma and Napa counties are competitors in tourist draw, i.e., encouraging visitation from our target markets in the Bay Area and Central Valley, those counties’ travel-related spending, revenue and travel sector employment far surpass that of Mendocino County.
6 VISIT MENDOCINO COUNTY Annual Report | Fiscal Year 2020-2021 The Economic Impact of Travel in California 2011-2020p report (pub. Dean Runyan Associates; May 2021), which is an annual report commissioned by Visit California, is the reference used for data reported by Mendocino and competitor counties. The report is published at the end of May each year and data contained within is for the prior calendar year.
Please see Appendix 3 for the Mendocino County one-page summary. • OBJECTIVE: Year-over-year increase of sales tax receipts in Mendocino County The Dean Runyan Report shows a YOY decrease in sales tax receipts for the County, dropping to $29 Million for 2020; a
36.9% decrease year-over-year.
The table below shows a side-by-side analysis of Direct Visitor Spending and tax receipts and tax receipts generated by visitor spending for both California and Mendocino County. These figures are taken from the Economic Impact of Travel in California 2011-2020p report for 2020
• OBJECTIVE: Year-over-year increase in stakeholder and partner survey response rate VMC sends a survey to partners and stakeholders at the conclusion of each FEAST Mendocino and response has historically been lackluster. For FY 2019-2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the organization did not offer our umbrella FEAST events. Data for reporting on this objective will begin to be collected in Q3 FY 2021-2022. The MCTC team is currently vetting proposals from contractors to collect resident, stakeholder and visitor sentiment.
The data in the chart below will show for historical purposes the numbers to-date and the time encompassed by the pandemic where the organization paused its annual FEAST events beginning in 2020.
INITIATIVE: Increase tourism revenue through the development and implementation of the annual integrated marketing, public relations and sales plan.
MCTC activities during FY 2020-2021 were based on the annual Marketing Plan, the three-year Strategic Plan and the Public Relations Work Plan.
7 VISIT MENDOCINO COUNTY Annual Report | Fiscal Year 2020-2021 The Marketing Plan outlines the direction for marketing efforts, brand management, website content creation, maintenance and upgrading. It also includes the public relations work plan for the year as well as social media strategies and goals.
As of June 2019, MCTC halted its organized sales activities to direct its focus on direct consumer marketing with more plausible ROI. The ED continued the role of Administrator and Treasurer of the North Coast Tourism Commission (NCTC) allowing MCTC to rely on the sales efforts of the NCTC for group travel sales.
The Marketing & Sales Manager (MSM) and ED worked closely with the Public Relations agency of record, KOLI Communications and media buyer, Agency Xi, to achieve the goals described in the Marketing Plan. Since the onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic the organization has taken a completely different approach in marketing the brand of Mendocino County. Focus was removed from marketing events as a driver of tourism and efforts were directed to keeping our destination top-of-mind with potential visitors in our target markets by spotlighting our outdoor space and the natural ability to socially distance in Mendocino County.
The ED initiated conversation with the Coraggio Group at a meeting in February 2020 at Visit California’s Outlook Forum to discuss an updated/revised strategic plan. The Coraggio Group was subsequently chosen to update the organization’s strategic plan which was adopted by the BoD at its May 2021 meeting for implementation July 1, 2021, the beginning of the 2021-2022 fiscal year. This newly implemented strategic plan is attached as Appendix 2.
INITIATIVE: Improve data-driven decision making through increased participation & “buy in” from all of our partners.
A. The website “hit” report has been a useful tool for both VMC and stakeholders/partners. The report, which is sent monthly to every stakeholder/partner for whom VMC has an email address associated with their online listing, informs them of:
1. The total number of visitors to the VMC website
2. The number of referrals from the VMC site to the stakeholder’s website
3. The number of click-throughs made from the VMC site to the stakeholder’s site
This reporting provided MCTC with metrics and a basis to develop an educational forum for stakeholders to improve their site visitation, referral traffic, and brand messaging. The Partner Relations & Communications Manager (PRCM) is actively planning this forum.
B. The team also undertook the implementation of a Simpleview lodging booking link on www.visitmendocino.com allowing potential visitors to book lodging reservations via the website. The booking widget went live at the end of February 2021. While there is no exact way to know how many visitors booked through the link, we can show that the widget pushed 5,047 potential visitors as far as the “book now” button on partner and stakeholder web reservation systems.
8 VISIT MENDOCINO COUNTY Annual Report | Fiscal Year 2020-2021 C. The PR Team (Koleen Hamblin, ED, MSM and PRCM) continues to communicate with stakeholders on a monthly basis informing them of high-profile media stories. The PR team also offers stakeholders the opportunity to submit content and information to Visit California for use in their PR program.
D. The MCTC team actively identifies new businesses opening in the county, making a point to contact properties, meet the owners and key staff, and record the information in the organization’s databases. The PR team also disseminates new and noteworthy opening/upgrades of businesses twice per year to domestic and international media with the goal of gaining exposure and media visitation.
E. One of the major ways MCTC gains buy in from partners countywide is through their participation in VMC’s countywide festivals. As previously noted in this report, since the onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic the organization is not actively promoting any of its series of FEASTS. These overarching festivals will resume as appropriate and socially responsible.
F. The ED continues to present on behalf of MCTC to organizations throughout Mendocino County to educate the community on the: vision, mission, position and values of MCTC and the work done by the organization.
G. In 2017 VMC subscribed to Visa Vue and has continued its contract through Visit California to receive quarterly data sets. These data sets provide us an analysis of international visitor spending patterns in the county on a quarterly basis by calendar year. As we’ve seen extremely limited international visitors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Visa reports that there were serious decreases for the reporting period. The data set on the below show activity by these international visitors:
9 VISIT MENDOCINO COUNTY Annual Report | Fiscal Year 2020-2021 KEY HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE DATA TELL US:
• 2,889 cardholders (2,820 consumer; 69 commercial) with a total spend of $458,285.00 a decline over 2019 of 84.6% • 12,880 transactions at an average of $35.58 per ticket • Canada continues to remain the top originating country for both the number of cardholders visiting and spend amount:
530 and $119,951.00, respectively
• Restaurants took the top market segment by spend amount at $70,205.00 for the year INITIATIVE: Develop a data sharing process that offers context and insights for partners The Executive Director worked with the BID Advisory Board on the 2021/2022 report and recommendations. For the third time, the Board recommended that the County adopt the BID assessment and TOT return forms previously created by MCTC. These forms include the collection of Average Daily Rate (ADR) and Average Daily Occupancy (ADO), which will provide the organization with more precise data to evaluate its performance.
During the FY, the PR team sends a monthly “PR Update” to stakeholders that highlights some of the top media hits for the month. The newsletter gets consistent engagement and has proved to be a good vehicle to communicate actions and successes with partners.
VMC sends out a monthly newsletter to consumers and partners on the mailing list to inform them of upcoming events and other visitor-worthy news. These email newsletters direct potential visitors to the MendoMoments page on the website.
The method of moving consumers from their email platform to our website pushes the reader to engage more with our website keeping them on the site longer.
To further keep partners and stakeholders aware of organizational doings, once the BoD has approved of each Quarterly and Annual Report the ED sends an email to stakeholders inviting them to read the most recent report of results.
IMPERATIVE: Cultivate VMC’s relationships & collaborations VMC Staff continues to work side-by-side with Mendocino Winegrowers Inc. on their annual event “Taste Mendocino”. The Taste event scheduled for April 2020 was postponed tentatively to April 2021 and then again postponed to April 2022 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and SIP.
The ED continues holding seats on both the Anderson Valley Winegrowers and Mendocino Coast Chamber of Commerce and regularly works with the ED of the Greater Ukiah Business and Tourism Alliance to ensure that VMC reaches each area of the county. The ED of Mendocino County Arts Council is an active member of VMC’s Marketing committee.
Collaborations between organizations ensure continuity year-over-year in events and marketing of their said events. • OBJECTIVE: YOY increase in number of events launched and reaching self sufficiency The festival and event focus for the 2020-2021 FY was placed on hold due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and health and safety regulations in place. The chart below reports up to the 2019-2020 and for historical record keeping in the chart below.
10 VISIT MENDOCINO COUNTY Annual Report | Fiscal Year 2020-2021 • OBJECTIVE: YOY increase in “opportunities” page visitation on VMC website MendocinoTourism.org is MCTC’s internal website and the repository of the organization‘s information and documents.
The “Opportunities” page on the site is where staff places notifications of upcoming trade shows, educational events and BID/BoD seats available. Staff keeps this page up to date as necessary and talks with partners and stakeholders about visitation during HAP visits. The team continues to investigate ways to prompt habitual visitation to this page by partners and stakeholders.
The Google Analytics are below for the FY 2020-2021:
It is clear from the data above that the lack of HAP visits to partners and stakeholders and opportunities offered due to the COVID-19 Pandemic caused a decrease in visits to the opportunities page. • OBJECTIVE: Solicit new applicants for BID and MCTC Board positions and committee membership In January 2021, MCTC held an all-day web based “retreat” for the members of the Board of Directors at which MCTC staff and contractors/vendors gave live presentations on the topics of Marketing, Digital media purchasing, public relations, social media, and more.
In the winter of FY 2020-2021, the Board seated three new directors: Small, Medium and Large (Inland) Lodging positions.
The January 2022 BoD meeting and annual training retreat is scheduled to be held on January 13, 2022, and at that meeting two new members will be welcomed: At-Large and Arts & Attractions.
The BID Advisory Board has one long standing vacant seat. The BID Advisory Chair and the ED have lobbied potential stakeholders for this position and at this time have had no success in filling the vacancy. This demonstrates that the Mendocino County BoS should move forward with the recommendation of the BID advisory board in its 2021-2022 (item VII.b.1.) report to:
1. The BID Advisory Board recommends that the Board of Supervisors adopt one or preferably both of the following options to increase the pool of lodging applicants for the Board of Directors of Mendocino County Tourism Commission as well as BID Advisory Board: In the BID Ordinance, change the definition of “Lodging Operator” to include “General Manager or similar employee designated as responsible for top-level business operations” in the following sections 5.140.030 (w), 5.140.070. Click here to view the ordinance.
AND / OR
2. Change the “Large, At Large” lodging board seat to “Medium or Large, At Large”. This change should be made in the ordinance and by-laws of the BID Advisory Board and MCTC. Click here to view the ordinance. 11 VISIT MENDOCINO COUNTY Annual Report | Fiscal Year 2020-2021 INITIATIVE: Foster collaboration and countywide alignment by creating and developing the “go to” website for all tourism stakeholders
Staff has recommended to the BoD that a clarification to this initiative be given, with regard to which website VMC should report information for. In past reports data has been reported for VisitMendocino.com, the organization’s outward facing website, as will be reported below. However, the initiative states “website for all tourism stakeholders”; in staff’s opinion that would be MendocinoTourism.org. The BoD has not made a decision on staff direction so this report will focus on our visitor facing website (www.visitmendocino.com) as in past reports Analytics http://www.VisitMendocino.com
www.VisitMendocino.com Go to report
Jul 1, 2020 - Jun 30, 2021
Jul 1, 2019 - Jun 30, 2020
% Change
Jul 1, 2020 - Jun 30, 2021
Jul 1, 2019 - Jun 30, 2020
% Change
Jul 1, 2020 - Jun 30, 2021
Jul 1, 2019 - Jun 30, 2020
% Change
Jul 1, 2020 - Jun 30, 2021
Jul 1, 2019 - Jun 30, 2020
% Change
Jul 1, 2020 - Jun 30, 2021
Jul 1, 2019 - Jun 30, 2020
% Change
Jul 1, 2020 - Jun 30, 2021
Jul 1, 2019 - Jun 30, 2020
% Change
Language Users % Users
1. en-us
315,972 83.12%
217,423 82.14%
45.33% 1.20%
2. en
37,108 9.76%
9,721 3.67%
281.73% 165.81%
3. es-us
9,799 2.58%
10,241 3.87%
-4.32% -33.37%
4. en-gb
4,366 1.15%
2,584 0.98%
68.96% 17.66%
5. es-419
1,764 0.46%
9,150 3.46%
-80.72% -86.58%
6. zh-cn
1,068 0.28%
556 0.21%
92.09% 33.76%
7 en-ca
Audience Overview
Jul 1, 2020 - Jun 30, 2021
Compare to: Jul 1, 2019 - Jun 30, 2020
Overview
Jul 1, 2020 - Jun 30, 2021
Jul 1, 2019 - Jun 30, 2020
Jul 1, 2020 - Jun 30, 2021: Users
Jul 1, 2019 - Jun 30, 2020: Users
August 2020 September 2020 October 2020 November 2020 December 2020 January 2021 February 2021 March 2021 April 2021 May 2021 June 2021 July 2… 2,000 2,000
4,000 4,000
6,000 6,000
Users
43.82%
379,813 vs 264,092
New Users
43.60%
378,186 vs 263,363
Sessions
41.17%
464,956 vs 329,362
Number of Sessions per User
-1.84%
1.22 vs 1.25
Pageviews
39.18%
933,455 vs 670,667
Pages / Session
-1.41%
2.01 vs 2.04
Avg. Session Duration
5.14%
00:01:21 vs 00:01:17
Bounce Rate
-0.45%
70.34% vs 70.66%
New Visitor Returning Visitor
11.9%
88.1%
13.3%
86.7%
All Users
+0.00% Users
12 VISIT MENDOCINO COUNTY Annual Report | Fiscal Year 2020-2021 13 VISIT MENDOCINO COUNTY Annual Report | Fiscal Year 2020-2021 THE TOP-LINE DATA OF FY 2020-2021 WEBSITE ANALYTICS REVEALS:
• 2020-2021 visitors have increased 43.82% from 2019-2020 (379,813 vs 264,092) • Most traffic is from Northern California San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento followed by Southern California. United Kingdom, Canada, India and China are the top international countries. • Demographics are holding to the 25-44 age range
• Highest interest – travelers, shoppers, food & drink and entertainment/movie buffs • The Room to Roam campaign/MendoMoment drove the most pageviews Website traffic is being driven by the digital ad campaigns running on Facebook, Instagram and the programmatic targeting and retargeting buys. With VMC changing its tactics to a broader brand awareness focus, running digital ads continuously, beginning in February, visitation to www.visitmendocino.com rose significantly and continued throughout the balance of the FY.
An analysis of website visitors demonstrates that they are value-conscious, outdoor enthusiasts who own pets, and love food and dining out. The website for the second year noted decreased visitation from international markets. We believe this is due to the travel restrictions placed in effect by the COVID-19 pandemic.
INITIATIVE: Strengthen regional tourism relationship to leverage broader marketing opportunities The PR team (Koli Communications, ED, MSM and PRCM) communicate with partners and stakeholders on a monthly basis informing them of media stories. The team also requests partners and stakeholders submit content and information to VMC for dissemination by Visit California. An example of a pitch made during the year and published by Visit CA on their site features the Liquid Fusion Kayaking.
14 VISIT MENDOCINO COUNTY Annual Report | Fiscal Year 2020-2021 The ED continues as Administrator and Treasurer of the NCTC and attends quarterly meetings with both Humboldt Visitor and Convention Bureau and the Lake County Tourism Improvement District.
MCTC staff currently hold seats on the Mendocino Coast Chamber of Commerce, Anderson Valley Winegrowers, Willits Chamber of Commerce and Destination Hopland (currently not meeting due to the COVID-19 Pandemic).
CORO Mendocino approached the marketing team to partner with their organization on a campaign that would straddle FY’s 2020-2021 and 2021-2022. Specific deliverables for that campaign would be placement of a billboard on HWY 101 in Hopland promoting all CORO participating producers county-wide co-branded with VMC. The program will also include a press release focused on a CORO specific visit to Mendocino County, in Micro-Trip format. The partnership will also include a month-long digital campaign to launch in the Fall of 2021.
The ED continues to hold a seat and work closely with the Visit California Rural Regional Committee and upholds a partnership with Shasta Cascade. Since the onset of the Pandemic, the ED joined and continues as a member the Mendocino Business and Government Leaders COVID-19 for Economic Recovery group, the #MaskUpMendo planning team, and the newly reformed Mendocino County Lodging Association (MCLA).
INITIATIVE: Proactively educate and communicate with all tourism stakeholders As discussed previously in this report the team regularly communicated with stakeholders sharing media coverage of the county and sent 9 updates to partners. The team also shared PR hits and other news on the VMC Partners at Work Facebook group. In addition, staff sends any articles to stakeholders that result from participation in media FAM visits.
Also, previously discussed in this report the MCTC team pushed forward with website development projects, specifically the online Simpleview widget that launched in late February 2021, driving traffic directly from www.visitmendocino.com to stakeholder booking engines.
The team continued to meet weekly with the MCLA group on Monday evenings to discuss new and upcoming health guidelines, best practices, employment issues and general business matters. The VMC team keeps the lodging group updated with the organization’s current programs, needs and areas of focus. The team also shares information in tandem with the MCLA list serve to help get maximum exposure of important information to our partners and stakeholders. 15 VISIT MENDOCINO COUNTY Annual Report | Fiscal Year 2020-2021 VMC continues partnership with KOZT The Coast radio hosting spots that target the community and stakeholders to raise awareness of programs and opportunities.
INITIATIVE: Raise awareness of the Mendocino County experience • OBJECTIVE: Year-over-year increase in Mendocino County awareness score The role of social media in creating and raising brand awareness is critical as shown in the campaign overview referenced earlier in this report. The following data set shows the YOY metrics for the year. The total number includes paid impressions, which we have broken out into Paid Impressions and Organic & Viral Impressions. Impressions/Posts are based on the latter number to avoid skewing the figures.
VMC hosted two social media influencer visits in October and November 2020. Each itinerary was specifically designed to those influencers’ audiences: Luke Eisner a millennial fashion model focused on the luxury and wine markets while the visit by the Stohlers from Roamaroo.com spotlighted Mendocino County outdoor adventures and activities. • OBJECTIVE: Year-over-year increase in impressions and ad equivalency The PR team was pleased to introduce a string of A-List features that hit throughout the year in publications and stations such as Conde Nast Traveler, Style Magazine, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, SF Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, NBC Bay Area, KRON 4, NBC Los Angeles and NBC San Diego to mention a few. The data below shows the PR team’s direct impressions, ad equivalency and familiarization program data for the year. A major obstacle in navigating COVID-19 safety recommendations and requirements was safely hosting media in-county. The team worked to maximize media visits and placements by decreasing the number of press releases, pitching to media with boarder reach and multiple publications.
By welcoming media to experience a broader view of Mendocino County they could use one trip for various works. This direction allowed the staff to host fewer in-person visits to the county while ensuring our goals were met.
EARNED MEDIA:
16 VISIT MENDOCINO COUNTY Annual Report | Fiscal Year 2020-2021 MEDIA CONTENT DEVELOPMENT:
MEDIA MATERIALS & DISTRIBUTION:
• Room to Roam
• Camps & Cabins 2.0
• Fall in Love
• Pandemic Business Uptick/BusinessWire
• Micro Trips
• Hot Sheet/2021
• UniFest
FAMILIARIZATION PROGRAM:
• OBJECTIVE: Year-over-year increase in experience perceptions score on in-market visitor survey The Visitor Services committee has taken on the task of researching and identifying an organization to carry out a new inmarket visitor survey to be conducted in the Winter of 2022.
The team is currently working with Ink Fish Design and the Visitor Services Committee on finalizing a new version of the Explorers Guide to Mendocino County. The release is scheduled for Winter 2021/2022.
Goal Total
20 22
7/7-7/9 Joe Rosendo TravelScope
8/13-8/16 Kim Westerman Forbes
9/2-9/3 Fran Miller Just Luxe
9/19-9/21 Therese Ikonian HiTales Travel
10/6-10/8 Kristin Braswell CNN/USA Today
10/23-10/26 Avital Andrews VIA Magazine
10/24-10/26 Ron James Wine, Dine & Travel
10/26-10/28 Colette Stohler Roamaroo.com
10/31-11/2 Dana Rebbman Diablo Magazine
11/5-11/7 Luke Eisner Social Media Influencer
12/3-12/8 Marisa Meltzer Conde Nast Traveler
1/28-1/31 Roberta Gonzales KCBS Radio
2/25-2/28 Aislyn Greene Afar Magazine
2/26-2/28 Jess Lander Freelance
2/21-2/23 Molly Blaisdell NPR Radio
3 /4-3/6 Nick Czap Hemispheres Magazine
3/11-3/13 Kate Loweth RedTricycle
4/8-4/11 Valarie Wilson Social Media Influencer
4/12-4/15 Linda Hubbard Punch Magazine
4/16-4/19 Kristin Braswell Freelance
6/3-6/5 Roberta Gonzales Freelance
6/20-6/22 Elizabeth HansenRanch & Coast Magazine
17 VISIT MENDOCINO COUNTY Annual Report | Fiscal Year 2020-2021 INITIATIVE: Increase Mendocino County brand awareness and positive perception As reported earlier in this report, the team worked vigilantly to raise awareness of the Mendocino County brand through full-scale digital marketing and social media campaigns. The Roam-to-Roam campaign began January 18, 2021, and ended on June 30, 2021, for reporting purposes.
The campaigns for the fiscal year were focused on raising brand awareness, first. The details of those campaigns are:
SOCIAL MEDIA:
9 12,242,296 impressions
9 2,492,613 reach
9 134,339 link clicks
9 $0.29 cost per click
PROGRAMMATIC:
9 8,540,000 impressions
9 74,900 clicks to website
9 $0.17 cost per click
• Overall Mendocino awareness and consideration/visit intent are growing per Facebook insights • Audience targeting data-driven approach continues to drive a strong lift in Mendocino Awareness An analysis of website visitors demonstrates that they are value-conscious, outdoor enthusiasts who own pets, and love food and dining out. The website saw increased visitation we believe for two reasons 1) the continuous digital marketing campaign and 2) the re-start of consumer facing e-newsletters and MendoMoments.
Social Media also plays an important role in creating and raising brand awareness as mentioned earlier in this report. The figure below indicates a rise in Facebook impressions and engagements per post and a steady increase on Instagram.
Each of these metrics are impactful measurements of MCTC’s continued success in the employment of social media to raise brand awareness.
Generally, in June of each year the MCTC team attends IPW, an international trade show, where they meet with tour operators, receptives and media. The conference serves to reaffirm MCTC’s relationships with group vendors, DMO’s, and other travel-related partners. It also provides MCTC with clarity about international marketing and sales activities. It also allows the ED to meet with the leadership team at Visit California keeping our direct line of communication open. The convention further provides a window to observe experiences, opportunities and brand campaigns presented by competing markets. MCTC was set to represent itself as a destination rather than under the umbrella of the North Coast Tourism Council, allowing us the spotlight in the North Coast region. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and the SIP, this conference was postponed to an undetermined date.
18 VISIT MENDOCINO COUNTY Annual Report | Fiscal Year 2020-2021 INITIATIVE: Work with partners to develop, promote and grow strong and beneficial tourism activities and events Immediately following the SIP in March 2020 MCLA members began meeting on a weekly basis, MCTC joined these calls that included an Ad-Hoc of the Board of Supervisors, the Mendocino County Public Health Officer, Chambers of Commerce and other local leaders to discuss and plan the safe reopening of lodging to leisure travel. Out of this effort grew the #SafeMendocino reopening program designed to give lodging properties the tools to be the front-line educators to travelers, educate tourism employees on safe standards and keep our community safe. This project lead MCTC to a further partnership with the county’s Chambers of Commerce in the development and ongoing execution of the #MaskUpMendo campaign. This program was developed to target community members and visitors once they arrived in Mendocino County. The focus was to promote the wearing of masks, hand sanitization and social distancing in an ongoing effort to keep businesses open and slow the spread of COVID-19. These projects are ongoing.
At the time of writing, the Festival Committee and marketing team are working on restructuring and relaunching the Mushroom FEAST Mendocino for Fall 2021
INITIATIVE: Explore options to influence and shape potential cannabis tourism The ED is working with the president of Mendocino County Promotional Alliance (MCPA) and legal counsel to schedule and organize a meeting of their board of directors to officially dissolve MCPA and transfer the responsibility of cannabis promotion and funds from MCPA to VMC.
The Board of Directors and Marketing committee are reviewing a proposal from Cultivar Strategies, the leading organization in the cannabis tourism field to research the cannabis tourism assets in the county, work with partners to structure and build a sustainable and strategic implementation plan to integrate those assets into the marketing fold of Visit Mendocino County in-line with VMC’s strategic plan.
19 VISIT MENDOCINO COUNTY Annual Report | Fiscal Year 2020-2021 APPENDIX 1
Mendocino County Tourism Commission
Balance Sheet
As of June 30, 2021
Accrual Basis Thursday, December 30, 2021 11:35 AM GMT-08:00 1/1 TOTAL
ASSETS
Current Assets
Bank Accounts
1005 SBMC Checking 434,005.61
1010 SBMC Contingency/Savings 408,119.23
1015 MLCU Checking 0.00
1020 MLCU Savings 0.00
1030 Cash drawer 100.00
Total Bank Accounts $842,224.84
Accounts Receivable
1100 Accounts Receivable 794,657.95
Total Accounts Receivable $794,657.95
Other Current Assets
1230 Prepaid Expenses 27,831.35
1250 Refundable Deposits 1,800.00
1270 Receivable Other 0.00
Undeposited Funds 0.00
Total Other Current Assets $29,631.35
Total Current Assets $1,666,514.14
Fixed Assets
1510 Furniture and Equipment 24,193.04
1600 Accumulated Depreciation -10,341.00
Total Fixed Assets $13,852.04
Other Assets $0.00
TOTAL ASSETS $1,680,366.18
LIABILITIES AND EQUITY
Liabilities
Current Liabilities
Accounts Payable
2000 Accounts Payable 29,318.16
Total Accounts Payable $29,318.16
Other Current Liabilities $20,355.85
Total Current Liabilities $49,674.01
Total Liabilities $49,674.01
Equity
3100 Contingency-Restricted 152,650.09
3900 Unrestricted Net Assets (RE) 346,620.83
Opening Bal Equity 0.00
Net Income 1,131,421.25
Total Equity $1,630,692.17
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY $1,680,366.18
20 VISIT MENDOCINO COUNTY Annual Report | Fiscal Year 2020-2021 APPENDIX 2
21 VISIT MENDOCINO COUNTY Annual Report | Fiscal Year 2020-2021 APPENDIX 3
From Visit CA Direct Travel Impacts Report 2011-2020p
22 VISIT MENDOCINO COUNTY Annual Report | Fiscal Year 2020-2021