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palm springs
2 REGIONAL COLLABORATION
JPA City Grants
In 2023, cities used their JPA Grant awards for new and expanded visitor events including Indian Wells WinterFest, Cathedral City Hot Air Balloon Festival, the Known Gallery Mural Festival, Lunar Festival at The River, Desert Jazz Festival, and Desert WineFest, as well as enhancements to visitor experiences like the Badlands Hiking Trail in Indio. Palm Desert's grant is going toward a Wayfinding Master Pion, including production and installation of new wayfinding signage throughout the city.
Rancho Mirage used some of their funds to support a new sustainability initiative -a grant program for restaurants in the city helping them eliminate single-use plastics and support edible food recovery.
2024
The grant will be reallocated for economic diversity development recruitment efforts. We will be working with an agency on branding and developing an RFP to develop a strategic plan.
The goal is to launch a campaign and web site this year. A technical advisory committee of the city economic development directors will be formed to guide these efforts . • Advocacy and Community Engagement
2024
We will engage a lobbying firm this year to actively advocate for organizational priorities at the state and regional level, including a standalone Cal State Campus in Palm Desert, rail service, improved energy infrastructure, short-term vacation rental legislation, shade trees and structures, regional mobility, wayftnding, solutions for workforce housing, homelessness, and action at the Salton Sea. This includes communicating our priorities to elected officials and lawmakers, highlighting progress and opportunities in presentations to partners and community members, and shoring opportunities for partners or those in the community to support.
BOARD PRIORITIES
TEAM GPS Ambassador Program
2023
Developed two new social media channels (@TeamGreaterPS) resulting in 14,983 impressions and 4,131 video views, increasing engagement and awareness, supporting local events, and spotlighting hospitality and tourism workforce priorities.
Supported 98 hospitality employees with scholarships for Emerging Leaders Certificate training through COD.
Launched the TEAM GPS Champions Mobile Pass, containing exclusive offers and check-in rewards for TEAM GPS Champions in July 2023.
2024
In partnership with COD's PaCE program, launch online self-paced TEAM GPS Champions course. Offer additional training and certifications to our workforce including Emerging Leaders and DEi for Hospitality courses.
Focus on growing engagement of the TEAM GPS Champions Pass, which offers prizes, discounts, and rewards for Champions as they meet milestones, encouraging them to experience locations throughout the destination.
Grow audience for new social media channels (@TeamGreaterPS -lnstagram & Facebook) focusing on creating content that will raise community engagement and awareness of Team GPS, support community and partnership events, and spotlight hospitality and tourism workforce priorities. 3 4
BOARD PRIORITIES
Workforce Development
2023
Conducted focus groups to refine and improve our hospitality careers marketing campaign .
Established HR Steering Committee to gain feedback and provide employers tools for training and connections resources available.
Raised $141,000 for the Tourism Foundation towards our mission to award scholarships and promote careers in tourism.
Scholarships: Awarded $24,000 through partnership with Onefuture Coachella Valley; $12,000 scholarship to College of the Desert Hospitality Management students study abroad trip to Japan; and $22,489 in scholarships for Emerging Leaders Certificate training. 2024
Update and launch Careers in Hospitality campaign creative, provide content and recommendations for video and article content.
Continue partnership with OneFuture Coachella Valley to provide and promote scholarships for local students interested in hospitality careers through the Tourism Foundation .
Outreach to youth organizations and school districts -organize opportunities and events to present to students and expand awareness of opportunities in hospitality.
Create a youth-led Young Hospitality Champions Network. They will take the TEAM GPS Champions training and plan quarterly events to connect with hospitality professionals and each other.
Explore creating a pilot micro-internship program with students from local school districts, College of the Desert, and CSUSB Palm Desert.
Initiate research study on Coachella Valley hospitality workforce -gather demographic data (gender, ethnicity), place of residence, and break down salary and wages by entry level, management, and executive level management positions.
BOARD PRIORITIES
DEi & Cultural Tourism
2023
We continued to build out content for sustainability, accessibility, and cultural tourism, ensuring that the diversity of the destination is authentically represented:
• Launched Native American Culture landing page .
• Launched Community & Culture landing page .
• Collaborations with diverse content creators .
Awarded CalTravel's DEi Champion Award in September 2023 in recognition of our commitment to DEi.
Executed Phase 3 of our Travel Unity partnership, which included stakeholder engagement - meetings with cities and focus groups with diverse small businesses.
Partnered with Caravanserai project to support 30 Spanish-speaking small business entrepreneurs from across the Coachella Valley with businesses in the tourism or hospitality space . • Hosted a showcase event at the PS Art Museum in September in partnership with Caravanserai Project to broaden the networks of Spanish speaking entrepreneurs with small businesses in the tourism & hospitality industry with over 200 partners attending .
Launched an initiative to become a Certified Autism Destination, where hotels, restaurants, attractions, events, and cities from across the Coachella Valley are encouraged to become Certified Autism Centers.
• 11 partners became certified including: The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens, JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa, Children's Discovery Museum of the Desert, Rancho Mirage Library & Observatory, Variety Children's Charity of the Desert, Boys & Girls Club of Palm Springs, FARM, Tac/Quila , The Front Porch , Clandestine, and the City of Palm Desert.
5 6
BOARD PRIORITIES
2024
Diversity will be authentically represented across messaging and imagery, and alignment with in~uencers and content creators offering diverse perspectives will be proactively sought to support these priorities.
In preparation for IGLTA in 2025, organize Planning Committee with key stakeholders and LGBTQ+ organizations.
We will continue many successful partnerships from last year:
• Working with Travel Unity on stakeholder engagement.
• Continue partnering with Caravanserai Proiect to support local entrepreneurs and small businesses with tourism business readiness training and networking opportunities/ events.
Cultural tourism will continue to be a focus, continuing a full content plan in 2024 to support cultural tourism for the destination. In Ql, we will launch and promote a custom episode of BBC Storyworks' "In Pursuit of Wellness" series, focusing on the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. The content will be further amplified via the Global Wellness lnstitute's channels, including email, social media, website, and media outreach.
A Native American culture page will continue to be evolved and expanded upon this year.
We will continue to engage and foster relationships with diverse content creators in these spaces to organically showcase how our destination is committing to all aspects of DEi, cultural ,A tourism, accessibility, and sustainability.
W We will work with Wheel the World to assess and promote the accessibility assets of 30 tourism partners this year and highlight them through this platform.
We will achieve a Certified Autism Destination designation this year and continue to promote Autism Certification with a goal of getting at least one more city and 10 more business partners to become certified autism centers.
BOARD PRIORITIES
Sustainability
2023
Recognized in a global competition by Green Destinations as being part of their Top 100 Sustainability Stories after completing a rigourous 15-point sustainability check.
Partnered with Kind Traveler to launch their Give & Get booking platform (incentivizing travelers to give back to the communities they visit) with 5 properties in the destination resulting in 62 media placements, 240K campaign website views, 10.2M audience reach,15 Kind Traveler lnstagram posts, 165K Social Views, $2,539 in Donations to LGBTQ Community Center & Friends of the Desert Mountains which equates to 9,316 meals served at The Center, and 20 youths served with outdoor science STEAM supplies with Friends of the Desert Mountains. 2024
Our sustainability goals include getting selected as a Green Destinations Top 100 again this year, joining the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC}, and having our staff trained in sustainable tourism through GSTC. Sustainability includes promoting and communicating green practices, our cultural heritage, and economic opportunities for our workforce and communities.
In 2024 we will also partner with Zinc Media on Season 2 of their Sustainable Travel Documentary Series. This video series is targeted to an international audience interested in sustainability in the travel space and will be amplified by Sublime Magazine and Sustainable Travel International, focusing on conversation efforts in Greater Palm Springs through organizations like Friends of the Desert Mountains.
7 BOARD PRIORITIES
Restaurant Week
2023
Restaurant Week returned June 2-13, 2023 with 86 restaurants participating from all 9 cities and over $500k in media value supporting the event.
8 • 247 million TV impressions.
• 20.4 million radio impressions.
• 4,304 reservations made through dineGPS.com.
• 32 media placements resulting in over 24 million impressions. • Social media inAuencer FAM resulted in over 332K video views. • Presenting Partner Agua Caliente Casinos hosted the restaurant week kickoff event May 31, 2023 at Agua Caliente Resort Casino Spa Rancho Mirage with over 250 partners and 32 media attending . 2024
Dotes are May 31 -June 9, 2024
BOARD PRIORITIES
Vacation Rentals Education/Research
2023
In 2023 we engaged CV Strategies to conduct research and build out a local brand campaign to increase positive messaging and com~unication and build support within community. We also started a webinar with .Rent Responsibly to launch a vacation rental host education series and shared a resource library for Coachella Valley hosts at greaterpalmsprings.rentresponsibly.org . We also completed an updated economic impact study for 2022 and completed a resident study on local sentiment towards vacation rentals (72% feel favorable about short-term rentals in their city). 2024
We will continue to promote the benefits of vacation rental tourism locally through retained PR and marketing agency CV Strategies. This includes the launch of a new brand, "One Coachella Valley -Short Term Rentals, Long Term Benefits" with a full media plan including digital advertising and connected television -launching in Q 1 2024.
Our lobbying firm will also engage at the state level in areas of priority for our short-term rental stakeholders including opposing SB 584 and other threats to local city tax revenues. We will continue to provide resources and best practices to vacation rental operators and cities through our education partnership with Rent Responsibly, commission an updated economic impact of vacation rental tourism for 2023, advocate for balanced vacation rental policies, and partner with the major platforms to communicate with vacation rental operators. 9 BOARD PRIORITIES
Air Service Development
2023
Palm Springs International Airport has continued to experience record passenger growth in 2023 to officially mark the busiest year on record with 3.2 million total passengers, as full-year demand was up 25% versus 2019 and up 8% versus 2022. Capacity was up 30% versus 2019. The airport currently boasts 16 new markets versus 2019 and welcomed back the seasonal return of 20 routes in fall 2023: from Chicago (ORD) on both American Airlines and United Airlines, from Edmonton (YEG) and Winnipeg (YWG) on WestJet; and from Eugene (EUG), Redmond (RDM), and Santa Rosa (STS) on Avelo. We attended (5) airline industry conferences in 2023 with network planners and executed one headquarter visit to United Airlines.
2024/25
Airline network planners are working on the fall 2024 routes, and our goal is to advocate for key hub routes to begin in September and October vs. November and December. This will be a challenge with the continued issues related to equipment and staffing. We will also continue to extend key routes later in the season to late June.
Our top priorities will also focus on growing year-round service to major hub airports such as Chicago, Atlanta, Salt Lake, Houston, Toronto, and pursue new seasonal nonstop markets such as Washington DC, Detroit, Spokane, Charlotte and Philadelphia.
We will continue our presence at industry conferences such as Jump Start, Airport Roundtable and Routes America while also making personal visits to airline headquarters . We will also create opportunities to host network planners and their internal strategic meetings in Greater Palm Springs and include pre and post leisure opportunities to learn more about the destination.
Assess Ay markets in key domestic destinations including Pacific NW and DC for potential events/ activations.
Focus attention on aligning Public Relations efforts with Meetings and Tourism Development on opportunities.
Preparing for international service from Mexico and Europe as well as secondary Canadian markets is another important priority as we plan for the airport expansion. Continue to build relationships with network planners of foreign based carriers and support PSP's master plan for an FIS/ Customs & Border Patrol.
Support PSP expansion and Master Planning process during the planning and early approval and implementation process. Gather letters of support from airlines for airport international expansion. 10 BOARD PRIORITIES
SALES & MARKETING
2023 Marketing
In 2023, our consumer advertising initiatives included a multimedia approach to maximize outreach and engagement generating 25.3B impressions in 2023 across all platforms. Television played a central role, with strategic placements on Cable, KTLA in Los Angeles, and connected television platforms. Out-of-home advertising made a strong impact, capturing attention in drive and direct fly markets. Our presence extended to OTA platforms, with prominent visibility on Expedia, VRBO, TripAdvisor, Travelzoo, ensuring a significant on line footprint. Digital campaigns were strategically executed across various platforms, including Centro, Sojern, Native, and Pandora, offering a dynamic online presence. This comprehensive approach across multiple channels reflected our commitment to reaching and resonating with diverse audiences in 2023.
With more year-round flights than ever, marketing of all new and existing nonstop flights to our destination is supported through our advertising efforts in fly markets. New advertising was also vetted with Ailevon Pacific and launched at the end of 2023 in the following one-stop markets: Kansas City, St. Louis, Omaha, Washington D.C., and Indianapolis.
In 2023, co-op programs included television, digital outdoor billboards, digital advertising (display, native content, streaming audio), and social media. Aside from our Pandora streaming audio co-op, which is a summer program, all co-ops are offered year-round to active VGPS partners. In addition to paid advertising co-ops, VGPS also offers in-kind event support billboards in Los Angeles and San Diego for first-time and signature events taking place in the destination. These programs are subsidized through Riverside County Grant through June 2024.
In 2023, we had the following partners across all programs:
• (9) Digital and/ or Billboard Co-Op Partners: BNP Paribas Open, City of Desert Hot Springs, Doubletree Palm Springs, Hyatt Regency Indian Wells, Kaiser Grille Palm Springs, Margaritaville Resort Palm Springs, PGA West Golf Course La Quinta, Palm Mountain Resort & Spa, and Sensei Porcupine Creek. • ( 11) Summer Television Co-Op Partners: JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa; Omni Rancho Las Palmas; The Ritz-Carlton, Rancho Mirage; Palm Springs Preferred Small Hotels; Hyatt Regency Indian Wells Resort & Spa; Westin Rancho Mirage Golf Resort & Spa; Agua Caliente Casinos; Renaissance Esmeralda Resort & Spa, Indian Wells; City of La Quinta; The Living Desert Zoo & Gardens; Visit Palm Springs. • (2) Fall/Winter Television Co-Op Partners: BNP Paribas Open, The Galleri Classic. • (26) In-Kind Event Billboards: The American Express, Palm Springs International Film Festival, BNP Paribas Open, Palm Springs Pinet Fest, Taste of Jalisco, Fashion Week El Paseo, Palm Desert Food & Wine, Modernism Week February, The Galleri Classic, La Quinta Art Celebration, Cathedral City LGBT Days, Desert X, City of Palm Springs 85th Anniversary, Modernism Week October, Cinema Diverse, Run with Los Muertos, Greater Palm Springs Pride, McCormick's Car Auction, La Quinta Art Celebration Encore, Feel Good Festival, Props & Hops, Cathedral City Hot Air Balloon Festival, Magic of Lights, lronman, Palm Springs Holidays, Indian Wells Winterfest.
11 BOARD PRIORITIES
Content Driven Media -New content programs were added in 2023 including AFAR Magazine, Lonely Planet, and California Live to allow for expanded coverage of the destination and pillar-specific content (dining, outdoor activities, arts & culture, and wellness) via content pieces and broadcast coverage. Aligning with travel-centric publications like AFAR and Lonely Planet allowed us to reach audiences with a propensity to travel to Greater Palm Springs, and broadcast programs in the California drive markets allowed us to create custom television segments focusing on late spring/ early summer resort getaways, dining, and vacation rentals .
PR/Marketing
2024
A new brand campaign in partnership with Starfish Branding Agency will launch in 2024, including tagline and creative ad development, video production, and updated photography that will be incorporated into all non-summer Visit Greater Palm Springs advertising. Three campaigns will be tested with consumers with research company SMARI, who has been our research partner since 2013 to measure effectiveness of advertising and marketing programs including ROI and creative evaluations. This research will be conducted with consumers in drive and Ay markets ( 14 total markets). This campaign will go into production in the spring, with deployment in September following the summer campaign.
In 2024, we will continue to support our culinary experiences, launching a new dineGPS video series with (6) new pieces of video content focusing on the culinary experiences in the destination. We also plan to support Greater Palm Springs' evolving culinary landscape through content and promotion of new and existing restaurants, unique culinary experiences and celebrity chefs entering the market. A key objective for 2024 is adding more Michelin-rated or recommended restaurants to our culinary accolades.
In partnership with Bandwango, our annual Summer Eats Pass featuring restaurant offers will deploy immediately following Greater Palm Springs Restaurant Week and will be supported by a full media plan.
Local restaurants will also be featured and promoted throughout new social/video and blog content programming planned for 2024.
Continuing to support arts & culture in our destination is a key part of our 2024 goals . We will continue to promote the year-round Oasis of Art campaign, which includes the Art & Sol video series, artsGPS opp, signature events, museums, and murals/public art offerings. We will continue to deploy new content and align our advertising with applicable events throughout the year, including Modernism Week and signature music and arts festivals, as well as nightlife and entertainment in the destination.
As part of the overall Oasis of Art campaign, (4) new Art & Sol video series videos highlighting (7) local artists will deploy in 2024 and will be supported with a dedicated media plan including video display advertising, native content, and social media.
12 BOARD PRIORITIES
The outdoor experiences and health & wellness pillars will continue to be promoted throughout our seasonal marketing efforts with dedicated travel-related content programs and platforms such as Lonely Planet and Travelzoo.
In addition to incorporating LGBTQ+ marketing throughout our campaigns including digital advertising, content and social media, dedicated programs will be launched with OutThere Magazine which includes content, print advertorial, digital and social media.
Tracking & Attribution -We will launch a new partnership with Arrivalist beginning in January 2024.
Arrivalist's visitation intelligence platform will allow us to better track our digital media lift and efficiency, gathering information on arrivals into the destination to help us make more informed decisions and identify key markets and targeting. Arrivalist will provide additional data in conjunction with other platforms VGPS utilizes, such as Adara and Near.
Proactive targeting and pitching to our top "most wanted media" list including national and regional coverage such as NY Times, Travel & Leisure, Conde Nast, Lonely Planet, National Geographic, LA Times, Seattle Magazine, Wall Street Journal, Afar, Outside, etc.
Assess Ay markets in key domestic markets including Pacific NW and DC for potential events/activations. Focus attention on aligning with Meetings and Tourism Development on opportunities.
Research and pursue one national broadcast in the market for board consideration, amplifying our reach and impact on a broader scale. Broadcast examples include Live with Kelly & Mark, The Today Show, Good Morning American, The Tonight Show etc.
VP of Communications will collaborate with Director of Community Engagement and Director of Corporate Communications to amplify public affairs messaging increasing coverage on the topics of DEi, Sustainability and Workforce Development. Work with agencies to broaden reach through media pitches. 13 14
BOARD PRIORITIES
Vacation Rentals Marketing/Production
2023
In 2023, we continued to incorporate vacation rental information and imagery throughout our overall marketing campaign year-round. This includes television spots, out-of-home, social media, digital video content, and blog content and articles.
In addition to these inclusions, we also ran several dedicated campaigns driving to the vacation rental landing page on the Visit Greater Palm Springs website. These campaigns included year-round VRBO advertising, digital display via Centro, native content via Centro and Nativo, a vacation rental segment on California live that ran on local California NBC stations, and content articles with Locale Magazine. In addition to our year-round campaign with VRBO, we also ran a highly successful VRBO summer campaign, which generated over $17.SM in gross bookings to the destination.
To add to our asset library, a dedicated photo and video shoot also took place in 2023 at a La Quinta vacation rental, showcasing a multi-generational family and providing assets that were utilized across our marketing efforts for the year.
2024
Vacation rentals will continue to be integrated into destination-wide marketing campaigns in addition to dedicated vacation rental advertising programs including digital display, native content, social media, and year-round advertising with VRBO.
Some of these dedicated programs include a summer campaign in 2024 with VRBO following the success of our 2023 summer "pool Aoatie" campaign. This year's program will focus more heavily on video content with the goal of expanding our library of assets.
Additional dedicated programs include content with Sunset Magazine, broadcast opportunities with NBC/California Live, and inAuencer marketing.
We will continue to engage the Advisory Group to further enhance, develop and uncover new marketing opportunities.
BOARD PRIORITIES
International PR/ Marketing
2023
In January 2023, VGPS entered a strategic partnership with Finn Partners, a comprehensive marketing and public relations agency. This collaboration has allowed us to enhance and broaden our commitment to international recovery efforts. Our consumer marketing initiative kicked off between April and June, leveraging a comprehensive approach encompassing digital, social, and video. With a particular focus on the UK and Ireland, our expanded partnership focused on elevating awareness.
We also embarked on an immensely fruitful two-week activation throughout five locations in the UK and Ireland, "Greater Palm Springs Roadtrip" in collaboration with Finn Partners, forging nearly 10,000 engagements with consumers, trade and media professionals.
Additionally, consumer marketing co-ops were established with Visit CA and Brand USA and launched in UK/ Ireland, France, Australia, Germany and Mexico.
2024
Our objective is to further refine and optimize our UK/Ireland campaign, using a funnel approach towards generating increased consideration and conversions from consumers who have been exposed to our impactful marketing efforts. Additionally, added targeting for LGBTQ+ will be launched in 2024 across all international media programs.
We will continue to optimize marketing programs with Brand USA and Visit California in 2024 to reach and expand presence in international markets including UK/Ireland, France, Australia, Germany, Mexico, and Canada .
Marketing opportunities in Asian markets such as Japan and South Korea will be researched .
Our brand partnership with Globe-Trotter will be continued in 2024 with the creation of new product with activation planned in France.
For Public Relations efforts, maintain emphasis on the UK/Ireland. Create strategic initiatives to enhance our position in the Japanese and Korean markets, seeking opportunities for increased media visibility, including one inbound media visits to GPS. Investigate Mexico as a secondary market: Undertake research and execute strategies to establish a presence in the Mexican market, identifying channels for media involvement. 15 BOARD PRIORITIES
Convention Sales
2023
W ith continued recovery of group business as a key priority for our organization, we will continue to optimize our new campaign that launched in October 2023, "The Oasis is Real." New video assets from this campaign have allowed us to include more engaging video content as part of our Convention Sales media plan, showcasing our destination via meeting planner publications, e-mail newsletters, lead-generation opportunities, and digital targeting to reach planners, executives, and decision-makers .
Summer bookings for June-August are up 7,857 room nights to pace target for 2024 bookings and up 1,108 room nights to STLY and are up 4,584 room nights compared to same time in 2019 .
Strategic partnerships will continue to evolve with organizations like American Express, ASAE, CalSAE, Conference Direct, Helms Briscoe, HPN, Moritz, PCMA, and Prestige, allowing us to increase our advertising presence across their channels and receive customized benefits such as event registrations, sponsorship opportunities, and access to research and survey data.
2024
Continue to maximize marketing opportunities within media plan and with strategic partners utilizing new assets from "The Oasis is Real" campaign . Continue to focus on content creation for meeting planner audience including a new custom white paper on sustainability.
2024 includes a robust travel calendar including client events, tradeshows, and FAMs.
Focus on off-peak business opportunities, we are updating our summer incentive program, strategically targeting potential clients through direct sales efforts. Our proactive approach involves addressing summer business and key patterns during key months : December, January, and mid-week in April. The refreshed summer incentive will be relaunched, featuring prom inently in our media content, social media channels, and direct sales efforts .
To capitalize on our peak season, emphasis will be placed on incentive and corporate segments to maximize group ADR and overall spend .
Recognizing the potential in the sports market, we are introducing a dedicated vertical market to attract and retain events, especially during shoulder seasons. This targeted initiative aims to solidify our position as a preferred destination for sports-related events .
16 BOARD PRIORITIES
Q ----+---- --Q --~~~
;' ', , ' , ' •' Travel Trade ' .. • 2023
Collectively in 2023, the Tourism Development team hosted over 110 clients in Greater Palm Springs, executed 27 travel trade marketing programs, traveled to over 100 industry events and met with over 8,000 clients across 26 countries.
2024
Recent research from U.S. Travel underscored that substantial improvements for international inbound visitors need to be addressed. The United States ranks 17th out of 18 top travel markets in terms of global competitiveness, according to Euromonitor International. Decades of underinvestment and a lack of focus and coordination from federal policymakers caused the U.S. to fall behind, while other countries actively apply robust strategies to increase travel and grow economic output.
There will be continued focus on hosting client FAMS, developing a comprehensive Program of Work, and partnering with travel agent associations, Visit California and Brand USA. These types of collaborations provide quality interactions with in~uential travel representatives with the goal of providing enriching itineraries with unique experiences for these FAMS and events.
We will be evolving the travel trade webpage and creating engaging content and resources as well as adding a Global Webpage to be used as a resource for partners and stakeholders on international markets.
We will research and implement B2B and B2B2C marketing programs in both domestic and international markets .
We will continue offering training sessions, whether in person or recorded, and hosting workshops for tour operators and travel companies.
17 BOARD PRIORITIES
Continue collaborations with Southern California Triangle (Santa Monica and San Diego) and luxury market (Santa Barbara and West Hollywood) to create marketing programs and custom curated itineraries.
Focus on International MICE segment in the UK, France, Asia, and Australia through travel , client engagements, and MICE targeted events .
Leverage our memberships with ACTA (Association of Canadian Travel Agencies), ASTA, PATA, and MAPTA and key relationships with airline vacation business units as well as key accounts to reach top advisors.
Maximize exposure through presence at U.S. Travel's IPW, the leading inbound travel trade show in the United States, which is returning to California in Los Angeles . Our participation this year will be enhanced as the sole sponsor of the Wellness Lounge, a dedicated area on the trade show Aoor showcasing our Health & Wellness pillar. We will also be featured in the California Plaza, a collection of destination activations adjacent to the convention center and prov iding additional networking time with key clients . 18 CONVENTION SALES
'2023
The continued positive momentum in the recovery of meetings and events is evident in the exceptional team booking year achieving 121 % of our 2023 room night goal. GPS was one of the destinations with the fastest recovery due to open spaces and outdoor options. From a national level perspective, some areas are not back to 2019 numbers and have potential to still grow, while GPS has realized post-pandemic production numbers.
Local Directors of Sales & Marketing are reporting a softer start to the year on lead volume, with a noticeable lack of short-term corporate demand that traditionally helps to fill in Q 1 gaps. VGPS Booking pace for Q l 2024 is behind STLY and with auditing our lost/turndown leads, we had 346 lost leads for Q 1 2024, 18% of leads were turned down due to rate or lack of availability at the hotels.
VGPS has seen a decline in lead volume by -9% from July -December compared to 2022, (728 vs 794) and compared to the first half of the year where we were 16% ahead of 2022.
The following resort properties will be under construction in 2024, Hyatt Regency Indian Wells Resort & Spa and La Quinta Resort & Club, which could limit availability and may be a deterrent for planners from booking.
The current vacant Southeast/Sports market position could impact 2024 team production in the first 6 months of the year. This market's production has a 3-year average of 31,220 room nights booked.
Slowing economy shown with weakening labor market as you look at both job openings and wage growth rate declining as reported by Tourism Economics. The rate of growth is slowing as we go into 2024; consumers are expected to reduce spending as confidence weakens and demand softens.
Election year historically impacts corporate confidence in booking meetings . 19 2023 RESULTS & 2024 GOALS
The graph below is the most recent national group forecast from October 2023 reported by Tourism Economics.
The forecast is weaker than the last forecast for 2024 and future years. Downside assumes a combination of factors such as lower attendance levels, weaker economy, and greater hesitancy to plan group events. 20 Group demand benchmark: US aggregate
Index (2019=100)
October 2023 ■ Current forecast Downside
94.8 93.7
82.7 87.2 89.1 89.1 87.2 85.3
44.0 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Source: 2Synergize FuturePace; Tourism Economics
2023 RESULTS & 2024 GOALS
CBRE has forecasted a drop of -0.5% in total occupancy for 2024 in the Coachella Valley compared to 2023 .
ADR is predicted to stabilize with a 0.8% increase forecasted for 2024.
Looking towards 2024, Coachella Valley RevPAR is expected to grow 0.3%. This is slower than the forecasted rate of growth for 2023. Unlike 2023, prospects for RevPAR growth in the lower-priced segment (3.0%) is better than in the upper-priced segment (negative 1.6%). Coachella Valley market occupancy levels are expected to range from
65.% to 65.8% during the 5-year forecast.
Annual Performance -Five Year History and Forecast
2018 64.4% -0.7% $158.37 3.5% $101.99 2.8%
2019 64.9% 0.7% $166.44 5.1% $107.96 5.9%
2020 36.7% -43.5% $150.41 -9.6% $55.17 -48.9%
2021 55.8% 52.1% $168.15 11.8% $93.83 70.1%
2022 64.5% 15.6% $208.49 24.0% $134.46 43.3%
2023F 65.8% 2.1% $209.23 0.4% $137.77 2.5%
2024F 65.5% -0.5% $210.90 0.8% $138.15 0.3%
2025F 65.5% 0.0% $214.91 1.9% $140.71 1.9%
2026F 65.4% -0.1% $218.67 1.8% $143.05 1.7%
2027F 65.4% -0.1% $222.99 2.0% $145.77 1.9%
Source: CBRE Hotels Research, Kalibri Labs, 03 2023
Future Long-Term Pace indicates we are ahead of targets for 2024 and 2025. Continued focus and opportunity in 2026 and beyond for association business is a priority for the team. 2024 200,305 162,516 37.789 l ~~ 23% 0 139,725 j
2025 116, 148 1 102,065 14,084 14% 80,987 142,894
2026 39,175 65,762 -26,587 -40% 157,960 100,722
2027 18,840 41,458 -22,618 -55% 178,295 51,830
2028 6,228 22,752 -16,524 -73% 190,907 22,326
2029 683 11,158 -10,475 -94% 196,452 4,271
2030 2114 6,189 -4,075 -66% 195,021 4,787 1
as of 1/4/24
21 2023 RESULTS & 2024 GOALS
Room nights on the books are also ahead of STLY and ST19 for 2024 and 2025 . 300k
200,305 196,180 El 200k
Q) z
E
0 0
ct 100k
0 2024
HISTORICAL/ GOALS
2019
GOAL
ROOM NIGHTS 222,500
#GROUPS 375 BOOKED
LEAD. 1,148 DISTRIBUTION
NEW --BOOKINGS
NEW LEAD 668 DISTRIBUTION
22 Room Nights: OTB Vs STLY
ll6,l48 109,661
2025
• OTB • STLY • ST19
39 175 48,396 -· 2026
U9,041
18,840 16,880 --2027
CONVENTION SALES GOALS
2024
2023
2019 2022 2022 2023 STRETCH 2023 2024
ACTUAL GOAL ACTUAL GOAL GOAL ACTUAL GOAL
217,337 155,000 182,105 185,500 206,500 225,052 207,000 350 260 332 N/A N/A 424 N/A
1,155 1,150 1,564 1,450 1,550 1,620 1,650
151 --212 220 230 288 290
648 600 843 825 875 S.63 870
70,220
2024
STRETCH
GOAL
225,000
N/A
1,730
305
885
2023 RESULTS & 2024 GOALS
WEBSITE GOALS
2024
NEW MEASUREMENT WITH GOOGLE ANALYTICS 4 (GA4)
2022 2022 2023
ACTUAL GA4ACTUAL GA4GOAL
Users 2,548,954 2,324,142 2,347,383
Sessions 3,381,663 2,933,794 2,963,132
Highly Engaged 1,138,289 1,138,289 1,149,672 Sessions
Qualified 252,917 252,917 255,446 Sessions
2023
GA4ACTUAL
2,504,188
3,201,586
1,379,646
651,638
• 2023 will be used as a baseline year for GA4 metrics, which went live July 1, 2023 . • 2023 actual "Users" was 107% of goal and actual "Sessions" was at 108% of goal. 2024
GA4GOAL
2,604,355
3,329,649
1,408,698
667,531
• Highly engaged sessions were at 120% of goal despite coding error that occurred from August through December. This error will make it difficult to measure highly engaged sessions in 2024, and it will need to be done manually.
• Qualified sessions have increased across the industry based on new definition for this action. Current/new GA4 definition now counts multiple actions each as individual conversions. • In 2024, we will monitor Al Search Generative Experience (SGE) and the impact it may have on website traffic . • SGE could fundamentally change the way users get information and how sites are found on search engines . • Google's SGE will quickly provide users with the answers they need and not necessarily direct users to other websites or content.
• The impact on site traffic and the click through rate (CTR) of organic results could be materially impacted. • The Al spotlight (first search option) will take precedence over every result, whether organic, paid, or featured .
We are monitoring these activities and adapting our content approach to ensure we are staying current on the changing landscape.
23 2023 RESULTS & 2024 GOALS
GLOSSARY:
User: This is the primary user metric in GA4 defined as total unique users that visit the website. It does include a returning website visit in the same browser.
Sessions: A session is the total number of user interactions that take place within a given period. The session counts in your Google Analytics 4 property will be lower than the session counts in Universal Analytics. This is because Google Analytics 4 does not create a new session when the source changes mid-session, while Universal Analytics does create a new session under that circumstance.
Highly engaged session: A website session on visitgreaterpalmsprings.com who has met the following criteria :
• Session duration is greater than 2:00 AND they have visited 2 or more pages during the session . • Subscribed to the eNewsletter.
• Requested a Visitor Guide.
• Clicked "Visit Website".
• Clicked on coupon on a partner listing.
Qualified Sessions: Conversions are defined as a website visitor that does one of the following :
• Signs up for an eNewsletter.
• Requests a Visitors Guide.
• Visits a partner website.
24 I
@VISITGREATERPS
Impressions
Video Views
Website Clicks
2023 RESULTS & 2024 GOALS
SOCIAL MEDIA GOALS
2024
2022 2022 2023
GOAL ACTUAL GOAL
29,000,000 41,213,494 42,000,000
5,600,000 7,418,095 7,600,000
154,000 196,876 199,000
2023 2024
ACTUAL GOAL
52,920,177 53,000,000
9,132,898 9,250,000
220,263 221,500
• In 2023, we shifted goals to combine channels to look at total metrics together vs. looking at by @visitgreaterps and @dinegps separately. This is due to how much crossover there is between channels as well as the fact that we only have one channel for TikTok, You Tube, and Pinterest. • Approximately 2 million impressions were attributed to viral social media posts. • New influencer programs with Crowdriff and Sonic Gods will assist in executing our video and content creation in 2024.
e q~ facebook. twitte TikTok Linked OD .
25 Earned Media
PR Quality Score
Media Outreach/
Assists
Media Value
CS Earned Media
Earned Media
Placements
2023 RESULTS & 2024 GOALS
2019
ACTUAL
4,452
1,786
$18,859,220
33 MEDIA GOALS
2024
2021 2022
ACTUAL ACTUAL
6,433 6,711
1,278 2,256
$25,466,712 $58,225,830
35 62
2023
GOAL
6,800
2,500
Tracking
70 2023 2024
ACTUAL GOAL
6,828 6,900
2,521 2,550
$59,571,615 Tracking
71 75
• 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.
26 2023 RESULTS & 2024 GOALS
PARTNERSHIP AND TOURISM FOUNDATION
2023/2024
2024 REVENUE GOALS 2023 Goal 2023 actual 2024Goal Stretch goal Partnership Renewal $225,000 $222,547 $125,000 $150,000 New Partners $25,000 $23,684 $25,000 $35,000
DTN-Website $50,000 $78,437.58 $100,000 $120,000
Restaurant Week
Total $380,000 $386,468.58 $330,000 $405,000
Fundraising
Oasis Awards Gala $100,000 $96,503 .21 $100,000 $120,000 Golf Tournament $25,000 $35,708 $20,000 $30,000
Other (auctions, sponsors) $25,000 $9,389.30 $20,000 $30,000 Grants
Total $150,000 $141,600.51 $150,000 $200,000
TEAMGPS
Registrations (in-person) 300 140 150 180
Registrations (online) --200 250
Partnership Benefits
To further advance our values and foster inclusive relationships with our partners, V isit Greater Palm Sp rings is making changes to its partnership model, provid ing benefits tha t previously required an investment, like brochu re distribution in our visitor center, In the Loop partner newsletter, and event invites at no charge to tourism related businesses in the Coachella Valley. This new model is called EngageGPS and will roll our starting February 2024. Low-cost advertising and promotion opportunities will continue to be available, including advertising on our website, event sponsorships, and marketing co-ops.
In addition, the Digital Influence Report i nit iative will launch first qua rter of 2024. The report eva luates the digital presence, onl ine performance, and key metrics for businesses, in cluding aspects such as local presence, revi~ws, paid search, social media presence, website build , website speed, and SEO. The report provides a detailed breakdown of each business's performance in these areas, highlighting strengths and areas for improvement.
27 ZrsiC greater
palm springs