PRESIDENT'S REPORT

By Julie Roller Weeks

Abilene Convention & Visitors Bureau

Seeing so many of you at the 2022 Kansas Tourism Conference was great! In a world of more and more virtual meetings, it's great to gather in person to learn from the presenters and network with each other. Here are a few takeaways from last week:

Humble, hungry or smart? At the 2022 Kansas Tourism Conference, Dr. Nels Lindberg challenged us to identify our strengths and weaknesses from this list. As Kansans, we're often humble, but as the end-of-the-year nears, I challenge you to take off the humble hat and celebrate all the excellent work you're doing in your communities, coalitions and associations.

Next, can we please celebrate how cool Kansas' brand is?! I recently attended the Kansas Department of Commerce's To the Stars: Kansas Business Awards ceremony. My takeaway? It is AWESOME to see Commerce embracing Tourism's branding efforts! Their logo, the name of their event, and the colors directly reflect the good work Kansas Tourism is doing. Why? Because tourism is economic development!

And remember... it starts with a visit. If you build a place people want to visit, you build a place where people want to live. If you build a place where people want to live, you'll build a place where people want to work. If you build a place where people want to work, you build a place where business needs to be. If you build a place where business has to be, you'll build a place where people have to visit.

To The Stars!

Thank you #KTC22!

The TIAK Board of Directors, Conference Committee, and Staff want to thank everyone that volunteered, sponsored, or attended the 2022 Kansas Tourism Conference last week in Wichita. It was another successful event because of you.

A BIG thank you, again, to Visit Wichita for hosting us and for your generous hospitality!

Congratulations 2022 Marketing Award Winners

Winners of the 2022 TIAK Marketing Awards were announced last week at the #KTC22.

The TIAK Marketing Awards are chosen annually to recognize excellence in destination marketing initiatives across the state. They are divided into six categories and broken out by the organization’s marketing budget: Large (over $100,000), Medium ($20,000 – $100,000), and Small ($19,999 and under). Learn more about the entries.

Congratulations to the following winners:

People’s Choice

Visit Emporia - Bicycle-Pulled Chariots Campaign

Visitor Guide (in-house)

Small Budget: Experience El Dorado

Medium Budget: Dodge City Convention and Visitors Bureau

Large Budget: Visit Wichita

Visitor Guide (outsourced)

Medium Budget: Visit Emporia

Large Budget: eXplore Lawrence

Online Marketing

Small Budget: Medicine Lodge Peace Treaty Association - social media campaign

Medium Budget: Visit Manhattan - social media ads

Large Budget: eXplore Lawrence - website

Event

Small Budget: Seneca Area Chamber & Downtown Impact - Oktoberfest Beer Tasting Festival

Medium Budget: Friends of the Topeka Zoo - Dinosaur Campaign

Large Budget: Visit Topeka - Topeka Dino Days Leisure Festival

Community Awareness

Small Budget: City of Greensburg Tourism - 15th anniversary tornado video

Medium Budget: Abilene Convention & Visitors Bureau - 5-star community awareness campaign

Large Budget: eXplore Lawrence - "Why Lawrence" video series

Print Marketing

Small Budget: Explore Crawford County - "Gus Explores Southeast Kansas" coloring book

Medium Budget: Visit Emporia - disc golf course & gravel cycling route field guide pocketbooks 

Large Budget: Wichita Art Museum - sculpture installation & career survey newspaper insert

2022 KTC 30 in 30

Thanks to everyone for participating in the 30 ideas in 30 minutes session at the Kansas Tourism Conference! A lot of great ideas were shared, and a couple even won a prize! We’ve compiled them all, plus a few from the idea box.

1. Plan event promotions like Hobby Lobby and use website, blog and social media to plan ahead for things like Christmas. (Julie / Visit Abilene)
2. Use AlphaMac to help with your marketing materials and data; it’s $2,500 per year, helps in an easy-to-read manner, and worth every penny. (Jim / City of Parsons)
3. Beat the heat with Christmas in July—music, shopping and bubbles instead of snow. (Holly / Visit Lindsborg)
4. Create postcards with local artists and then share with businesses to help promote your community. (Holly / Visit Lindsborg)
5. Create a fun opportunity for kids with a candy vending machine for only one penny. (Holly / Visit Lindsborg)
6. Get temporary tattoos for your trade shows–all you need is a spray bottle and some paper towels and then you have walking billboards of kids with your logo all over them. (Holly / Visit Lindsborg)
7. Highway 36 had the best pie contest for each county. Don’t be afraid to do the best burger, best soup or beyond. It’s great publicity and promotion for your restaurants. (Kylee / Seneca)
8. If you have two attractions that could connect, print vinyl banners and exchange to cross-promote each other. For example, our museum placed a banner at the waterpark this summer and vice versa; the CVB paid for the banners and it’s a dual promotion. (Melissa / Hays)
9. Recruit and raise awareness of the younger population with field trips to different locations inside your area. You can also use the website sign-up genius as a helpful tool to keep everything organized. (Lucille / Mitchel Co. Tourism)
10. Our gift shop now sells farm fresh eggs. We also serve food at our meetings and gift people plants for an easy fun freebie. (Susie / Cloud County)

Read the other 20 ideas here!

Kansas Cowboy Hall of Fame Announces 2022 Inductees

The Kansas Cowboy Hall of Fame Committee is pleased to name the following individuals for induction in 2022: Ron Wilson, Manhattan, cowboy entertainer; George Henrichs, formerly of Dodge City, cowboy historian; Rosie Rezac Clymer, formerly of Alta Vista, rancher and cattlewoman; Arlene D. LaMar, formerly of Kansas City, Missouri, rodeo cowgirl; and Van E. Haines, formerly of El Dorado, working cowboy.

The induction ceremony will be held Nov. 5 at the Mariah Gallery, Boot Hill Museum, Dodge City. It is open to the public and will be posted on Boot Hill Museum’s website and Facebook page. Tickets are $35 for adults, $20 for children 5 to 12, and reservations can be made by calling Boot Hill Museum at 620-227-8188.

September Lodging Report

TIAK has an agreement with Smith Travel Research (STR) to provide members with statewide reports on hotel occupancy each month. The following data is provided directly from STR:

Monthly and YTD Comparisons

Kansas had 62% property participation and 77% hotel room participation in September.

The U.S. Travel Association has published its latest Monthly Data Report, exclusively for U.S. Travel members. Here are some highlights from September:

• After four straight months of exceeding pre-pandemic levels, total travel spending was 3% below 2019 levels in August.

• Group hotel demand remained static at 11% below 2019 levels in August and other sentiment and predictive indicators reveal some uncertainty within the group travel segment.

• While meeting planner optimism improved to 62% in August from 48% in June, the share of meeting planners citing event disruptions over the past six weeks rose to 24% in August from 20% in June.

• Overseas visitation stalled in August, remaining at the same level as July and still down 35%—far behind pre-pandemic levels.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Tourism Huddle

November 9

TIAK Executive Committee Meeting

November 10

TIAK Board Meeting

December 8