President's Report

By Holly Lofton

Lindsborg CVB

As the rain drip drizzles today and we have been working to knock out several large projects in the office, I have also enjoyed a few moments to reflect on just how close to summer we are! Everything is losing its winter gray, and I am looking forward to the longer days and many opportunities that more hours of daylight provide! I absolutely LOVE spring and summer and all the outdoor activities that go along with these seasons! I can hardly wait to check out few new stops that I learned about at the WeKan Conference, earlier this month, and the hubs is looking forward to checking an overnight stay in a missile silo off his bucket list.

I encourage each of you to also think about getting out and exploring something new every month this summer. Dig out that list of things you have wanted to experience and have simply not taken the time to do so. The Big Kansas Road Trip, May 3 – 4, provides three counties of exploring for the curious and a guide to make it easy! Download the Sunflower Summer app and explore a wide variety of museums, galleries, and events with your kids or grandkids. This program, now housed under the direction of Kansas Tourism, is only going to be better than it has been in the past! Plan a weekend outing with friends to do some taste testing at a new brewery. Rent a kayak and hit the Kaw River. Ideas rolling around in your head yet?

And, for those of you that already have or still want to obtain your Kansas Destination Specialist designation…this is the year to do so! 2024 is a re-certification year, so message a tourism friend and pick a place or two to explore or borrow their KDS books to finish out your necessary reports. Sally Fuller is ready and waiting with her spreadsheet to tally up your certification points –just email her your completed report forms. Then, register to attend the Kansas Tourism Conference in October where we will honor first-time KDS achievers!

Happy Kansas exploring! Can’t wait to hear about your summer adventures!

To the Stars,

Holly Lofton 

TIAK Educational Seminar Highlights

TIAK's Board of Directors met in conjunction with the TIAK Educational Seminar. Pictured above (L-R): Marcia Rozell, Megan Welsh, Melissa Dixon, Alan Carr, Marlee Carpenter.

National Travel and Tourism Week Toolkit

National Travel and Tourism Week is an annual tradition for the U.S. travel community. It’s a time when travel and tourism professionals across the country unite to celebrate the value travel holds for our economy, businesses, communities and personal well-being. Save the date for the upcoming 2024 celebration!

Mark National Travel and Tourism Week (NTTW), and demonstrate travel's essential role in stimulating economic growth, cultivating vibrant communities and creating quality job opportunities. The travel industry fuels every industry, in every community - and our success is the nation's success.

Moving #TravelForward begins with you. Explore the #nttw24 toolkit resources here.

2024 KTC Hotel Block

Reserve your room for the Kansas Tourism Conference in Olathe, October 21-23, 2024. The event will take place at the Olathe Conference Center with the room block at the same location through Embassy Suites. Single or double occupancy rooms are $149/night plus tax.

2026 KTC Request for Proposals

Proposals are being sought for the 2026 Kansas Tourism Conference. Proposals are anticipated to be submitted through coordinated community efforts of the local DMO (Destination Marketing Organization) such as the Chamber, CVB, City in cooperation with lodging, meeting, and attractions facilities to be considered. CVBs and DMOs that are TIAK members will be given preference. Conference locations will be balanced between regions.

Past locations include:

• 2024: Olathe
• 2023: Dodge City
• 2022: Wichita
• 2021: Liberal
• 2019: Mulvane
• 2018: Junction City
• 2017: Garden City
• 2016: Olathe
• 2015: Wichita
• 2014: Manhattan

New Appointments to Travel and Tourism Council

Governor Laura Kelly announced several new appointments and reappointments to state boards. Congratulations to the following:

Council on Travel and Tourism (oversees tourism marketing and business development):

• Suzan Barnes, Cottonwood Falls (reappointment)
• Rosa Cavazos, Topeka (reappointment)
• Karen Hibbard, Manhattan (reappointment)
• Chuck Magerl, Lawrence (reappointment)
• Janet McRae, Paola (reappointment)
• Donna Price, Goodland (reappointment)
• Kimberlee Anspach, Lawrence
• Rob Bergquist, Topeka
• Susie Santo, Wichita

Holly Lofton, Lindsborg, was also reappointed to the Kansas State Fair Board.

No Cost Project Help

The Kansas Micro-Internships (KMI) program celebrated its third anniversary in February and announced that Kansas businesses, nonprofit organizations, and entrepreneurs can now receive unlimited, no cost project help the rest of this calendar year.

Thanks to funding from the Strada Education Network, any Kansas organization or business can get unlimited on-demand help at no cost without any paperwork if they select Kansas community or technical college students to complete projects in business operations, communications, IT, HR, marketing, and many other areas. Learn more.

Wichita to Host 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships

The U.S. Figure Skating championships will take place in Wichita, Kansas, next year in what should amount to a preview of the names to watch for the American team headed to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina, Italy. Read more.

Gunsmoke Trail Launch

Tourism professionals for Wichita, Dodge City, Abilene and Hays announced plans for the launch of the "Gunsmoke Trail" - designed to encourage tourists to take a road trip through those four cities, each of which was mentioned in the long-running, Emmy Award-winning TV western series "Gunsmoke." Read more.

Graham County Travel & Tourism

Labor Market Report

Please find the link below to the March 2024 Labor Market report. The April 2024 Labor Report will be released on Friday, May 17, 2024.

March 2024 Labor Market Report: https://klic.dol.ks.gov/vosnet/gsipub/documentView.aspx?enc=O+qpCkhjA+v3dzYVbAEMjQ==  

Scroll down to Labor Report Documents for the March News Release and Labor Force Data for the “Interactive Labor Force Dashboard” and “Printable County Unemployment Rate Map”.

March 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 61% property participation and 78% hotel room participation in March.

The U.S. Travel Association published its latest Monthly Data Report, exclusively for U.S. Travel members. Here are key highlights from last month's report.

Key January Highlights

• Travel appetite started the year on a softer note, but overall growth continued. Air passenger growth remained positive, up 6% versus the prior year but lower than the double-digit growth seen through 2023. Foreign visits remained strong, up 24% YoY.
• Hotel room demand continued a trend of slight contraction falling 1% versus the prior year, while short-term rental demand grew 1%, a lower rate than 2023.
• A particular bright spot was that group room demand within the top 25 markets displayed solid growth of 9% relative to the prior year.
• The outlook for the economy remains fairly optimistic due to the strength of the labor market, looser financial conditions and healthy household and nonfinancial corporate balance sheets. This has filtered through to slightly higher consumer sentiment in February.
• Sentiment is also growing for upcoming leisure travel in 2024. The share of travelers reporting having travel plans within the next six months increased to 93% in January from 92% in December, according to Longwoods International’s monthly survey.
• Travel price inflation (TPI) fell slightly in January as a result of falling transportation prices. Sticky services inflation should see relief from decelerating wage growth. However, upside risks stem from rising healthcare costs, supply chain disruptions and slowing labor supply.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Tourism Huddle

Second Wednesday of each month

May 8

TIAK Executive Committee Meetings

May 9

July 11

September 12

November 14

TIAK Board Meetings

June 13

August 8

October 21 (& KTC)

December 12

Event Dates

National Travel & Tourism Week

May 19 - 24, 2024

Kansas Tourism Conference

October 21-23 - Olathe