1999-02-04
CITY OF ENCINITAS
ACTION MINUTES OF REGULAR COMMITTEE MEETING
TOURISM & MARKETING COMMITTEE
February 4, 1999
Present: S Cameron, D Holz, 5 Holder, B Nelson, R Gossard, B Kennedy, P Davis, J Clark, G Taylor, K Kuest, J Hibert, M Trimmins, L Simons,
P Norby, D Hare, R Mance, J puval, L Harris, C Marvin, K Richter, V Willis, S Anderson, M Hayes, J Strick, R Rauch, L Love, L Ismore,
S Aceti, J Cunningham, C Wells, J Stocks, R Griffith, D Cook, B Miller, M Davis, K Anderson, J Brooks, ) Eckdahl, M Andreen
ISSUE DIRECTION/ACTION
ITEM # 1 Approved.
Approve Minutes of January 21, 1999 meeting.
ITEM #2 Carlsbad ConVis opened in May, 1985. Each city is unique and has to decide its own
Guest Speaker: Steve Link, Executive Director of the way to attract tourists.
Carlsbad Convention and Visitors Bureau When Steve Link was at the Visitor's Center. in Merced, they recerved $200,000
annually from the City, two-thirds of which supported the visitor's center which was
open 7 days a week, and one-third funded brochures. There were no members. Funds
were raised privately. HoteUmotel owners became marketing partners and supported
the Visitors Center with $9:86 per room per year, which has now increased to $11 per
room. Two-thousand leads per month were processed and brochures mailed. Mailing
labels were provided to the hoteUmotel owners twice a month. Reader response caxds
were inserted in magazine ads. Through cooperative marketing, the cost of travel
show booths were shared.
Carlsbad Visitors Center has 3 full-time and 4 part-time staff members9 with 30
volunteers. They are open 7 days a week. Hotels provide $30 to $35,000 per year.
Community Enhancement Funds contribute $10,000 per year. The City of Carlsbad
gives $210,00 per year. Last year, a total of $276,000 was received. One-third of the
budget is for marketing, travel shows, conducting tours, local events and publishing
literature. There is a 15-member Board of Directors and 8 of the 15 members are
hotel owners.
The following statistics apply to Carlsbad visitors. Hotel rates range from $40 to
$300 per night. More than half of Carlsbad visitors travel under 500 miles and stay
- for shorter visits. Some visitors coming from Cana.da stay for six weeks during
winter. Travelers from overseas spend more money, 3 to 4% are travel agents.
Carlsbad ConVis aduertises in the Palm Springs Desert Sun 4 to 5 times per year,
offering free hotel rooms, free meals and tickets to the Zoo or Wild Animal Park.
ITE M 42 (Continued) Last year's budget breakdown was as follows:
Guest Speaker: Steve Link, Executive Directar of the $ 62,000 Advertising
Carlsbad Convention and Visitors Bureau
$ 28,000 Travel Shows
$ 15,000 Brochures - Literature
$ 9,000 Events
$ 1,000 Video
$115,000
$161,000 Salaries & Overhead
$276,000 Total
" It took $10,000 to $11,000 and one year, to produce an 8 minute video telling reasons
why to visit Carlsbad. A 16-page brochure costs $5,000 per year. There is a waiting
list of advertisers to be included in the brochure.
The Beach Train Brochure was produced at a cost of $24,000 for 400,000 copies.
Solana Beach, Encinitas, Carlsbad, Ocea.nside and NCTD contributed to the cost.
Dining Guides, including 145 restaurants, are updated every 9 months. There are
55,000 copies printed for the 3,000 to 4,000 people who frequent Carlsbad
restaurants per day.
A Marketing Committee meets once a month to analyze the effectiveness of their
efforts. There is a Brochure Committee alsa
The percentage of TOT Tax given to the Visitor's Center is 4 to 5% of $5.8 million,
or $271,000.
Volunteers are trained twice a month to conduct tours of Legoland and the Oceanside
Mission as well as being knowledgeable about local hotels. There are three phone
lines that are busy all the time, plus an 800 number. -
Steve Aceti noted that the loss of sand on the beaches is costing $100,000 ayear for
hotel owners.
The Visitors Center website gets 18,000 hits per week.
The City of Carlsbad judges the visitors center's effectiveness by hotel room
occupancy.
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ITEM #3
Carried forward to a future meeting.
Discuss Banners for the Highway 101 Corridor from
Leucadia to Cardiff
ITEM #4 Sandy Holder reported the Old Encinitas sign was in place in the 1920's, then
Discuss Restoration of Encinitas Street Sign removed sometime in the 1930's when the street was widened. The old sign is gone
now. It was 20 feet long, with letters 15 feet high. It had blue lettering that turned red
at night.
The cost to refabricate a neon sign is estimated between $25,000 to $40,000. The
sign would be place between two poles, with a span of 76 feet from curb tfl curb.
Some concerns were expressed regarding exposed neon tubing. A face would be
needed to protect from vandalism.
An artist from Temecula, Bob Moms, works with metal. The Mayor was imvited to
see the success of the signs he has created.
Sandy Holder stated that $50,000 .has been placed in the Capital Impravement
Program. An ad-hoc cornmittee is needed to ensure that the sign will be in sync with
the Streetscape Plan.
Bob Nelson, Public Works Director, has concerns regarding sign maintenance in a
beach environment. A cable mounted sign would be affected by a 75 MPH gust of
wind. The sign should be anchored with poles.
Bob Halliday has volunteered to be the head of the ad-hoc committee and to raise
funds for the project.
ITEM #5 Steve Aceti , representing the California Coastal Commission, reported on his trip to
Ora1 Communications Sacramento and the creation of AB64 - the San Replenishment Fund. Denise Ducheny is
the Chair and at this point there are 4 co-authors and it is gainuig momentum. Copies of
the agerida were distributed. .
ITEM #6 a) Capital Improvement Projects for 101 Corridor
Agenda Items for Future Meeting: b) Discussion regarding Downtown Parking
c) Review and Consideration of a New Promotional Brochure
d) Discussion/Set-up Ad Hoc committees - set direction and priorities.
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. e) Discuss Banners for the Highway 101 Corridor from Leucadia to Cardiff
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fl Tour of k;;land - Opening Day March 20th ~
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Wednesday, March 3, 1999 at 8 a.m.
ITEM #7
Next Meeting:
Adjotu7unent Adjourned at 9:15 a.m.
Prepared by: Ruth Gossard