MIDLANDS AUTHORITY FOR CONVENTIONS, SPORTS & TOURISM
FISCAL YEAR 2014-2015
ANNUAL REPORT
Mission Statements
MIDLANDS AUTHORITY FOR CONVENTIONS, SPORTS & TOURISM
Midlands Authority for Conventions, Sports & Tourism The Midlands Authority for Conventions, Sports & Tourism’s mission is to strengthen the area’s economy by promoting tourism in the region through active recruitment of new meetings, conventions, leisure travel and sporting events and by enhancing existing tourism through exceptional customer service. Columbia Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau The mission of the Columbia Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau is to strengthen the area’s economy by marketing and selling the region, it’s accommodations, meeting facilities, restaurants, facilities and attractions as a premier destination for meetings, conventions, tradeshows, special events and leisure travel and by working cooperatively with the hospitality community providing informative materials and assistive services that enhance and promote the desired image of the metropolitan area. Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center The mission of the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center is to provide a first-class venue offering superior operations management and state-of-the-science amenities for the successful coordination of meetings, conventions, tradeshows, entertainment and other special events utilizing the facility; enhancing the economic viability and image of the area. Columbia Regional Sports Council The mission of the Columbia Regional Sports Council is to strengthen the area’s economy by marketing and selling the area’s economy by marketing and selling the region as a premier destination for sporting events, partnering with local sports organizations to grow and develop existing events, and by recruiting new events which provide an economic benefit to the region by generating room nights, food and beverage sales and associated tax revenues.
Dear Community Partners and Stakeholders, Last fiscal year was a great success for all authority organizations. Over 33 hospitality partners participated in the Columbia Metropolitan Convention & Visitor Bureau’s inaugural cooperative marketing program, which allowed us to collectively leverage advertising dollars and effectively reach target visitors. The Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center exceeded one million in contracted rental revenue and bookings were up 10% over FY 2013-2014. The Columbia Regional Sports Council supported 65 sporting events, which resulted in 9,177 booked hotel rooms. It was a great year, indeed. None of this is possible without strong support from our community stakeholders and hospitality partners. The following successes are your successes and we’re proud to share our FY 2014-2015 Annual Report with you. Our team continues to develop new and exciting ways to promote the growing number of assets around the region to visitors and increase the overall impact tourism has on our community. I look forward to another great year of partnering with you to share The New Southern Hot Spot with new and returning visitors alike. Warm Regards, Bill Ellen President & CEO
THE COLUMBIA REGION WELCOMES
14.5
MILLION VISITORS ANNUALLY
MAKING TOURISM A
1.9
BILLION DOLLAR
INDUSTRY FOR THIS COMMUNITY
PROVIDING 19,000 JOBS
GENERATING NEARLY
$101 MILLION IN STATE & LOCAL TAXES
CONTENTS COLUMBIA METROPOLITAN CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU
7
COLUMBIA METROPOLITAN CONVENTION CENTER
9
COLUMBIA REGIONAL SPORTS COUNCIL
11
MIDLANDS AUTHORITY MARKETING
13
MIDLANDS AUTHORITY MEDIA RELATIONS
15
Downtown Columbia
Soda City Market
Dining & Nightlife
Columbia Metropolitan Airport
Outdoor Sports
Attractions
COLUMBIA METROPOLITAN
CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU
6%
%
6%
6%
MEETING SCOPE
HOSTED ATTENDEES 100,000
Statewide Conference
80,000
Statewide Conference
38% 28%38%
8%
Conference w/room LocalLocal Conference w/room nights
nights
60,000
National
40,000
National
Southeast/Regional
22%
20,000
Southeast/Regional International
0
International
22%
FY 10–11
FY 11–12
FY 12–13
FY 13–14
FY 14–15
Attendees (from CVB generated bookings) Assisted Attendees (additional attendees serviced)
106 CONTRACTED EVENTS
2- Pie chart/ title: Meeting Scope regional, national, etc. % of events (could do # of events w/ total regional, national) International Conference: 5% National Conference: 23% Regional 9% Statewide Conference: 40% Convention Local Conference w/ room nights: 23%
ECONOMIC IMPACT
$14.4 MILLION DIRECT SPENDING
expenditures, hotel, RESULTING IN 29,749 ROOM NIGHTS conference, meeting venue, etc. 2- Pie chart/ title: Meeting Scope regional, national, etc. % of events (could do # of events w/ total regional, national) Last year the CVB took the Columbia, SC message International Conference: 5% to 13 industry trade shows that involved state, National Conference: 23% regional and national meeting planners. Regional 9% Statewide Conference: 40% Local Conference w/ room nights: 23% The CVB also hosted a client event in Washington,
DC, promoting the Columbia SC region to conference planners and decision makers.
additional food/beverage, retail, recreation, etc.
COLUMBIA REGIONAL
VISITORS CENTER 1. Charlotte, NC 2. New York City, NY
7.14 & 6.15
Watchtower Jehovah Witness Convention
20,000 Attendees 7,500+ Rooms
7.14
International Conference of Police Chaplains
600 Attendees
1,500+ Rooms
1.15
SC Bar Convention (hosted at Columbia
1,200 Attendees
900+ Rooms
3.15
Association of Zoos & Aquariums (hosted at
800 Attendees
2,000+ Rooms
6.15
Miss SC Pageant
2,000 Attendees
1,500+ Rooms
Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center)
INDIRECT SPENDING
Top Out of Area Inquiries by Metro
KEY EVENTS
Metropolitan Convention Center)
+
$9.7 MILLION
3. Greenville/Spartanburg, SC 4. Washington, DC 5. Atlanta, GA
7
Palmetto Health All Team Assembly
Governor's Inaugural Ball
FLW Forest Wood Cup
2 Millionth Visitor to CMCC
SC Green Hospitality Alliance Award of Certification
COLUMBIA METROPOLITAN
CONVENTION CENTER HOSTED ATTENDEES
177,910
FY 14-15
$3.1 MILLION TOTAL OPERATING REVENUE
154,477
FY 13-14
127,000
FY 12-13
WITH
147,107
FY 11-12
123,409
FY 10-11 0
50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
CMCC just installed COLUMBIA METROPOLITAN an upgraded Trane CONVENTION CENTER Climate Control SUSTAINABILITY Building Automated System (BAC) that extends our equipment life & reduces our maintenance cost. We estimate to save approximately $40,000 a year in energy cost.
10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY
COLUMBIA METROPOLITAN
CONVENTION CENTER
The CMCC celebrated 10 years of developing the Columbia region and serving their clients on September 21, 2014.
$1.06 MILLION CONTRACTED RENTAL REVENUE THE CMCC WELCOMED JUST UNDER
400,000 VISITORS THROUGH THEIR DOORS IN FY 2014-15
CROSSING THE MILESTONE
2 MILLIONTH VISITOR ON APRIL 23, 2015
NOTABLE CONFERENCES HELD IN FY 14–15 Carolinas Region CME Church 2014 Annual Conference
700 attendees/570TRN
7.13 – 7.18.2014 - Regional
2014 Forrest L Woods Cup Fishing Tournament
36,000 attendees/1500TRN 8.11 – 8.18.2014 - National
SC Governor's Inaugural Ball
1,100 attendees
1.14.15 - Statewide
SC Music Educators 2015 Annual Conference
800 attendees/330TRN
2.5 – 2.7.15 - Statewide
2015 UCF War of the Stars Cheerleading Competition
3,000 attendees/750TRN
3.5 - 3.8.15 - Regional
Black Pages International 2015 Black Expo
5,000 attendees
5.9.15 - Statewide
359 CONTRACTED EVENTS UP 10% OVER FY 13-14
9
Williams-Brice Stadium
Colonial Life Arena
Lexington County Baseball Stadium
Carolina Stadium
Richland County Rowing Facility
Cayce Tennis & Fitness Center
COLUMBIA REGIONAL
SPORTS COUNCIL
65
131,481 SPORTS EVENTS ATTENDEES
SPORTS EVENTS
HOSTED ACROSS THE REGION
8,732
557 145
CONTRACTED
PROSPECTING CALLS
FUTURE
ROOMS
FACE-TO-FACE APPOINTMENTS
20 SITE VISITS HOSTED
WITH SPORTS EVENTS OWNERS
EVENT ECONOMIC IMPACT HIGHLIGHTS 2014 SCHSL Football State Finals
$855,744
2014-15 SCHSL Basketball State Finals 24th Annual SE Bowling Assn Tournament 2014 Mid-Atlantic Bridge Conference Columbia Regional 2015 Run Hard Columbia Marathon 2015 Carolinas Open Lacrosse Championships
$640,913 $388,450 $346,858 $275,595 $259,383
DIRECT ECONOMIC IMPACT
FROM SPORTS EVENTS HOSTED
$9,531,332 11
CoolPASS Targeted Web Banners kes Sweepsta
ors Guide 2015 Official Visit
Print Ad Campaign targeting meeting planners & sports event organizers
:30 TV Spot
CVB.com Columbia
ite
Mobile S
Hot Spot Billboards
Print Ad
MIDLANDS AUTHORITY
MARKETING
COLUMBIA REGIONAL SPORTS COUNCIL
OVER
• 147% Twitter follower increase • 22% Facebook follower increase • Average time on site: 4 minutes, 29 seconds (our visitors are engaged!)
200,000
MEETING & EVENT PLANNERS REACHED THROUGH PRINT ADVERTISING
COLUMBIA METROPOLITAN CONVENTION CENTER
OVER
10 MILLION
• 8% growth in website users, organic search traffic and social media followers
COLUMBIA METROPOLITAN CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU
REACHED THROUGH PRINT ADVERTISING
POTENTIAL VISITORS
25
• Over 1 million website visitors • 20% growth in social media followers • 22,000 entries in leisure sweepstakes featured in Southern Living and Garden & Gun
MILLION
IMPRESSIONS
GENERATED THROUGH TELEVISION ADVERTISING
PAID SPACE ADVERTISING OUTLETS PRINT 10 million potential visitors Over 200,000 meeting planners
BILLBOARD 80 million billboard impressions
DIGITAL Over 10 million impressions
TELEVISION 25 million impressions via 4,287 spots aired
SOCIAL MEDIA Over 750,000 ad impressions on Facebook and Twitter
SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING Over 2 million ad impressions on Google, Yahoo! and Bing
13
"You [Columbia] give me everything I want and need. You are the most underrated and misunderstood town in the South, the gangly girl who's growing into
a great beauty."
"We visited Columbia for a long weekend, but easily
could have spent weeks eating our way through the vibrant city. While nearby Charleston may often steal the spotlight, South Carolina's capital has
a food culture that is a beautiful community of enthusiastic creators." Annelise McAuliffe, Honest Cooking, Aug. 2015
"Most sizeable Southern cities have at least one restaurant that jumped out ahead of the farm-to-table craze, saluting producers and resurrecting old recipes long before most eaters were familiar with the concept. Mr. Friendly's, which got its start
one of Columbia's locavore leaders."
as a sandwich-and-cookie shop in 1995, became
Hanna Raskin Charleston Post & Courier, July 2015
Emile DeFelice Love Letter to Columbia in the Huffington Post
"Since its opening, Terra has not only brought customers to the area, but its presence has encouraged new restauranteurs to set up shop in West Columbia, too. With a great reputation and loyal following, the
West Columbia eateries have contributed delicious dining options and helped to connect a geographically divided Columbia community." Annelise McAuliffe, Honest Cooking, July 2015
MIDLANDS AUTHORITY
MEDIA RELATIONS One way the Midlands Authority strives to live out its mission is through public and media relations efforts. We promote the Columbia region by pitching story ideas and hosting media to garner regional, national and international destination coverage.
MEDIA TRIPS & FAMS DATE
HOSTED WRITER
OUTLET
SCOPE
July 2014 Sept. 2014 Sept. 2014 Nov. 2014 Dec. 2014 Dec. 2014 March 2015 April 2015 April 2015 April 2015 April 2015 June 2015 June 2015
Alisa Johnson Laura Huff Nichole Livengood Marie-France Bornais* Nichole Livengood Terri Gardner Tracey Teo* Mary Gallagher Ava Roxanne Stritt Karyn Locke Marci DeWolfe Ed Rampell Annelise McAuliffe
51 Capitols in 51 Days blog Carolina Epicurean (Asheville, NC) Gap Creek Gourmet (Greenville, SC) Le Journal de Quebec & Le Journal de Montreal (Canada) Gap Creek Gourmet (Greenville, SC) Freelancer (In partnership w/Greenville, SC; Chicago Tribune) Freelancer (The Tennessean & AJC) Freelancer Spa Travel Gal Trekaroo Freelancer (Spartanburg & Greenville papers) The Washington Times Honest Cooking
National Regional – N.C. & S.C. Regional – N.C. & S.C. International – Canada Regional – N.C. & S.C. National National Regional National National Regional National National
* Denotes a S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism media opportunity. SCPRT coordinates press trips throughout the state each year. We often assist their team with press trips that include Columbia.
3
MENTIONS IN USA TODAY TRAVEL
69
STORIES GARNERED
11
HOSTED
PRESS VISITS
15