Building Tourism in
BROWN COUNTY M AY 2018
New ‘Front Door’ Coming to Brown County T
he Green Bay community has never had a visitor center. With over 5.7 million people visiting every year, the Greater Green Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau thought the time was right to engage in a $7 million capital campaign to build a place to welcome and inspire visitors. “Our vision is big picture,” says Brad Toll, president and CEO of the Bureau. “This is something our destination is missing. Our job is to engage visitors. The more they know about our attractions, restaurants and events, the more likely they are to stay longer. Tourism is an economic driver for our community, and a visitor center is needed to propel spending and make a greater impact on the community,” he added. The Greater Green Bay CVB plans to build a 14,000-square foot center that represents Greater Green Bay in a high-tech, progressive way, telling success stories of the community. It will have hands-on experiences for young visitors to explore. The CVB works with hospitality businesses like hotels, museums and breweries, but they also work with realtors, corporate human resource departments and the Greater Green Bay Chamber. Most wouldn’t guess that recruitment and relocation would even be on the radar of a tourism office. “While we won’t shift our focus from welcoming travelers to our front door, we’re a team player in workforce development efforts. We think a good first impression could lead to new residents,” says Toll. “We work very hard to attract visitors to our community, it only makes sense that we talk to them when they arrive.”
In the United States, 8 out of 10 tourism destinations have an “official” visitor information center. Regionally, visitor centers are operated in Door County, Appleton, Manitowoc, Algoma, Oshkosh, Marinette and Fond du Lac.
Donor opportunities for the project can be found at www. experiencegreenbaywi.org. Groundbreaking is expected in early Fall 2018. Regionally, visitor centers are operated in Door County, Appleton, Manitowoc, Algoma, Oshkosh and Marinette.
What is a Convention and Visitors Bureau? T
he Greater Green Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) is the community’s destination marketing organization and is the local expert on all things tourism. A CVB exists to bring visitors – both leisure and business travelers – to Greater Green Bay. Visitors are great for the local economy because they bring money into our community by eating at our restaurants, shopping in our stores, staying in
our hotels and exploring local attractions. Without the dollars visitors bring to our community, each household would need to pay an additional $850 in taxes annually to maintain the same level of services provided by local government. The CVB is a sales and marketing organization who promotes Brown County businesses to travelers like
families, empty nesters, convention attendees and traveling youth sports teams. The sales team showcases meeting and convention space around Greater Green Bay to planners from across the country who will be hosting an event, conference or tradeshow. Sports facilities are a big draw to bring in athleticrelated visitors for tournaments and other sporting events. The marketing team reaches potential visitors through visitor guide mailings, promotional materials, social media and email marketing campaigns. Once the visitors arrive, we assist them while they are here to help find their way around the community and answer any questions they may have. A Mobile Visitor Center is stationed at large events around Brown County to be available to offer tourism help. Have you seen us at National Railroad Museum’s Day Out With Thomas, Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic or Green Bay Packers Training Camp? Behind the scenes, a CVB also lobbies legislators on behalf of tourism businesses. We share the importance of tourism with decision-makers to ensure a successful tourism industry. The Greater Green Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau has been around since 1969 and is an internationally accredited destination marketing organization. We are made up of an award-winning staff and have been recognized for outstanding marketing efforts from the Wisconsin Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus, the Greater Green Bay Chamber, the National Association of Sports Commissions and the Wisconsin Department of Tourism. The CVB is a not-for-profit organization largely funded by tax collected when a visitor stays in a hotel room.
M AY 2018
Why Do People Visit? Greater Green Bay offers many reasons to visit. It might surprise you that visiting friends and family tops the list. With the Green Bay area being a business hub and home to many corporate offices, daily business travel comes in a close second. Rounding out the top three is a tie between meetings and conventions business and leisure vacation travelers. Greater Green Bay has numerous convention facilities that are actively hosting conferences. Vacation travel is busy throughout the year, especially in the months of July, October and December.
What Do They Do? Our neighbors to the north in the upper peninsula of Michigan visit several times throughout the year to shop, which is one of the top activities during a long vacation or short visit. Experiencing local cuisine is something that many travelers seek out. Culinary businesses like cheese and chocolate shops, craft breweries, cold-hardy grapegrowing wineries, and food events like July’s Green Bay Restaurant Week and farmer’s markets all draw travelers that enjoy regional cuisine. Green Bay Packers games and visits to Lambeau Field provide a winter season lift, family friendly events, Packers Training Camp, major attractions like Bay Beach Amusement Park and Oneida Casino all entertain visitors throughout the year.
2017 TOURISM IMPACT 5.7 Million people visited Brown County
1.94 million 34% Overnight Visits (+2.6%)
3.77 million 66% Day Visits (+2.6%)
Brown County tourism generated $42.4 million in local taxes.
Brown County Visitor Spending by Season $ Millions 2015
2016
Q1
On the flip side, sports events like hockey, soccer and bowling bring teams in from across the country to compete. Bigger sports events like Green Bay Packers football games see people from all over the United States. The team has season ticket holders in all 50 states.
$130
Q2
$156 $215
Q3 2017
$170
Q4
$671 Million (+5.2%)
Brown County Visitor Expenditures Retail
Recreation, Arts, Entertainment
18.8%
18.9%
$126 million
$126 million
Where Are They From? Most leisure visitors to Greater Green Bay come from within the state of Wisconsin. Michigan and Illinois love to vacation in our state too. The three states account for 88 percent of visitors. Appleton, Milwaukee and Marquette, Michigan rank on top when it comes to regular travel to Greater Green Bay.
11,877 Jobs Supported in Brown County
Transportation
16% Food & Beverages
24.1% $161 million
Direct Visitor Spending includes hotels, retailers, restaurants, attractions, transportation services and other businesses, and supports jobs in Brown County.
$108 million Accommodations
22.2% $149 million
2017 Research Provided by Tourism Economics, Wayne, Pennsylvania.
Research: Total Travel Market – Green Bay MSA
Without taxes generated by tourism, each Brown County
DKShifflet June 2017
government services.
household would need to pay $900 to maintain the current level of
MAY 2 018
Growing for the Future
S
uccessful destinations attracting visitors to their community need to continually renovate and grow the “reasons” for travelers to choose them over another city. While Greater Green Bay has diverse hotel properties, from economy to four diamond luxury, visitors don’t travel to a destination simply because they want to stay in a hotel. They pack-up their suitcase and toss it in the trunk or belly of a plane because they are headed to a convention, meeting, sporting event, tradeshow or on a family vacation. Greater Green Bay is actively building and growing the reasons for travelers to visit! Let’s begin at Titletown, an exciting attraction for visitors. The playground is a hit with kids of all ages, and the sledding hill and skating rink makes it a fun place to visit any time of year. Medical tourism (yes, that is really a thing) is also supported with the new Bellin Health Titletown Sports Medicine and Orthopedics, attracting professional athletes from around the globe. Lodge Kohler and Hinterland Brewing have been very popular with visitors since opening last year, and the
addition of Titletown Tech and its Microsoft partnership are sure to add to the overall experience. The renovations and expansion of our meetings and convention product draws business travelers from around the globe. The indoor/outdoor options at the Johnsonville Tailgate Village are a great new offering. The expansion of the KI Convention Center which opened in 2016, was a banner year for the facility. Numerous groups that outgrew the facility returned to use the larger space, growing the economic impact the KICC has on our community. The Radisson Hotel & Conference Center is currently going through a major renovation, as is the Comfort Suites/Rock Garden and the Hotel Northland. The Delta by Marriott Green Bay (formerly the Ramada Plaza Hotel) will be a fantastic new addition to Greater Green Bay’s meetings product when it reopens this summer. The Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena and Shopko Hall have served our community well over the past 60 years. Adding to the quality of life for residents, they’ve
hosted pet shows and boat shows, to the circus and Toys for Tots toy distribution. It’s time now to build a new facility with modern-day equipment and conveniences. State-ofthe-art features will provide a huge opportunity to bring new and larger events to the community. Taking the building down without replacing it would mean losing shows and events that generate millions of dollars for our economy. Many of our attractions are also expanding and renovating from a new garden and amphitheater at the Green Bay Botanical Garden, to a new ballpark for the Green Bay Bullfrogs and beach restoration and additional rides at Bay Beach Amusement Park. Of course, everything a visitor loves to do in Greater Green Bay is also loved by our residents! Tourism and quality of life really do go hand-in-hand. The power of tourism shines bright in our community. Oftentimes we hear about how welcoming our residents are to our visitors. Thank you for making them feel welcome!
Journalist Publicity Tops $2.5 Million H
ave you ever wondered how Green Bay attractions appear in magazine and newspaper stories in faraway places? It’s likely that the journalist responsible for what you see has visited our community on a sponsored journalist tour…an all-expense paid trip to Green Bay. While this is a great way for travel journalists to see the country and make a living, it has a greater impact on our community. In 2017, the Greater Green Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau hosted a record 80 journalists from around the United States, Germany, England, Canada, France and Mexico. Each of them writes several stories about their visit. Some populate social media with photography, and others record sound bites with the people they meet and create radio programming. The publicity value of all the stories mounted to $2.5 million. Hosting that many guests is truly a community effort. First, hotel partners donate hotel rooms. While this has an operational expense, they are community-minded. They know that the stories written will inspire travel to Greater Green Bay. They can showcase specialty services and their hotel’s unique hospitality. This first and important step allows the whole trip to happen. Building the itinerary for the journalists is the next step. Local attractions, restaurants and tours are chosen specific to a theme, or by what the journalist has been assigned to write about. In 2017, over 50 places were featured on our
tours. CVB staff accompanies every tour and works closely with the participating businesses and local experts. From touring museums and Lambeau Field, to tasting cheese and touring convention facilities, the journalists
tell our community story. Their words plant the seed for vacations, conventions and sports events in the minds of millions of readers and listeners.
M AY 2018
Become a Tourism Insider
T
Calling All Tourism-Friendly Businesses Your customers are just locals, right? Your patrons might live nearby, BUT there’s a pretty good chance your business caters to travelers too. There is a way to promote your business to those who don’t live here. The Greater Green Bay CVB is a membershipbased organization. Once a member, your business enjoys year-round promotion to tourists of all kinds including:
he Tourism Insider Program is a hospitality and customer service training seminar offered to anyone in Greater Green Bay who welcomes visitors. The Greater Green Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau has trained 245 graduates since 2016. The TIP program equips those who complete it, to answer visitor questions about where to go, what to see, kid-friendly places and much more.
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Business page on GreenBay.com
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Representation at trade shows that book big events
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Brochure distribution at local events
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Concierge services at large conventions and sporting events
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Listing in the Official Visitors Guide
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Opportunity to speak to visiting journalists
Anyone who would like to become an expert on Greater Green Bay is welcome to attend the interactive seminar. We have trained hotel staff, bartenders, cab and Uber drivers, realtors, airport employees and waiters and waitresses.
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CVB referrals for service-based businesses
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Promotion to motor coach travel planners
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Inclusion in printed promotional materials
The CVB aims to ensure travelers have fantastic and memorable visitor experience while they are here. Frontline employees with knowledge of their community make a positive first impression with guests. Everyone who completes the TIP program, is encouraged to proudly wear a Tourism Insider Program pin. This suggests their level of expertise in answering local dining and attraction questions. Insiders are invited to attend special events and sneakpreviews at tourism partner businesses around Greater Green Bay. That way, they can recommend local attractions with first-hand experience. If you or anyone you know would be interested in attending a Tourism Insider Program training, check out www.greenbay.com/tips.
The Greater Green Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau can help your business grow. If you are located in Brown County and interested in becoming a member, contact Jessica Diederich, Partnerships and Business Development Director at 920-405-1266.
Sports Events Equal Money Y
ou’ve most likely heard of some large sporting events in the Green Bay area over the past year – Spartan Race at Lambeau Field, Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic and WIAA Girls State Basketball. Events like that don’t just magically appear. The Greater Green Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau Sports Sales Department diligently works with sports planners across the country to bring their events to our community. The process begins with learning about the venue requirements for a specific event based on number of rinks, courts, fields, etc., along with anticipated attendance. Then it becomes a sales-game of showing the planner why Greater Green Bay would be a great host-city for their specific event. Who wouldn’t want to play in the hometown of one of the most storied franchises in all of sports – the Green Bay Packers. But it’s not that simple. Joel Everts, CVB Sports Sales Manager, coordinates dates between facility and sports planner, works with hotels to ensure there are room blocks for the event and follows through on services to create the best Greater Green Bay experience for
visitors. Some events are years in the making…booking two or three years in advance. Our community hosted 30 different types of sporting events in 2017, accounting nearly 68,000 room nights and an economic impact of $34.5 million.
Restaurant Week was created to spotlight the chefs and the cuisine that make Greater Green Bay a dining destination. We have amazing restaurants and eateries, and this is the week to unite food lovers with DELICIOUS dining at AMAZING prices. Every menu at every restaurant is different. It’s that simple! See complete menus at
Locally-Owned Restaurants 3-Course Menus
GBrestaurantweek.com
More Than
60
Participating Restaurants!
REPRESENTING ALGOMA, ALLOUEZ, ASHWAUBENON, BELLEVUE, DE PERE, GREEN BAY, HOWARD, ONEIDA NATION, PULASKI AND SUAMICO.
GREENBAY.COM
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1901 S. Oneida Street, P.O. Box 10596 Green Bay, WI 54307-0596