2022 Annual Report | Visit Lake Charles

2022

ANNUAL REPORT

From the PRESIDENT/CEO

Set against the backdrop of two extraordinary years with a pandemic, hurricanes, and rebuilding impacting the travel industry, 2022 was the first year with festivals and events in full swing, meetings and conventions, sporting events, and a more abundant number of accommodations available for travelers.

Set against the backdrop of two extraordinary years with a pandemic, hurricanes, and rebuilding impacting the travel industry, 2022 was the first year with festivals and events in full swing, meetings and conventions, sporting events, and a more abundant number of accommodations available for travelers.

At the beginning of the year occupancy was flat compared to 2021. In May, the occupancy rate began to decline, while the Average Daily Rate (ADR) remained well over $100 through the remainder of the year. Occupancy finished at 61.8 % for the year, which was four percent higher than 2019, still considered a baseline year for the tourism industry.

At the beginning of the year occupancy was flat compared to 2021. In May, the occupancy rate began to decline, while the Average Daily Rate (ADR) remained well over $100 through the remainder of the year. Occupancy finished at 61.8 % for the year, which was four percent higher than 2019, still considered a baseline year for the tourism industry.

The year brought about several firsts for our organization. Last March, we hosted the PGA Korn Ferry Lake Charles Championship, which earned recognition from the Louisiana Travel Association as the Major Event of the Year with partnerships that brought this golfing event to life on a grand scale. We hosted an international press conference at the US Travel Association’s IPW with over 300 international journalists who learned why Lake Charles should be on their radar as the world continued to emerge from the pandemic. For returning events, we had the opportunity to showcase our destination to statewide tourism colleagues with the Louisiana Travel Summit in August. On an international stage, the Americas LNG & Gas Summit & Exhibition took place for the second time in November.

The year brought about several firsts for our organization. Last March, we hosted the PGA Korn Ferry Lake Charles Championship, which earned recognition from the Louisiana Travel Association as the Major Event of the Year with partnerships that brought this golfing event to life on a grand scale. We hosted an international press conference at the US Travel Association’s IPW with over 300 international journalists who learned why Lake Charles should be on their radar as the world continued to emerge from the pandemic. For returning events, we had the opportunity to showcase our destination to statewide tourism colleagues with the Louisiana Travel Summit in August. On an international stage, the Americas LNG & Gas Summit & Exhibition took place for the second time in November.

Sports tourism continues to be a major driver of visitation and overnight stays. Last year, Southwest Louisiana hosted the LHSAA State Softball and Baseball Tournaments, LHSAA Marsh Madness State Basketball Championships, LHSAA State Swim Meet, Future Stars Series National Championships, USSSA tournaments and many more. Events like these have earned Southwest Louisiana the title of being the Youth Sports Capital of Louisiana. In fact, Visit Lake Charles was inducted into the Hall of Honor by the Louisiana USSSA for its decadeslong partnership.

Sports tourism continues to be a major driver of visitation and overnight stays. Last year, Southwest Louisiana hosted the LHSAA State Softball and Baseball Tournaments, LHSAA Marsh Madness State Basketball Championships, LHSAA State Swim Meet, Future Stars Series National Championships, USSSA tournaments and many more. Events like these have earned Southwest Louisiana the title of being the Youth Sports Capital of Louisiana. In fact, Visit Lake Charles was inducted into the Hall of Honor by the Louisiana USSSA for its decadeslong partnership.

On a positive trajectory, the destination’s sports market is growing beyond youth sports with events like the collegiate Quadball Regional Championship Tournament and Pro Watercross National Championships. Another opportunity for diversification in sports is that Lake Charles is hosting the 2023 US Sports Congress which attracts top level amateur sports decisionmakers. This single event could put more sports tournaments on the map for Southwest Louisiana as they explore the destination and get to know our capabilities for hosting.

On a positive trajectory, the destination’s sports market is growing beyond youth sports with events like the collegiate Quadball Regional Championship Tournament and Pro Watercross National Championships. Another opportunity for diversification in sports is that Lake Charles is hosting the 2023 US Sports Congress which attracts top level amateur sports decisionmakers. This single event could put more sports tournaments on the map for Southwest Louisiana as they explore the destination and get to know our capabilities for hosting.

In addition to marketing, promoting, and selling SWLA, the team at VLC has made an even stronger commitment to make our community a better place to live, work, and play. During 2022, team members volunteered on every task force with the “Just Imagine SWLA” program, and the marketing team is working hand-in-hand with the Community Foundation to keep “Just Imagine” front and center for our citizens.

In addition to marketing, promoting, and selling SWLA, the team at VLC has made an even stronger commitment to make our community a better place to live, work, and play. During 2022, team members volunteered on every task force with the “Just Imagine SWLA” program, and the marketing team is working hand-in-hand with the Community Foundation to keep “Just Imagine” front and center for our citizens.

All this work is fueled by a talented team of professionals. With the addition of four new positions in sales and marketing, we have greatly increased the creative bandwidth and capacity to exceed expectations for clients and the community. In fact, the Louisiana Travel Association recognized those efforts with the staff earning CVB of the Year and the Marketing Tourism Campaign/Promotion of the Year awards. I am proud of each and every team member at Visit Lake Charles for their dedication, passion, and drive. Looking ahead, we are eager to launch a new campaign that highlights the joy that can be experienced in Louisiana’s Playground and working with partners throughout Calcasieu Parish in innovative ways to positively impact the tourism economy and quality of life for residents in Southwest Louisiana.

All this work is fueled by a talented team of professionals. With the addition of four new positions in sales and marketing, we have greatly increased the creative bandwidth and capacity to exceed expectations for clients and the community. In fact, the Louisiana Travel Association recognized those efforts with the staff earning CVB of the Year and the Marketing Tourism Campaign/Promotion of the Year awards. I am proud of each and every team member at Visit Lake Charles for their dedication, passion, and drive. Looking ahead, we are eager to launch a new campaign that highlights the joy that can be experienced in Louisiana’s Playground and working with partners throughout Calcasieu Parish in innovative ways to positively impact the tourism economy and quality of life for residents in Southwest Louisiana.

Kyle Edmiston, CDME President/CEO Visit Lake Charles

Kyle Edmiston, CDME President/CEO Visit Lake Charles

Kyle Edmiston, President/CEO of Visit Lake Charles, shines a spotlight on Southwest Louisiana’s boundless potential for tourism growth at a press conference during IPW 2022.

Outstanding Convention and Visitors’ Bureau of the Year: This award recognizes exceptional efforts in tourism promotions through events, activities, or marketing initiatives, showing proof of return on investment through increased visitation.

Tourism Campaign of the Year: Visit Lake Charles’ Austin Integrated Marketing Campaign was selected as the winner for the Tourism Campaign Award for 2022 (budget $30,000+). This campaign showcased Southwest Louisiana’s culinary stories through social media, digital advertising, outof-home through wrapped vehicles, public relations, and promotions with an Austin influencer.

Major Event of the Year: The PGA Korn Ferry Tour Lake Charles Championship was named the “Major Event of the Year” by the Louisiana Travel Association, recognizing its outstanding contribution to the state’s tourism industry. The tournament took place March 24-27, 2022 at Golden Nugget Casino & Hotel and brought professional golfers from across the nation to Lake Charles. This award is a testament to the dedication and hard work of the organizers, sponsors,

and volunteers who made the championship possible and showcased Louisiana as a premier golf destination.

Launched Louisiana’s Playground Podcast to create a new avenue for potential visitors to learn about hidden gems, culinary arts, and things to be discovered in Southwest Louisiana with the goal of inspiring visitation and community engagement.

Hosted LA Travel Summit in August with more than 450 attendees from across the state to learn about the challenges and opportunities that are in the travel space, and to network with industry professionals.

Hosted the inaugural ROSE Award Ceremony (Recognition of Service Excellence) to honor outstanding employees in the hospitality industry who have shown dedication and resilience over the past year.

The Civic Service Award was awarded to Willie Mount, chair of the Visit Lake Charles Board of Directors, at the Chamber SWLA’s 118th Annual Banquet.

Certified Destination Management Executive (CDME): Heather Savoie,

senior vice president of finance at Visit Lake Charles, received the tourism industry’s highest individual educational achievement, the CDME designation from Destinations International.

Travel Marketing Professional: Taylor Stanley, vice president of sales, completed the three-year program of the Southeast Tourism Society’s Marketing College to earn the Travel Marketing Professional (TMP) certification.

Louisiana Tourism Leadership Academy (LTLA): Shalisa Roland, director of public relations, completed the year-long LTLA program. LTLA offers students the opportunity to meet and learn from seasoned and up-andcoming professionals in the tourism industry.

Rising Star Award: Kathryn Shea Duncan, director of social media, was awarded with the Rising Star Award during Southeast Tourism Society’s Shining Example Awards Program held in Concord, N.C. The program highlights exemplary work being done in the travel and tourism industry throughout the Southeast with 11 award categories.

Tourism Campaign of the Year

Hosted LA Travel Summit

Shalisa Roland, LA Tourism Leadership Academy Graduate

Kathryn Shea Duncan, Rising Star Award, Southeast Tourism Society

Stanley, Travel

(PGA Korn

Significant attention to find and qualify 40 new accounts and events by the end of 2022 by using available technologies and in-person opportunities to expand our current client base and increase hotel room nights.

Result: By attending tradeshows and utilizing platforms such as MINT+, we were able to add 69 new accounts to our convention sales database as well as 40 new accounts in Tour and Travel for a total of 109 new accounts across the sales team.

■ GOAL:

Reignite our Sales Team efforts in historically proven drive markets in an effort to achieve 50% of 2019 booked business, which would result in 42 contracted events and 13,161 room nights in the meeting and convention market over the course of the year.

Result: This goal was met with the sales team hosting 92 events throughout the year, which created a room demand of 19,009 total room nights for the calendar year. Attending industry events and distributing the new “Meet in Lake Charles” email newsletter helped the team reach this goal.

Booked 92 meetings and conventions that generated 22,311 room nights at area hotels.

■ GOAL:

Identify and implement methods of communication to promote better interaction and exchange of information with our hospitality partners.

Result: We communicated with our hotel partners via our SWLA Hotel Community Facebook page, shared video updates via email, on the partner portal, and at quarterly hotel meetings and visits. This year, we also hosted our first Hospitality Partner Mixer which allowed the exchange of information among our hospitality partners representing different aspects of the tourism industry.

■ GOAL: Expand on our sports event portfolio that has made us the Youth Sports Capital of Louisiana by broadening our target client list to include some of the emerging sports tourism opportunities that exist.

Result: This goal was met in 2022 by successfully hosting new events in the area, including the USA Quidditch Regional Club and Collegiate Regionals and the American Cornhole Organization Big South Regional Tournament.

■ GOAL: Continued management of online platforms and implementation of new best practices to track the customer service experience throughout the sales cycle to achieve a satisfaction rating of 3.5 or higher.

Result: As part of our strategy to collect feedback from event planners hosting their events in Calcasieu Parish, we were able to collect 13 surveys, all of which gave our team a perfect 5.0 satisfaction rating.

Tourism Goals & Results 2022

■ GOAL:

Increase VisaVue cardholder count by 10% over 2020 by the end of 2022.

Result: We currently do not have the full data from 2022 as LOT is in the process of renewing their contract with VisaVue. However, from the data we do have from 2022, we believe this goal was met as we saw a 25% increase over 2021 numbers in Q1 & Q2 Cardholder count, equaling 4,217 cardholders.  We anticipate the remainder of the year to produce strong numbers.

■ GOAL:

Work with existing motor coach tours to retain activities within the 5-parish Imperial Calcasieu region while maintaining relationships with other DMO partners to facilitate add-on opportunities.

Result: We were able to strengthen partnerships with Jeff Davis Parish by learning their products and services. By doing so, we were able to extend tour time in our area by recommending crawfish boils and boxed lunch options while at Gator Chateau for groups overnighting in Lake Charles. We will continue to work with other parishes in our area to expand and create additional offerings in 2023.

■ GOAL:

Maintain established relationships by averaging 40 contacts per month with both domestic and international operators.

Result: This goal was met by communicating with an average of 45 contacts per month with domestic and international tour operator accounts.

Visitor Experience Goals & Results 2022

■ GOAL:

Increase communication with the five-parish area visitors centers personnel to enhance cross promotion.

Result: In 2022, the Visit Lake Charles visitor experience department experienced a staff shortage for most of the year, which created limitations to reaching this goal. Moving into 2023, the department will continue to build relationships with tourist information personnel in the fiveparish area to cross promote the area’s unique offerings.

■ GOAL:

Obtain an overall average rating of greater than 4.0 on VLC social media platform ratings of visitor centers by the end of 2022.

Result: Throughout the year, visitors were encouraged to leave a review of the facility by using a QR code card that directs them to our profile. These review cards continue to be an efficient and successful method for maintaining our 4.0+ rating on TripAdvisor (4.5), Google (4.6), and Facebook (4.2).

■ GOAL:

Ensure that all visitor services personnel are current on tourism products offered throughout the state.

Result: Goal was met with the completion of the LTA Certified Travel Specialist program and by sending visitor center personnel to Louisiana Travel Summit.

Marketing Goals & Results 2022

■ GOAL:

Working to reestablish public relations outreach and staffing bandwidth to accommodate hosted media tours, the department aims to bring in 80% of the number of travel writers hosted by Q4 of 2022 as compared to 2019.

Result: The communications team met this goal by hosting five group and two individual press tours, totaling 34 journalists.

■ GOAL:

Increase the average open rate of the PlayList e-newsletter by (5%) over 2021.

• 2021: 23% average open rate

• 2022: 30% average open rate (+30%)

Result: By the end of 2022, the average open rate for the PLAYlist newsletter increased from 23% to 30%, with Q4 newsletters averaging an open rate of 38%. Strategically curating content and proper audience segmentation were key components of meeting this goal.

■ GOAL: Increase the number of Visitor Inspiration Guide requests and reads by 10% by the end of the Q3 over 2021.

Result: In 2021, total requests equated to 709, which skyrocketed to 2,272 (+220%) by the end of 2022. Similarly, the total number of reads increased from 1,320 to 2,968 (+125%). An important design feature of the Visit Lake Charles website (launched Dec. 2021) is the Visitor Inspiration Guide callout in the footer of each page. This provides a quick and efficient way for all users to download or receive the guide whenever they browse the site.

■ GOAL: Increase partner logins to the Extranet by 20% by the end of 2022.

Result: Visit Lake Charles partnered with Simpleview to host an on-site training in the first quarter of the year to train hoteliers, attractions, event planners and restaurateurs on how they can utilize the software to enhance their presence on VisitLakeCharles.org. Training documents were also made available on VisitLakeCharles.org for partners to access whenever needed. This helped us surpass the goal by increasing total Extranet logins from 1,755 in 2021 to 4,474 (+155%) by the end of 2022.

Online Visitor Guide Stats

Aired 7 podcast episodes with 1,036 total listens within 90 days of launch.

7

Louisiana’s Playground

Louisiana’s Playground Podcast Launch

The Louisiana’s Playground podcast debuted on Wednesday, Sept. 28, with co-hosts Anna Strider and Brady Renard of Visit Lake Charles to inspire visitation to Southwest Louisiana.

Louisiana’s Anna visitation avenue to the community to is produced

This destination podcast creates a new avenue for potential visitors to learn about hidden gems, culinary arts, and things to be discovered in Southwest Louisiana with the goal of inspiring visitation and community engagement. Each episode also features the food culture of Southwest Louisiana with a special “Envie Eats” tribute to locally owned restaurants.

The podcast airs every other Wednesday and is the first podcast produced by a destination marketing organization in the state of Louisiana!

2022 Social Media Engagement

2022 Social Media Engagement

Social Media Highlights

Social Highlights

Increased Facebook followers from 91,976 to 96,880 (+5.3%) with 1,103,067 engagements (+371.8%) and 193,156 post link clicks (+126.7%)

Increased  91,976 96,880 (+5.3%) engagements link

Increased Twitter followers from 6,746 to 7,307 (+8.3%) with 20,246 engagements (81.7%) and 833 tweet link clicks (+27.6%)

Increased Twitter followers from 6,746 engagements (81.7%) clicks (+27.6%)

Increased Instagram followers from 16,798 to 18,874 (+ 12.4%) with 70,789 (+101.1%) and 1,080 profile actions (+8.1%).

Increased Instagram  16,798 18,874 (+ (+101.1%) and (+8.1%).

Increased LinkedIn followers from 1,048 to 2,666 (+ 154.4%) with 28,647 engagements (+1,003.9%) and 21,529 post link clicks (+1,087.5%)

Increased  from 1,048 to with engagements and post

Completed an audit of the Pinterest page, adding 138 pins, which included strategizing organic and paid pins and campaigns. This resulted in 59.66k engagements and 16,750 outbound clicks in one year.

Launched the VLC TikTok channel in February 2022. Published 91 videos, which resulted in 13k followers and 70k likes in 11 months.

Completed an page, included strategizing organic and campaigns. in engagements in Launched the February which in likes

Created over 40 stories in LocalHood that are discoverable by Google Search/Google Discover and used as single embeds and galleries on VisitLakeCharles.org and LouisianaTravel.com. This year alone, these stories have 202,592 Google Impressions, a Story CTR of 6.04% (industry average of 5.5%), a Competition Rate of 59.7% (industry average is 52%), and garnered 834 clicks to the website.

Created over stories that by Search/Google Discover and as galleries on VisitLakeCharles.org LouisianaTravel.com. year alone, these have 202,592 Google Impressions, a Story CTR of 6.04% (industry average 5.5%), Rate 59.7% average is and 834

The Power of Social Media: A TikTok video featuring Mrs. Johnnie’s Gingerbread House garnered over 70,000 views just 5 hours after posting! The shop opened at 10:30 a.m. with a line out the door and sold out by 2 p.m. The next day, they sold out at noon.

Top Media Mentions

14 Delicious Ways to Celebrate Mardi Gras

Publication: Forbes

Medium Type: Digital

UMV: 6.8M

Date: 2/24/22

For Earth Day: Five Idyllic Ecotourism Destinations

Across The Southern U.S.

Publication: Forbes

Medium Type: Digital

Unique Monthly Visitors (UMV): 68.3M

Date: 4/12/22

‘Louisiana’s Playground’ Lake Charles has Something for Everyone

Publication: The Toronto Sun

Medium Type: Digital

UMV: 2.4M

Date: 9/9/22

8 Best Beaches in Louisiana

Publication: Travel+Leisure

Medium Type: Digital

UMV: 8.9M

Date: 10/18/22

These Will Be the Biggest Travel Trends of 2023, According to Experts

Publication: Food & Wine

Medium Type: Digital

UMV: 7.9M

Date: 12/12/22

Where to go on holiday in 2023, according to local experts – from secret Spain to a tranquil Thai is

Publication: iNews

Medium Type: Digital

UMV: 7.6M

Date: 12/20/22

Website Analytics

896,964 website users in 2022, an increase of 25% compared to 2021.

Greatly increased staff involvement in community (as well as state, regional and national) organizations including a team member on each of the 10 catalytic project committees for Just Imagine, the Downtown Development Authority, several Rotary clubs, the Women’s Business Network, Destinations International and the Southeast Tourism Society.

Awarded a U.S. Economic Development Administration grant construction of the New Imperial Calcasieu Mardi Gras Museum.

Revived Birding Between Borders partnership with Beaumont, TX to tap into the birding market more richly by targeting niche media and writers.

Took the lead on Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Deployment for the Lake Charles lakefront and Sulphur and are awaiting letting of official grant application by the LaDOTD.

Partnerships

Awarded $40,000 to local festivals and events through the Tourism Development and Marketing Grant program. Partners included event organizers for: Live at the Lakefront, Louisiana Pirate Festival, Red White Blue and You, Avenue of Flags, Rouge et Blanc, Banners at McNeese, Light Up the Lakefront Christmas Festival, and Smoke & Barrel.

Provided $55,000 for the Arts/Tourism Partnership Grant administered by the Arts & Humanities Council of SWLA.

Committed $125,000 to the McNeese State University Athletic Foundation Baseball Facility Enhancement fund as part of a five-year agreement that allows Visit Lake Charles to use the stadium and facilities each July through 2024 for large national competitive youth tournaments like the New Balance Future Stars Series (NBFSS.)

Promoted sports events that support tourism and have a significant economic impact on Calcasieu Parish through awarding $100,000 in Sports Warchest Grants.

VisitLakeCharles TEAM

Visit Lake Charles Board of Directors

NIMESH “NICK” ZAVER, CHAIR

City of Sulphur

KANE MITCHELL, VICE-CHAIR

West Calcasieu Association of Commerce

MIKE BUCKLEY, SECRETARY/TREASURER

Southwest Louisiana Lodging Association

JONATHAN RINGO

Calcasieu Parish Police Jury

WILLIE MOUNT

Chamber Southwest

SHONDA MANUEL

Arts & Humanities of Southwest Louisiana

JAMES “JC” CORMIER

West Calcasieu Community Center Authority

NICOLE MONCRIEF

City of Lake Charles

ERIC AVERY

Southwest Louisiana Restaurant Association

NATHANIEL ALLURED

Southwest Louisiana Festivals

HIREN ZAVERI

Southwest Louisiana Lodging Association

Visit Lake Charles Staff

KYLE EDMISTON, CDME

President/CEO

OPERATIONS

SHANNA LANDRY, CDME

Chief Operating Officer

ANNE TABER KLENKE, CDME Vice President of Destination Development/Community Engagement

MELISSA TRAHAN

Director of Visitor Experiences

KRISTEN SHIVER

Visitor Experience Manager

SHARON ELLENDER

Adventure Guide

CHALMA PITTMAN

Adventure Guide

FINANCE

HEATHER SAVOIE, CDME

Sr. Vice President of Finance

Out-Going:

JIM BOYER

Southwest Louisiana Lodging Association

ROB KING

Southwest Louisiana Restaurant Association

MARK LAVERGNE

Southwest Louisiana Festivals

CINDY JOHNSON

Director of Accounting

SALES

TAYLOR BEARD STANLEY, TMP Vice President of Sales

KAITLYN GALLEGOS, MBA, TMP Director of Global Sales

MATT YOUNG

Director of Association Sales

MARKETING

TIMOTHY BUSH, CDME, TMP, CDTP

Chief Marketing Officer

ANGIE MANNING, CDME

Vice President of Communications

COLTEN MILLER, MBA

Director of Brand Marketing

ANNA STRIDER, MBA

HUDSON

TARA JOHNSON

Meeting Sales Manager

TONI CHAPMAN

Destination Services Specialist

SPORTS

ERIC ZARTLER, CDME, TMP

Sr. Vice President of Sports

AUBREY CALDWELL

Sports Event Coordinator

Director of Digital Strategies/Online Marketing

BRADY RENARD

Director of Content/Video Marketing

KATHRYN SHEA DUNCAN

Director of Social Media

SHALISA ROLAND

Director of Public Relations