2021
ANNUAL REPORT
Our mission: as destination experts, Visit Brookings proudly shares the Brookings story, strengthens the economy, and elevates the community experience for all.
From The Executive Director Dear Community Leaders and Industry Partners, 2021 was a mixed bag in terms of tourism. Following the devastating affects of Covid-19 on the travel industry in 2020, the first quarter of 2021 started off behind normal trends. Many people were still hesitant to resume normal travel activity and in-person events were slow to resume. However, as more people got vaccinated, the level of confidence in safe travel began to rise.
LAURA SCHOEN CARBONNEAU
2021 Visit Brookings Board of Directors
Executive Director
Aaron Carsrud, Chair Jamison Lamp, Vice Chair Lisa Marotz, Secretary/Treasurer Randy Soma, Past Chair Seth Koch Michael Johnson Sarah Pitts Nick Schmeichel Tom Richter Laci Thompson Kate Treiber Kari Westland Mark Hyde Jacob Meshke
Laura@VisitBrookingsSD.com 605.696.7555
BRIDGIT BURGHARDT Director of Operations and Sales Bridgit@VisitBrookingsSD.com 605.696.7556
SYDNEY WOOD Marketing and Communications Sydney@VisitBrookingsSD.com 605.696.7556
By the end of the year, consumer confidence had returned to near normal levels. BBB (third penny sales tax) and Occupancy fee (pillow tax) reports showed promise that people were ready to get back out and enjoy the opportunities Brookings has to offer. In fact, the BBB tax ended 2021 with the second highest collections on record, falling just short of the 2019 levels. The Occupancy fee, while slow the first half of the year, finished 2021 strong, setting the stage for a promising 2022. In April of 2021 Visit Brookings launched our new website. The ability to add itineraries, blogs, video, and pages proved effective in keeping content fresh and responsive to consumer interests. During peak season, the Visit Brookings team hired a new digital marketing partner to help drive interest to the website. We also saw the benefits of the newly redesigned Brookings Visitor Guide and new Meeting and Event Planner guide. We sought new partnership opportunities with the South Dakota Department of Tourism and are planning an even bigger marketing push with the South Dakota Community Co-op program in the coming year. This program is a matching dollar program which will allow us to leverage the resource of the SD Department of Tourism. As planning begins for 2022, the Visit Brookings staff are optimistic about the future of tourism. There are challenges in terms of hospitality workforce, but the demand for hotel rooms, marketing content and the appetite to get out and explore is expected to continue to grow. With our newly created strategic plan as a backbone, we plan to continue to evolve our methods to reach more visitors and find more meetings and events to bring to town. Tourism is economic development and together we can continue to invest in our efforts to bring more travelers and their tax dollars to Brookings. Thank you for your support, Laura Schoen Carbonneau, IOM Executive Director Visit Brookings
VISITBROOKINGSSD.COM 1
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EVENT RECRUITMENT
2021 BY THE NUMBERS
Visit Brookings works to maximize economic impact from events, while being fiscally responsible. Funding preference is given to events that draw attendees from out of town, multiple day events, and reoccurring events.
EVENTS SUPPORTED THROUGH THE GRANT PROGRAM
In 2021 Visit Brookings, in combination with industry partners, generated $3.8 million in economic impact. Through the Event Grant Program, Visit Brookings supported 28 events, including 5 new events.
TOTAL NUMBER OF EVENTS
EVENT GRANT APPLICATIONS PROCESSED
NEW EVENTS
28
5
ECONOMIC IMPACT
RETURN ON INVESTMENT
$3.8 M
$54.27
76 65 49
50
43 28
28
17
2017
2018
17
2019 2020 2021
2017
2018
RETURN ON INVESTMENT
ECONOMIC IMPACT
$62.20
2017
2018
$1
5 ,74
1 58
,
$6
75 ,3
$54.27
2019 2020 2021
6
32
3, 79 6,
$
$77.68
37 ,0 8 6
1 0,
6 87 9, 9 ,6 $9
$102.88 $91.58
2019 2020 2021
,
$3
2017
2018
2019 2020 2021
Economic impact is calculated using the following formula: $140 per day for the firstperson lodging, $60 per day for the second person lodging, and $60 per day per commuter. The formula includes a multiplier of 1.8 to reflect direct, indirect, and included visitor impact. Event attendee numbers are based on the information provided by the event organizer through an application and/or post evaluation form.
3
2 82
NEW EVENTS
45
23
2017
24
2018
19
2019
4
5
2020
2021
Visit Brookings works to provide an increasing number of events and visitors which contribute to the economic work and cultural growth of Brookings.
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MARKETING In 2021 Visit Brookings launched a new website. The revamped website lends the opportunity to update web based content on a regular basis. In the past year ten new blog posts and six new itinereies have been added to the website as well as two seasonal custom landing pages.
Visit Brookings conducted several successful markeing campigns in 2021 both in house and through their marketing partners. These campaigns resulted in a 200% increase to new website traffic resulting in the total number of page views for the year to be 166,084.
MAGAZINE CO-OP
1,805,755 TOTAL IMPRESSIONS
VISITBOOKINGSSD.COM WEBSITE STATS 80,078
Total Visits
64,731
62,634
New Visitors
64,731
9,159
Returning Visitors
7,894
2020
TOP VIEWED PAGES Homepage
18,040
Things To Do
7,678
Hotels
6,251
Events
GIFT OF DISCOVERY CAMPAIGN 940,319 TOTAL IMPRESSIONS 447,714 TOTAL REACH
2021
5,462
Attractions
5,286
Places To Stay
5,295
TOP FIVE WEBSITE VISITS BY REGION & CITY
PEAK SEASON CAMPAIGN 2,646,504 TOTAL IMPRESSIONS 87,325 TOTAL ENGAGMENTS 5
South Dakota Minnesota Nebraska Illinois Iowa
21,193 11,453 6,232 2,945 2,650
Brookings Omaha Sioux Falls Not Set Minneapolis
11,156 5,224 4,162 3,926 3,873
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1321 6TH STREET, BROOKINGS SD 605.692.7444 | VISITBROOKINGSSD.COM