2015 Semi-Annual Report

2015 Semi-Annual Report
Tourism Matters to San Juan County!
Tourism is one of our County’s top economic drivers. Visitors’ newly “imported” dollars benefit all residents as they
circulate throughout our island communities and offset our local taxes. The latest research by Dean Runyan
Associates, released each spring, reveals that visitors spent over $189 million in San Juan County in 2014. Our tourism
economy depends on our beautiful environment, and the SJIVB works hard to balance destination marketing resulting
in economic development with stewardship ethics and sustainable tourism efforts. Below you’ll find our destination
marketing highlights for January through June 2015. Further detailed information is available upon request.
Mission – To enhance the economic prosperity of San Juan County by promoting the San Juan Islands as a preferred,
year-round travel destination, while respecting and sustaining the Islands’ unique and diverse ecosystems,
environments, lifestyles and cultures.
Goals – To help strengthen San Juan County’s year-round economy; to foster an appreciation of San Juan County’s
maritime and rural ways of life, as well as its history, arts and culture; to communicate San Juan County’s
environmental stewardship message to all visitors; and to enhance visitors’ travel experiences county wide.
Membership – We gained 20 new members during the first half of this year, for a total of 305 members on all four
islands and the mainland. We held two spring membership meetings on Orcas and San Juan Islands April 23, inviting
top Washington State Ferries reservations officials as our keynote speakers. In addition, we held a ‘brown bag lunch’
on Lopez Island in conjunction with a staff “familiarization” tour there on March 10, and on March 12 we held a
membership dues meeting on Orcas Island based on some member concerns.
Board of Directors – Our 14-member Board represents Lopez, Orcas and San Juan Islands, and has contributed
approximately 162 volunteer hours so far this year for Board meetings, Marketing Committee meetings, and Tourism
Master Plan Steering Committee meetings. Our Board includes the following community leaders: President - Carl
Silvernail*, Otters Pond B&B; Treasurer - Anna Maria de Freitas*^, Harrison House/Tucker House/Coho Restaurant;
Secretary & Lopez Chamber Rep - Lia Noreen*; Orcas Chamber & County LTAC Rep - Lance Evans^; San Juan Chamber
Rep – Becki Day; Friday Harbor LTAC Rep - Laura Saccio*^, Earthbox Inn & Spa/Bird Rock Hotel; At-Large: Susan
Fletcher, Turtleback Farm Inn; Kristin Shea^, The Bay; Stephen Robins*^, Pelindaba Lavender; Veronica San Martin,
Orcas Events Rentals & Planning; RuthAnne Comrie*, North Beach Inn; SJC Economic Development Council Rep Victoria Compton; Board Appointee Activities & Attractions Rep - Brian Goodremont*^, San Juan Outfitters/San Juan
Safaris; Board Appointee, Transportation Rep - Kraig Hansen, San Juan Transit. (*Marketing Committee, ^Tourism
Master Plan Committee)
Staff – Staff includes the following: Deborah Hopkins Buchanan, Executive/Marketing Director; Barbara Marrett,
Communications/Stewardship Manager; Carole Sue Conran, Visitor/Membership Services Manager; and Shannon
Borg, Marketing/Content Coordinator (32 hours). We also contract with part-time bookkeeper Patty Gaylard (8 hours).
DESTINATION MARKETING HIGHLIGHTS
We implemented the following marketing strategies from January through June to create awareness of the San Juan
Islands brand and put “heads in beds,” primarily targeting the greater Seattle area leisure travel market.
Website – All of our marketing strategies drive consumers to our website, www.visitsanjuans.com, our #1 marketing
tool. We worked with No. 10 Web Company in Seattle to refresh our website during the first half of the year in order
to feature big, bold and beautiful photos of the islands, as well as simplify navigation based on user personas.
Compared to last year at this time, web sessions were up +29% (to 534,939), users were up +30%, page views were up
+20%, and new sessions were up +2.63%.
Social Media – At the end of June, we had 5,224 Facebook ‘likes’/subscribers, up +55% compared to last year at this
time, www.facebook.com/VisitSanJuans, and 3,240 Twitter followers, up +24%, @visitSJIslands,
www.twitter.com/visitsjislands. We started an Instagram account, @visitsanjuans, www.instagram.com/visitsanjuans,
this spring and at the end of June had 80 followers, and we look forward to dramatically increasing followers by the
end of 2015.
E-Newsletter – Winter romance, spring getaways and spectacular summer E-newsletters were published, highlighting
activities, events, and other enticements to visit. Our E-newsletters were distributed to approximately 6,420
subscribers, up +7% from a year ago.
Brochure – We published 130,000 updated copies of our brochure which included maps of Friday Harbor, Eastsound
and Lopez Village, as well as a scenic byway/driving tours map for all four Islands, descriptions and photos for each
Island, getting here info, and SJIVB and Chambers contact info. These are sent out as fulfillment for requests for visitor
information, in media kits, at travel and wedding shows, and are distributed by Certified Folder Display in brochure
racks at approximately 580 locations in Washington and Sidney, B.C.
Advertising – Travel Guides – We placed ads in key, regional, ‘portal’ travel guides and their corresponding websites
including the Seattle Visitors Guide (350,000 winter/spring issue) and www.VisitSeattle.org, and the Washington State
Visitors Guide (375,000) as well as www.ExperienceWA.com*. We also placed a scenic byway ad and listing in the
Washington State Scenic Byways Guide & Map (400,000 combined circulation). (*One ad had a high 0.96% click
through rate, CTR, and the other had a 3.24% CTR which was one of the highest performing ads on the website, both
generating 643 qualified clicks and thousands of impressions.)
Advertising – Spring Ad Campaign - Thanks to a 2015 lodging tax grant from the Town of Friday Harbor, the SJIVB and
our marketing firm -- The Communications Group -- managed a strong spring marketing campaign from March 30
through June 21 targeting the greater Seattle area. This campaign cooperatively promoted Friday Harbor as well as
the San Juan Islands, and “primed the pump” for spring and summer visitation. Two key goals for 2015 were to
refresh and update our TV ads -- based on our new video filmed last summer -- as well as our print and online ads, in
time for our spring ad campaign. Highlights included:
• Over 220 TV ads airing over 10 weeks on KOMO, KING, KIRO and NWCN, including ads on morning news,
‘Good Morning America,’ evening news, ‘Evening Magazine,’ weekend news and prime time.
• An exclusive on-air segment ran during a KOMO 4pm News & Weather segment on June 9 which we set up
featuring Jenny Atkinson, Executive Director of The Whale Museum, as well as a live on-air interview on
KOMO news radio; you’ll find the TV interview at
http://www.komonews.com/seattlerefined/sponsored/weekends/Top-5-Outdoor-Adventures-in-the-SanJuan-Islands-302650731.html.
• An on-air contest on KOMO TV ran for 2 weeks, May 18–31, featuring a Friday Harbor overnight getaway
prize redeemed the week of June 15.
• Online ads appeared on the Google Ad Network (behavior, interest and content targeting), Facebook,
TripAdvisor.com, KING5.com, KIROTV.com, SeattleTimes.com, USAToday.com, WashingtonPost.com,
CNN.com, etc. receiving over 4 million impressions and 13,767 click throughs for an overall click-through rate
(CTR) of 0.32%.
• Print ads were placed in the May and June issues of Alaska Airlines and Horizon Airlines magazines in special
Seattle and Washington pull-out sections, of which there were 10,000 overprints for Seattle concierges each
month. These magazines have a readership of over 2.1 million per month.
You’ll find our print and online ads below, and our TV ads on our YouTube channel linked to our website at
http://www.youtube.com/user/visitSJIslands under ‘videos.’ Our summer campaign began running on June 22, which
we’ll report on in our Annual Report.
Weddings & Shows – Destination weddings, honeymoons and anniversaries are big business for the Islands – one
bride and groom can bring hundreds of guests here. We continued to distribute our semi-new, 6-page, 8.5x11” foldout brochure at the annual Seattle and Portland wedding shows in January, and to brides-to-be who called our office.
In addition, we partnered with the Journal, Sounder and Weekly to distribute a 24-page wedding guide at the two
shows which they produced by selling advertising. We also placed full-page advertorials in two top wedding
directories in the Seattle and Portland markets: B&E Wedding Resource Guide (7,000) and Bravo Wedding Guide
(8,000). On another note, the local Skagit Valley College Road Scholar program took our exhibit display and brochures
to their San Francisco Road Show. They reported that they made 100+ good connections of the 500 attendees.
AgriTourism & Culinary Travel –According to Mandala Research, culinary travel is one of four, hot key trends in 2015
and half of U.S. leisure travelers are interested in discovering unique local dining experiences. We exhibited at “Taste
Washington” in Seattle during March, the country’s largest ‘single region’ food and wine tasting event, to promote
Island Grown and island-made products, as well as our growing farms and food scene. We also partnered with the Ag
Guild to create a two-page spread map/advertisement in the 2015 Cascade Harvest Coalition/Puget Sound Fresh Farm
Guide state-wide directory, titled “Explore the Farms & Food of the San Juan Islands” which featured 32 island farms
and restaurants. 130,000 copies were published and distributed throughout the state. We’re also included on the app
at http://www.pugetsoundfresh.org/freshapp.
International Travel Trade – Our partners at Visit Seattle and the Port of Seattle were generous in sending travel trade
to the Islands for four “familiarization” (fam) tours. To date we’ve hosted 14 Australian and New Zealand top travel
agents on a Brand USA/Hawaiian Airlines/Visit Seattle tour March 20, two top UK tour operators, and two top French
tour operators, on Orcas and San Juan Islands. (And we have eight German, Austrian and Swiss top tour operators
arriving in August.) These tour operators serve as travel agents in these countries, referring couples and families to
the San Juans.
Scenic Byway – We finalized work on our Branding & Wayshowing $33,190 signage federal grant, after tweaking
placements of some of our new signage on Orcas and San Juan Islands, thanks to San Juan County Public Works staff –
Shannon, Guard and Jamie. This was very exciting as it’s been almost 10 years since we began the scenic byway
process in the fall of 2005. You can find more information at www.visitsanjuans.com/scenicbyway.
Tourism Master Plan – We continued holding key stakeholder meetings with reps from the SJIVB Board, staff, County
LTAC, Friday Harbor LTAC and Administrator, and key tourism niches through May, and are taking a hiatus during the
busy summer season, regrouping again in the fall.
Press Trips – We hosted or assisted 25 journalists and photographers on 23 press trips during the first half of the year
on Lopez, Orcas and San Juan Islands. Among the publications the journalists represented were Islands magazine, USA
Today, Expedia Viewfinder, Seattle, The Seattle Times, Alaska Airlines magazine, AAA Western Journey, Britain’s Daily
Telegraph, and Australia’s NewsCorp. SJIVB members provided complimentary or discounted services to these
important marketing ambassadors including lodging, meals, transportation and activities.
Media Leads – With the support of local organizations and businesses, we responded to or shared over 30 significant
media leads with our members, generated from our marketing efforts as well as those by the Washington Tourism
Alliance, Port of Seattle and Visit Seattle.
Media Marketplaces – Funded by our Friday Harbor lodging tax grant, we’ve attended three annual media
marketplaces/conferences to date, the Travel & Words conference in Bend, OR; North American Travel Journalists
(NATJA) conference in Puerto Vallarta, MX; and Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) conference in Lexington,
KY. The purpose of these marketplaces and conferences is to pitch story ideas to more than 150 national and
Northwest writers and editors, and network with other DMOs. Communications Manager Barbara Marrett was a
presenter or panelist at each of these conferences and was recently elected to the NATJA board. Some notable media
in attendance included National Geographic Traveler editor-at-large, Andrew McCarthy; Alaska Airlines Editor, Paul
Fricthl; Celebrated Living/American Way editor, Jacquelyne Froeber; Coastal Living and Afar contributing editor, Jill
Robinson; and Northwest Travel Magazine editor, Allen Cox.
Print & Online Coverage – We tracked coverage of the San Juan Islands in over 240 print and online articles through
Google Alerts, Twitter, Meltwater Media Tracking Service and our own research. Major print publications included
(circulation is in parentheses, m=millions) Alaska Beyond magazine (2m), EveryDay with Rachel Ray (5m), Travel +
Leisure (974,000), National Geographic Traveler (1m) and several articles in the Seattle Times NW Traveler section
(1.3m combined). A combined total circulation of over 9 million, for major print publications, would be a conservative
estimate for coverage. Note: More than one article about the San Juan Islands appeared in many of these publications,
and versions of most of these articles were also printed online. See some of these top stories at
www.visitsanjuans.com/media/san-juans-in-the-news/.
Stories through June have included these 2015 “Best” lists:
• 5 Essential All-American Vacations, Travel MSN.com
• Top 10 Sailing Cruises, National Geograhic online
• Top 10 Places for Families to Travel This Summer, Huffington Post
• Top Spots for Luxury Getaway Homes, The Wall Street Journal
• The 11 Most Kickass Spots for Sunsets in America, Thrillist
• Best National Parks near Seattle, The Daily Meal
• U.S. Cruises: 10 of the best, UK’s Telegraph
• 25 Best Small Town Honeymoon Destinations in the U.S., Vacation Idea
• Top 10 Island Destinations for Families, Trekaroo
•
“Top 10 Islands - United States” TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice 2015
• The 9 Best Beach Towns for Food, The Daily Meal
• The 10 Most Beautiful Towns in Washington, The Culture Trip
• 10 Best American Beach Towns for Fourth of July, Coastal Living online
Online Coverage – The largest online media reaches (measured as muv, monthly unique visitors) came from MSN
News (333m) & MSN Travel (312m), Yahoo Travel (109m), The Huffington Post (96m), About.com (96m), USA Today
(44m), Forbes.com (30m), CNN International (20m), for a combined total of over 1 billion muv, not counting multiple
articles in the same publications. A spread sheet accompanying this report has all tracked media listed beginning with
largest circulation outlets. Hot links and article titles provide a window into coverage for the first half of the year.
Spring Getaways – SJIs (top)
Savor the Liquid Arts of SJIs
5 Terrific Summer Charters
40 Great Summer Trips
Island Getaways
Destination San Juan Islands
8 Island Cruises for Nature Lovers
25 Action-Packed Summer Trips
Television Coverage – ABC News announced TripAdvisor’s “10 Best Islands in the U.S.” with San Juan Island in the top
10 for the third year in a row. HGTV Home and Garden TV featured three San Juan Island homes in their ‘Island
Hunters’ series this spring; production crews came back in June to film on Orcas Island.
Photos & B-roll – We are often asked to provide B-roll for television, or photos for upcoming books, articles and
promotional materials which all bring new business to the San Juan Islands. We fulfilled over 37 requests for photos
and B-roll. Among the entities requesting images were KOMONews4, USA TODAY 10 Best, Bridal Guide, Lonely Planet
Magazine, Meetings Focus, Thrillist.com, AAA Via Magazine, Seattle magazine, IntercontinenalFinance.com, Parent
Map, National Geographic Traveler, and Expedia.com.
Local Media Coverage – We track positive mentions of tourism in local media. As a result of press releases from our
office, there was local coverage of April as VolunTourism Month in the San Juans, and May as History Lives Here –
Heritage Month in the San Juan Islands. Two press releases generated in our office, “Visitors Mean Business to Local
and State Economies” and “Visitor Dollars Support Places Locals Love,” regarding the tourism effect, were also picked
up by local media.
Stewardship & Community Relations – Barbara presented a talk “EcoTourism: Ethics and Opportunities” at the San
Juan Islands Terrestrial Managers Annual Meeting to stimulate ideas on how the local tourism industry can be more
green. Tourism impacts many Islands’ organizations’ missions, and as a result, we are members of several committees
including the following: Stewardship Network of San Juan County, Salish Sea Association of Marine Naturalists, EcoNet
(the education outreach branch of the Puget Sound Partnership), SJIs Monument Advisory Committee, Committee to
Save Mount Grant, Friday Harbor Branding Committee, SJC Ferry Advisory Committee, SJC Ferry Partnership/
Reservations Committee, and Washington State Ferries Community Marketing Partnership. In addition, Barbara is a
Port of Friday Harbor Commissioner.
Government Relations – Deborah & Barbara attended the 5th Annual Washington Tourism Alliance Summit and
‘Tourism Matters’ Rally in Olympia in March, met with Representative Morris and Senator Ranker, as well as met the
Governor (with Councilman Rick Hughes) during the evening reception at the Governor’s Mansion. We also submit a
monthly news story to Tourism Today which is emailed to legislators and Olympia VIPs. Locally, we made a
presentation to the County Council with the three Chambers in mid January. We also met several times with a small
County task force, including Councilman Rick Hughes, regarding VRBO, AirBnB, etc. transient rental permits this spring.
Crisis Communications – We attended a Public Information Officer (PIO) training in Friday Harbor sponsored by the
SJC Department of Emergency Management to better coordinate with local agencies when performing crisis
communications.
Washington State Ferries Reservations – We served as a liaison between our members and WSF as the tourism
industry, and our visitors, adjusted to this new system. SJIVB staff partnered with WSF staff at an info booth Thursday
through Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend to help answer information and reservations questions. We met with the
head of WSDOT and WSF on behalf of the tourism industry, attended a special WSF reservations meeting on Orcas
Island with Senator Ranker, lodgings and the Ferry Advisory Committee, and attended the Samish christening.
VISITOR SERVICES HIGHLIGHTS
SJIVB Visitor Services – During the first half of 2015 we answered 271 phone calls on our 888 line for visitor
information (which also refers callers to the three Chambers of Commerce), answered all e-mail and website requests
for information (1,231 requests), and sent our travel brochure as fulfillment. Calls and emails were received from the
following top five states: #1 Washington, #2 California, #3 Oregon, #4 Florida, and #5 Colorado.
Chambers of Commerce Visitor Services – We continued our important partnership with the three Chambers, which
receive 15% of the ‘special’ 2% lodging tax fund to help provide and enhance visitor services. Each Chamber will
receive $22,897.75 total this year, in quarterly increments, for a total of $68,693.25 to all three.
Island Friendly Spirit Program – We continued to partner and meet with the EDC, three Chambers, Town of Friday
Harbor and Northwest Workforce Development to develop this customer service program.
TRACKING & MEASURING RESULTS
Budget – Our 2015 operating budget includes the following income and investments/expenses; the County Auditor
receives detailed monthly invoices and the Friday Harbor Treasurer receives seasonal project invoices.
Income:
County lodging tax grant (85% of ‘new’ 2%)
Friday Harbor lodging tax grant
Membership dues, website ads & second listings
Total
$ 389,262 (60% of income)
$ 168,055 (26% of income)
$ 91,598 (14% of income)
$ 648,915
Investments/Expenses:
Advertising campaigns, production, photos, video, etc.
Media relations (marketplaces, press trips, etc.)
Website refresh, maintenance, consulting, etc.
Other marketing (brochure, weddings, travel trade, etc.)
Visitor sales & services (phones & postage)
Marketing personnel (3.8 FTE) (payroll, taxes, benefits, etc.)
Administration (rent, dsl, insurance, bookkeeping, etc.)
Total
$ 192,285
$ 37,000
$ 90,767
$ 43,622
$ 8,300
$ 238,423
$ 38,360
$ 648,757
Lodging Tax – County lodging tax collected during April increased +22% compared to last April, and lodging tax
collected through April increased +29.8% compared to this time last year. Town of Friday Harbor lodging tax collected
during April increased +16.8%; lodging tax collected through April increased +17.5%. (Lodging tax data lags two
months behind so we’re awaiting May and June data.)
Sales Tax – County sales tax collected during April was up +7% compared to last April; sales tax collected through April
was up +9.5%. Town of Friday Harbor sales tax collected during April was down -0.29%; sales tax collected through
April was up +22.7% year-to-date.
Washington State Ferries Ridership – We’re watching these numbers closely due to the new reservations system.
Ridership statistics for the first quarter, January-March, show ridership from Anacortes to all of the islands (including
interisland) increased by +6.3% compared to last year; vehicle traffic was up +3.6% and passenger traffic was up
+9.7%. Lopez’s total ridership increased +2.4% (+1.1% vehicles, +4.3% passengers), Orcas’ ridership increased +6.7%
(+5.1% vehicles, +8.7% passengers), and San Juan’s increased +8.4% (+4.5% vehicles, +12.4% passengers).
April’s ridership from Anacortes to all of the islands (including interisland) increased +3.4% compared to last year;
vehicle traffic was up +1.6% and passenger traffic was up +5.2%. Lopez’s total ridership increased +3.7% (-0.3%
vehicles, +8% passengers), Orcas’ ridership increased +4.4% (+5% vehicles, +3.7% passengers), and San Juan’s
increased +3% (+0.3% vehicles, +5.2% passengers).
May’s ridership from Anacortes to all of the islands (including interisland) increased +6% compared to last year,
vehicle traffic was up +0.4% and passenger traffic was up +11.3%. Lopez’s total ridership increased +0.2% (-5%
vehicles, +5.7% passengers), Orcas’ ridership increased +6.6% (+4.2% vehicles, +8.5% passengers), and San Juan’s
increased +9.4% (+0.7% vehicles, +15.8% passengers).
IN CONCLUSION
Lodging tax collections and anecdotal information paint a positive picture for our tourism industry to date – although
some businesses are reporting challenges due to the new WSF reservations system. We will continue to work
strategically, and with our members and WSF, to help close 2015 with significant growth.
We thank San Juan County and Friday Harbor government leaders and administrators for your support and investment
in destination marketing. We look forward to the continued, positive impact our unified, ‘umbrella’ destination
marketing strategies – paired with the three Chamber of Commerce visitor services programs, as well as our members’
individual marketing efforts – will bring to our Islands’ economy and our sustainable, stewardship-minded tourism
industry into the future.
For further information or questions please contact Deborah Hopkins Buchanan, Executive/Marketing Director,
378-3277 ext. 5 or deborah@visitsanjuans.com, or Carl Silvernail, Board President, Innkeeper, Otter’s Pond B&B, Orcas
Island, 376-8844 or otter@otterspond.com.
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