2012 community annual report by Ypsilanti Area Convention & Visitors Bureau

2012 community annual report Letter from the Director With our first PURE Michigan national partnership campaign in 2012, we are excited to report that according to Smith Travel Research, Washtenaw County’s hotel occupancy rate at the end of the first ten months was 71.1%, up 3.5% from the same period in 2011 which was 68.8%. This was the highest hotel occupancy in the State of Michigan. Travel Michigan continues to be funded at $30 million annually enabling the Ann Arbor & Ypsilanti CVBs, along with many others around Michigan, to take advantage of the dollar to dollar match Travel Michigan provides for their PURE Michigan campaigns. In 2012, the two CVB’s along with SPARK took advantage of the match and launched our first 1 million dollar “national” television campaign. Along with The Henry Ford, Traverse City and Mackinac Island, Ann Arbor became a million dollar advertising partner with the State. This was a pilot program that included economic development in Washtenaw County, represented by SPark. 2012 was a year of some BIG firsts for the Ypsilanti CVB, from 25,000 Color Run participants and spectators, the launch of our initial Three-Year Strategic Destination Plan to an increase in lead generation by our sales professionals which exceeded their annual goal of 15,000 room nights. The CVB staff is both excited and energized as we look forward to implementing our 2013 Destination Marketing & Business Plan initiatives to promote the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area as a TOP national destination for visitors. We thank all of our stakeholders for their on-going support and partnerships and wish everyone a happy and healthy 2013! Debbie Locke-Daniel Executive Director Ypsilanti Area Convention & Visitors Bureau

Our 2020 Destination Vision Ypsilanti, with its nationally recognized Eastern Michigan University, is a progressive and diverse “riverwalk” city with a surrounding area of superb eco-based recreational activities. It showcases an artistic and learned community centered on a revitalized and eclectic downtown area, well-kept historic and architecturally significant neighborhoods, exciting auto heritage attractions, ethnic festivals and events and varied meeting and entertainment venues, all accessible through an efficient transportation, themed trails and way finding system. With the key gateways of Interstate 94 and nearby Detroit International Airport, the Ypsilanti area community is also conveniently adjacent to its sister city of Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan.

2012 Bureau Highlights 2012 was a very good year for tourism industry in Washtenaw County and for the Ypsilanti Area Convention & Visitors Bureau. Some of the highlights included: Thanks to the efforts of our hardworking and talented team: Increased web traffic to visitypsinow.com by 93% from 2011 Increased Visit Ypsilanti Facebook followers by 63% from 2011 Over 70 qualified meeting/event sales leads booked in Washtenaw County, resulting in an estimated economic impact of over 9 million including 18,000 delegate room nights. Partnered with MotorCities Heritage Area to produce tourism video promoting auto tourism in Michigan which included Ypsilanti. With a 90 day notice - Attracted, promoted and facilitated the largest 5k Run held in Washtenaw County “the Color Run” (15,500 runners & 10,000 spectators + 500 room nights) With a 2 week notice – Orchestrated a lib dub video for the State promoting Ypsilanti that included EMU, local community participants, our museums and Elvis to name a few. ( 2 million pp. viewed the video on-line) Numerous ad placements both online such as Michigan. org, Travel e-deals, Hemmings Motor News, Michigan Travel Ideas, Midwest Living and more…. Continued PURE Michigan partnership campaign with Ann Arbor CVB as well as SPARK East as one of four premier partners in Michigan. This million dollar ad buy ($500,000 from us with a $500,000 match from MEDC) gave us national cable TV coverage including the Chicago, our largest feeder market.

Sales, Service & Major Events

Mission

2012 rocked with the first Color Run in July and the Great Race in Depot Town. Both of these events raised national awareness for Ypsilanti and the Ann Arbor Area! Juggling both sales and service, the sales department sent 79 qualified meeting/event sales leads resulting in an estimated economic impact of over $3.6 million generated from more than 36,712 delegates and over 6,900 room nights. The most noteworthy booking, The Color Run Ypsilanti, allowed us to bring in over 25,000 people to the area and book over 500 room nights with a re-booking for 2013 with the potential of 2,000 room nights.

The mission of the Ypsilanti Area Convention & Visitors Bureau is to actively partner with the tourism and hospitality industry by marketing and selling the destination brand experience with resulting additional spending by leisure and group travel visitors leading to enhanced community economic vitality and resident quality of life.

2012 Board of Directors The Executive Committee William Nickels | Chair

MotorCities National Heritage Area

Art Serafinski | Vice Chair

Director/ Parks & Recreation/Ypsilanti Township

Barry LaRue | Secretary

Annual Expenses The following pie chart provides a breakdown of our major expense areas. Our income is totally derived from the County Accommodations Tax legislated under State Public Act 263. Our annual tax collections for 2012 was $976,299 with a zero based budget submitted to the Accommodations Ordinance Commission. A reserve fund of approximately 15% of the total budget is also maintained annually.

Riverside Arts

April King, CPA | Treasurer AGC Automotive Americas R&D

P.J. Moffett | Past Chair Real Estate One

The Board Caroen Badge Director of Sales & Marketing | Four Pointes by Sheraton

Paul Ganz DTE Regional Relations

Kelly Victor-Burke Public Relations 5%

Operating Expense 16%

Personnel 17%

Coordinator Geography Geotourism Program Eastern Michigan University

Walter Kraft V.P. Division of Communications | Eastern Michigan University

Community Development 3%

Sherilynn Cavanaugh Marketing & Advertising 59%

Director of Sales & Marketing Ann Arbor Marriott Ypsilanti at Eagle Crest Resort

Aaron Taylor Director of Sales Ann Arbor Regent Hotel & Suites

Tony VanDerworp Director, Economic Development & Energy | Washtenaw County

Social Media Traffic Overview Facebook fans increased by 41% in 2012. January ’12 – 2572 Fans | December ’12 – 4416 Fans Twitter followers increased by 26% in 2012 January ’12 – 1089 Followers | December ’12 – 1468 Followers YouTube views increased by 2,787% from 2011 to 2012 January 2012 – 908 | December 2012 – 26,205

VisitYpsiNow.com Traffic Overview 2012 vs. 2011 Unique Visitors increased by 65% Pageviews increased by 41%

Nancy Schnebelt Director of Sales | Holiday Inn Near U of M

Eleanor Shelton Office of Public Relations & Marketing Washtenaw Community College

Nicole Sigler, CPA Heller & Weizler