Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Conference Updates topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Staff reports from economic development and tourism conferences; highlights include international interest in Route 66
Summary
Economic development and tourism staff summarized recent conference attendance, saying Kingman increased visibility at ICSC and IPW trade shows and noted international interest in Route 66. Staff reported networking outcomes, developer interest, and takeaways on broadband and sustainable tourism.
Economic development and tourism staff updated the commission on recent conferences and trade shows attended to promote Kingman to developers, tour operators and travel media.
Terry Curtis, Economic Development Project Manager, reported on attendance at the Arizona Association for Economic Development spring conference and a mayoral roundtable in Tucson, saying the city’s broadband investments helped differentiate Kingman. "The city of Kingman was so far ahead of all these other communities because of everything that Alo and WECOM has done here," Curtis said. He said the conferences yielded contacts for coworking-space development and discussion about balancing tourism and community needs.
Sylvia Schaefer recapped the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) meetings, noting the city held roughly a dozen targeted meetings with retailers and brokers and used updated retail-demographic brochures to promote available sites. She credited retail-coach partners for arranging many meetings and said retailers showed particular interest in food service and apparel retail.
Preservation staff and commissioners also summarized the Preserve Arizona conference and the US Travel IPW trade show. Staff reported that the Arizona Office of Tourism included Kingman in a Route 66 promotional booklet distributed at IPW and that staff met tour operators and media from multiple international markets, including Mexico/Latin America, APAC and European markets. Josh said the city had more than 40 appointment slots filled at IPW and that tour operators showed sustained interest in Route 66-related itineraries. "There was a lot of interest in what we have in Route 66," he said.
Staff said several media and tour operators plan visits to Kingman following IPW, and that the centennial year for Route 66 is increasing tourism attention. No action was required; the presentations were informational.
