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Visit Spokane reports membership, web traffic gains; Q1 bookings lag national trends
Summary
Visit Spokane representative Rose updated council on quarterly activities: membership renewal, new "Blooms deals" promotion, relocation guide, a maker's campaign for Liberty Lake and Q1 booking softness tied to national and Canadian market headwinds.
Rose, a representative of Visit Spokane, updated the Liberty Lake City Council on Visit Spokane’s first-quarter activity and regional tourism efforts on May 6.
Rose said Liberty Lake and other tourism-facing businesses can participate in Visit Spokane’s membership platform at no charge for listings that are visitor-facing, and she highlighted a new promotional collaboration tied to Bloomsday: 24 businesses signed up for a limited-time deals pass on Visit Spokane’s platform. "We launched on our platform," she said, adding the promotion will run May 1 through June 1.
Other items Rose described: - Visit Spokane distributes a relocation guide (physical and digital) and is updating the 2025 edition with additional Liberty Lake content. - The organization is developing a "maker's campaign" featuring artisans and creators; Rose said Liberty Lake will be represented among selected makers after the city’s recent lodging-tax funding approval. - Visit Spokane reported 2 million website sessions in 2024 (a year-over-year 36% increase) and strong interest in "things to do" and the events calendar. Q1 2025 sessions are down compared with Q1 2024, which Visit Spokane attributed in part to last year’s Expo 2024 promotion and ARPA-funded marketing for that event. - Rose said bookings and convention-related leads softened in Q1, influenced by national economic uncertainty and an 82% drop in Canadian website traffic; Visit Spokane is adjusting marketing tactics and pursuing association and meeting leads for later-year gains.
Rose invited council members to Visit Spokane’s tourism matters event on May 29, where 2024 impact numbers will be released. She also described partnerships with higher education and healthcare recruitment efforts and a renewed focus on converting visitation into local spending.
Councilmembers asked about the maker program’s scope and whether makers could include food or beverage producers; Rose said the program will cover a range of artisan and innovative products and announced the organization will provide Liberty Lake-focused creative assets funded by lodging tax support.
The presentation closed with an offer for Visit Spokane to work with Liberty Lake on event promotion and tourism-related data if the city moves forward with an economic development strategy.
