Explore Livingston offers visitor-data tool and urges continued support for visitor center

Chris, a representative of Explore Livingston, briefed the commission on the tourism organizations’ work and asked the city to continue supporting the downtown visitor center and recent flower‑basket program.

"All the money is largely from outside," Chris said of the organizations’ revenue sources, noting the TBID bed tax and LVID assessments are paid mostly by out‑of‑state property owners. Chris described a one‑year offer, starting July 1, to provide geo‑fenced mobile‑device analytics to track visitor origins and movement patterns: "we'll be able to have a lot more data ... [about] who comes when, how far they come from, how much money they spend," Chris said. The service will be offered free to city departments and local businesses for the upcoming year and is intended to create a baseline for planning.

Chamber Director Leslie Feigl described upcoming local events — a rodeo parade and an Aug. 26 childcare summit — and reminded the commission that the visitor center handles around 35–42 visitors per day and asked the commission to continue informal support and referrals. "We're not asking for money. We're asking for support. So send visitors this way," Feigl said.

Chris also briefed the commission on recent investments: new low‑water flower baskets downtown and a distributed events poster campaign. He said the tourism organizations aim to keep listings up to date for the roughly 350 recurring events they track each month.

Commissioners said the analytics offer could be useful if shared with city staff; Vice Chair Newts specifically suggested the city manager review the tool's utility for overlaying visitor data with other municipal data, such as EMS call volumes. The commission thanked Explore Livingston and the Chamber for ongoing cooperation on downtown placemaking and visitor services.

Speakers: Chris (Explore Livingston), Leslie Feigl (Livingston Chamber).