Flagstaff attractions attendance down in some venues as marketing team shifts strategy

Lowell Observatory and Discover Flagstaff staff told the commission on Thursday that attendance at ticketed local attractions tracked differently from Grand Canyon visitation this winter, and the tourism marketing team described a mix of strong earned-media hits and softer web engagement tied to low snowpack.

Heather Craig, marketing operations coordinator at Lowell Observatory, presented a revised attractions attendance report she said is now based on monthly ticket counts provided by each venue. Craig reported that, for January and February 2025, combined attendance for the local attractions (excluding the Grand Canyon) fell about 11% in January and 14% in February compared with the same months in 2024. By contrast, Grand Canyon National Park was up roughly 8% in January and 7.2% in February. When Lowell’s data were combined with Grand Canyon counts, Craig said overall visitation rose about 0.67% in January and fell about 1.1% in February.

Commissioners asked how the data are collected and Craig clarified that the numbers are attendance counts from ticketed venues rather than a citywide visitation metric: "that's only for attractions... they're ticketed places, so they're simply counting the tickets." Another participant emphasized that separating Grand Canyon counts helps reveal local trends, because Grand Canyon visitation is much larger and less sensitive to short-term weather.

Discover Flagstaff’s marketing team delivered a February marketing report summarizing earned media, social engagement, email performance and paid advertising. Laurie Pappas, marketing and media relations vice president, called out a successful earned-media push tied to “Love Flagstaff” events that produced strong local TV coverage and social engagement. A collaborative video with Welcome to Arizona drove high reach on TikTok and Instagram; staff said one snow-themed video reached more than 721,000 people on one platform and generated about 1,000 engagements.

At the same time, website engaged sessions were down month over month, though engagement rate rose more than 2%. Staff linked softer site metrics to seasonality and low snowfall and said they are rebalancing paid spend toward drive markets (Phoenix, Albuquerque, Los Angeles, Tucson and Las Vegas) and retargeting creatives. The team said Phoenix accounted for about 65% of hotel market share among target feeder markets and that paid creative with the recent accolade/logo will run across billboards, paid social and programmatic retargeting.

Commissioners and staff discussed whether international market disruption could be influencing engagement and cancellations; staff noted international bookings are often planned months in advance and said they will monitor visa-entry and park visitation data sources to track cross-border trends. The marketing team also previewed updated partner badges and QR-enabled window clings for attractions and said they will share print-ready assets with stakeholders.

The commission received the reports for discussion and follow-up; no action was taken beyond the verbal briefing and sharing of materials.