Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Tourism Welcome Center topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Finance committee reviews Welcome Center quarterly report; city retains 50 per room night
Summary
Staff presented July'December 2024 results for the Salinas California Welcome Center: 1,464 visitors in quarter 1 and 1,309 in quarter 2, 97 and 99 local website posts respectively, and $55,041 collected in assessments (city pass-through about $54,490 after fees). No committee action was required.
City staff on March 1 presented a quarterly report on operations and metrics for the Salinas California Welcome Center, covering July 1'Dec. 31, 2024. The report showed 1,464 Welcome Center visitors in the first quarter and 1,309 in the second quarter, combined website visits of about 13,731 across two Welcome Center web properties, and $55,041 collected in tourism improvement district assessments for the period, staff said.
"Of the $2 the city retains 50 per room night," the presenter said, describing the funding flow from the Monterey County Tourism Improvement District. After a 1% deduction for administrative processing, about $54,490 was passed through to the Welcome Center for the two quarters combined.
The presentation reported 97 posts to local/state web properties in quarter 1 and 99 in quarter 2, and website visit totals of 7,158 and 6,573, respectively. The presenter said the Salinas Valley Tourism and Visitors Bureau and the City retain separate roles: the city retains 50 per room night for the Welcome Center pass-through and SeaMonterey (Monterey County Visitors and Tourism Bureau) receives $1.50 per room night to market county lodging.
Committee members asked about trends and coordination with county-level marketing. Staff said the metrics are "pretty steady" quarter to quarter and that staff meet monthly with SeaMonterey and the California Welcome Center network to coordinate marketing and to try to engage local hoteliers more directly.
No committee action was required; staff will continue quarterly reporting and will add year-over-year comparisons in the next report, staff said.
Clarifying figures from the report: assessment collected for the two quarters combined $55,041; city pass-through to the Welcome Center after administrative fees about $54,490; assessment rate $2.00 per overnight stay, of which the city retains $0.50 per room night and $1.50 per room night is remitted to SeaMonterey for county marketing. The agreement governing the pass-through compensates the Welcome Center based on collected assessments (not a fixed contract amount).
