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Visit Rancho Cordova reports stable visitation, $396,000-per‑night local spending example; marketing reach grows
Summary
Mark, president and CEO of Visit Rancho Cordova, told the City Council that local hotels and hospitality continue to generate meaningful spending — providing an example of roughly $396,000 in nightly local spending when occupancy is about 2,000 guests — and described a marketing program with hundreds of millions of impressions.
Visit Rancho Cordova President and CEO Mark reported growth and resilience in the city’s tourism economy while acknowledging recent shifts in visitor mix from business travel to leisure trips.
Mark said the city has just over 2,000 hotel rooms and that on the evening of the council meeting roughly 2,000 guests were staying in Rancho Cordova hotels — generating an illustrative $396,000 in local spending in a 24‑hour period. "If you add that up, what 2,000 people mean on a nightly basis for this community?" he asked the council.
The presentation outlined county‑level travel impacts (approximately $4.7 billion in travel‑related spending in Sacramento County supporting roughly 34,000 jobs) and noted that local hospitality supports just over 2,000 jobs in Rancho Cordova. Mark said Visit Rancho Cordova generated about 62,000 room‑night leads in the past year through sales efforts (a potential $17.4 million economic impact) and that marketing and earned PR expanded the city's footprint; he cited roughly 350 million impressions and placements in Visit California materials and regional publications.
On changing visitor patterns, Mark said the market shifted from pre‑pandemic business travel (about 80% business at one point) to a majority leisure/transient profile after COVID, with occupancy now in the "60‑something percent" range. He told council the hotels have managed rate strategies that have driven a 6.1% increase in hotel revenues and higher transient occupancy tax (TOT) receipts year‑over‑year.
Council members asked about data segmentation — business versus leisure — and about dedicated destination development funds. Mark said his organization tracks conversions, definite bookings and lost leads, and that Visit Rancho Cordova maintains contact with city staff and developers on stadium planning and partnership opportunities. In response to a question about dedicated TOT funding, Mark said the organization does not receive TOT directly from the city and that some destination development set‑asides and legacy funds are available for marketing and destination development activities.
Why it matters: Tourism is a significant local revenue driver (TOT revenue used for general services) and supports hospitality jobs and restaurants. Council and Visit Rancho Cordova say coordinated marketing and development partnerships — including support for events and potential sports or arena draws — are key to capturing more visitor spending.
Provenance: topicintro: Mark (tc 13:58) — evidence excerpt: "We have a little over 2,000 hotel rooms in this city. As of right now, we have about 2,000 people staying in our hotels tonight…It's $396,000 in a 24 hour period"; topfinish: Q&A about stadium and funds (tc 16:16) — evidence excerpt: "Yeah. We yeah. Absolutely. We're in support of anything that will put heads in beds for sure."
