City reports tens of thousands of visits to holiday events; NJCAA soccer generated about $950,000 impact

Rob (events staff) presented attendance and economic metrics for the city's holiday programming and recent sporting events, using Placer AI footfall data and STR hotel reports.

Rob said Enid Lights Up the Plains drew about 8,800 visits for the kickoff night (average dwell about 73 minutes), and the season totaled more than 24,000 visits with an average of 1.21 visits per visitor. Holidays on Ice drew around 12,400 visits (10,500 unique) and Christmas in the Park had about 2,600 attendees. "The data shows that it is and therefore we just make a lot more, a better informed decision," Rob said, describing how Placer AI helps the city understand visitor origins and dwell time.

Rob also highlighted a recent sporting success: the NJCAA women's national soccer tournament, which he said generated an estimated $950,000 in local economic impact, supported about 160 jobs, and produced approximately 1,215 hotel-room nights and 2,793 visitor days. He noted the city paid a $6,000 bid fee and received roughly $43,000 in local tax revenue.

Commissioners discussed ways to keep visitors downtown after events, including merchant coupon packages, QR-code cards for attendees and potential geofenced advertising to markets that supply visitors. Staff also said the city subscribes to Smith Travel Research (STR) for consolidated hotel-occupancy data and that some proprietary hotel-level data is not available publicly.

No decision was taken; staff said they would share the STR and occupancy reports with commissioners.