Visit Stillwater reports visitor revenue gains, details airport marketing and partnerships
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
Visit Stillwater presented a semiannual report detailing visitor tax revenues (FY23 > $7M), grant awards, airport marketing partnerships and programs such as 'Win Your Wings'; the SEDA trustees heard the presentation and requested reports be posted online.
Visit Stillwater presented a semiannual report to the Stillwater Economic Development Authority on Feb. 23, outlining marketing work, visitor-economy statistics and airport partnership initiatives that staff said are intended to boost local business revenue and sustain air service.
Christie Morrison, president and CEO of Visit Stillwater, told trustees the organization supports roughly 250 local hospitality businesses and helps promote more than 2,000 events a year through web, social and earned media. "We attract thousands of visitors a year for state, regional, national events," Morrison said, describing promotional tools the organization uses, including a visitor calendar and targeted landing pages.
Morrison reported FY23 visitor taxes exceeded $7 million, with about $2.1 million designated for visitor development and residential amenities; she said Visit Stillwater had an overage relative to its contracted amount (about $818,000 at the end of the prior fiscal year) and expected that reserve to exceed $1 million by the end of the coming fiscal year. Trustees asked that the reports be made available online; Morrison said current-year and prior two years of reports are published on Visit Stillwater’s website.
The presentation highlighted airport marketing and events coordination, including a wayfinding and signage project, transportation plans for a major April event, and the "Win Your Wings" program that partners with regional chambers to incentivize use of the Stillwater Regional Airport. Kelly Reid, the airport director, thanked Visit Stillwater for monthly marketing support and said the partnership helps the airport pursue and sustain air service. "I'm blown away monthly with what they do and the new ideas," Reid said.
Trustees questioned how college-student populations affect visitor metrics; Morrison explained the vendor Zartico counts a device as a visitor until it has been in-market for two weeks, which can skew numbers for college towns and requires interpretation when planning.
SEDA adopted the related Bookend Hotel redevelopment resolution that evening, and trustees agreed the Visit Stillwater semiannual report should be available publicly to demonstrate the group's work and economic impacts.