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Visit Carlsbad reports marketing gains, ends $1 million transportation pilot as cost-prohibitive
Summary
Visit Carlsbad leaders reported stronger lodging performance and campaign ROI, but said a $1,000,000 one-year transportation pilot that provided free rides to overnight guests will not continue because the cost per ride was prohibitive.
Kim Sidorjak, president and CEO of Visit Carlsbad, told the advisory board how CTBID funds were spent and summarized program outcomes, including a one-year transportation pilot and marketing metrics.
Sidorjak said CTBID-funded expenditures were broken down roughly as marketing (about 55%), business development (12%), salaries and benefits (16%), general administration (2%), and event grants and transportation (14%). She said all funds collected by the CTBID in fiscal year 2022–23 had been expended and services rendered.
On the transportation pilot, Sidorjak said a $1,000,000 grant funded a one-year pilot that ran from September 2023 through August 2024 to provide free rides to overnight guests at TBID properties. "9,820 rides were given and over 21,000 riders," she said, and the pilot produced 17 media placements (including Yahoo News, Smart Meetings and San Diego Business Journal) and about 83,600,000 impressions. She said the Visit Carlsbad board declined to continue the pilot because the cost per ride was prohibitive.
Mark, Visit Carlsbad’s vice president of marketing, reviewed brand and campaign results: a brand refresh yielded increased ad recall, research showed strong image ratings versus peer destinations, and earned- and paid-media efforts generated substantial exposure. He reported more than 4,000,000 travel households recalled recent campaigns; 101 media placements produced a UMB (circulation exposure) of about 625,000,000 and an earned-ad equivalency of roughly $18,000,000. A United Airlines partnership produced an estimated 8,000,000 impressions and about 1,200,000 video views.
Mark told the board an expanded fall/spring campaign produced an estimated incremental impact of about 187,000 additional trips, 221,000 incremental room nights and roughly $155,000,000 in incremental revenue; he said the campaign generated about $129 returned to the local economy for each dollar invested. He also described international and regional activations (Dallas market event, Brand USA partnerships, Expedia and TripAdvisor campaigns) and business-development work that supported 87 definite programs worth about 56,000 room nights and $18,000,000 in room revenue.
Sidorjak and Mark concluded that Visit Carlsbad met the goals outlined in its three-year strategic plan, noted a clean financial audit with no major findings, and said staff are hiring a consultant to develop a 2025–2027 strategic plan.
The board asked no substantive follow-up questions and moved to the meeting's final business: adopting the staff-recommended resolution to forward to City Council regarding CTBID disestablishment.
