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Visit Greater Palm Springs outlines master-plan work, resident-sentiment study and air-service gains
Summary
Visit Greater Palm Springs told the Indian Wells City Council it has hired Hunden Partners for a regional master plan with nine city-level tourism plans, will fund the city-level studies, and is tracking a return toward pre‑COVID visitation with goals of about 14 million visitors and $9 billion in economic impact.
Visit Greater Palm Springs representatives presented a regional tourism update to the Indian Wells City Council, saying the organization has engaged Hunden Partners to prepare a new regional destination stewardship master plan and nine individual city tourism plans, which Visit Greater Palm Springs will fund.
Scott White, speaking for the organization, said the region is "going after 14,000,000 visitors, 9,000,000,000 in economic impact," and that the work will include a resident sentiment study, visitor intercept research and new dashboards to let local officials access data in real time. He said the 2016 master plan concluded this year and the consultant engagement will begin in March.
Colleen Pace, chief sales and marketing officer, summarized convention-sales results for 2025: roughly 262,000 room nights booked, 428 meetings and an estimated $238 million in economic impact across the destination; she said Indian Wells–specific group bookings translated to about $49 million in estimated economic impact for Indian Wells properties. Pace described off‑peak marketing initiatives and international outreach, and noted coordinated promotions tied to events such as the Desert Champions and upcoming Expedia Ambassador Summit.
Council members pressed presenters about methodology and funding. Visit Greater Palm Springs said it uses Destinations International tools and Riverside County data to estimate economic impact and job figures, and that about 90% of its funding comes from a tourism business improvement district with the remainder from participating Coachella Valley cities. Council members asked how resident sentiment will be sampled and whether nonrider respondents will be weighted differently; presenters said in‑market intercepts and weighted survey approaches are part of the plan.
The presentation closed with a preview of off‑season campaigns and a reminder that new dashboards and resident‑sentiment reporting will launch over the coming months.
The council did not take action on the presentation; it was received for information.
