Issue link: http://visitithaca.uberflip.com/i/635370
In the course of a career, you tend to romanticize things back in the day. Looking at my decade here, I'm reminded just how close "back in the day" really was, and how far we've traveled since. In 2006 we gushed about a new website that hit 1.5 million pageviews, an ad campaign that generated 1,337 clicks and an obeat "Sundae War" that made it all the way to the CBS Evening News. How quaint. In 2015, our new mobile-rst website clocked 2.5 million pageviews, our online ad campaigns yielded 8.5 million impressions and our obeat Key West campaign became a viral sensation reaching a global audience in excess of 600 million. The local tourism landscape changed as well. Lodging grew 20% to more than 2,000 rooms (with another 360 soon to open). Room revenue grew 62% surpassing $55 million. And despite the Great Recession, tourism became a $200 million local industry, a 25% increase in 10 years. It's a success story by any measure. Success as the saying goes, has many fathers, and credit goes to the CVB, the Chamber, the County and many local businesses. But it also goes to the patriarchs of the program, Howard Cogan and Stu Stein. We'll mark the Tourism Program's 30th anniversary without them in 2016. But I think they'd approve, our success is what they envisioned, way back in the day. Back in the Day CVB Director Bruce Sto OCC Rate* Ave Daily Rate** RevPAR Room Available Room Sold Room Revenue 2015 Lodging Market Performance *Occupancy Rate **Revenue per available room Upstate NY