Issue link: http://visitithaca.uberflip.com/i/635370
Sales on the Rise Group Sales brings $2.5m in visitor spending in 2015, a 25% increase over 2014, in part due to several large atheletic events hosted in the shoulder season and mid-week motorcoach groups . The hard-won Global Food Security Conference brought 750+ international scientists to Ithaca and won the annual STPB Tourism Award. Key West Success The hugely successful Key West Campaign, a tongue-in-cheek website call to visit Key West instead of Ithaca, skyrocketed our small Upstate NY city into the national and international media spotlight. The hit brought in over 430 broadcast stories and 649 online news pieces that focused nearly 600 million eyes on Ithaca. 2013 2014 2015 2013 2014 2015 Desktop Mobile 446,828 497,713 63,490 163,509 1,657,402 819,119 4,857 7,948 8,581 8,820 9,100 8,448 Trac Visitor Center walk-in trac stayed stable, with 17,029 total visitors in 2015 compared to 17,048 visitors last year. Digital Website trac, however, saw a 20% increase due to a newly redesigned website that streamlines the vistor experience with less pages and a more easily navigated sitemap. Media 13 dierent traveler writers came to visit in 2015, representing magazines and websites like Thrillist, Renery29, and Esquire. CVB Stats Website Trac Sessions Walk-in Trac 2013 Leads Sent Leads Booked 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Group Sale Leads Sent vs. Leads Booked 2014 2015 CVB Group Sales By the Numbers The Sales Team met with 102 tour operators at 5 appointment based trade shows throughout the year. These appointments lead to 118 leads sent out, 81 of which were booked. Overall, sales were up 30% over 2013.