Issue link: http://visitithaca.uberflip.com/i/934704
3 Quality vs Quantity Each year we strive for better: to provide a more seamless experience for visitors from consideration to visitation; to provide better tools to our tourism partners to help drive incremental business; to develop more compelling collateral to attract new group business; and to provide exceptional visitor experiences to every guest we encounter. We do this to create economic development through visitor spending and a stronger return on investment to Tompkins County. Our guests and partners seem to agree! Welcoming Our Guests: The Visitor Experience Department welcome centers and outreach efforts continue to be successful, demonstrating a 6% increase in touchpoints over 2016. 2017 Top Domestic Feeder Markets by Travel Party: NY: 50%, PA: 12%, NJ: 7% 2017 Top International Feeder Markets by Travel Party: US: 84%, Canada: 5%, Israel: 2%, UK: 1%, Germany: 1%, China: 1% Gorges Gear Goes Global! Visitors from 26 countries and 43 states made purchases at the Overlook at Taughannock during 2017. The top countries outside of the US were Canada, United Kingdom, Israel, Germany, Australia and Russia. The top transactions from states outside of NY were PA, OH, NJ, CA, and FL. Total Sales: $75,321 Total Receipts: 3495 Average sale per transaction: $21.55 "We were planning a trip out of town for our anniversary, but heard about this event and decided we couldn't miss it!" – Carlie Phipps, visitor at Open Farm Days "Excellent service and great for visitors to have access to someone for advice" – chat guest from Oleans, Ontario, Canada ESD Walk ins DVC Walk ins Taughannock Chat Requests TG Requests Off-Site Events Phone Calls Totals 2016 7,649 9,932 25,908 3,096 4,376 20,227 1,850 73,038 2017 4,543 6,520 32,146 4,024 3,756 24,950 1,709 77,648 % change -40.61% -34.4% 24.1% 29.97% -14.2% 23.3% -7.6% 6.31% PR: 2017 Emerging Nature Destination of United States! The CVB is proud to share that Ithaca has been named the 2017 Emerging Nature Destination of the United States by Luxury Travel Guide, just one of the many top tier features about our destination. Proactive story pitching plus hosting fifteen media visits equals a 2 million reach for Tompkins County! Top placements included NY Times Travel Section, Travel + Leisure, LA Times, Food Network, and Live for Live Music. Expanding Agriculinary Tourism The CVB has a part-time staff member dedicated to agriculinary tourism product development and marketing. Twenty new farms in the county are visitor ready, the first round of microgrants has been launched with eight participants, new seasonal getaway packages are being marketed. The total number of farm visitors grew 14% to 80,000 since the 2015 survey. Most non-locals came from PA, NJ, Canada, NY/NYC, and in general the northeast region.