In this Newsletter
Practical Approaches
to CVB Performance Management and Reporting

As a long-term member of the Travel Research Association and the Association of Travel Marketing Executives--for whom I also served as Chairman-I've been a strong proponent for more than twenty-five years of Destination Marketing Performance Accountability, ROI and related research deliverables.

That's why I use to cringe whenever I heard former CEO's give short shrift to the need for performance measurement. Like the time a major destination's exec said to me, "CVB Performance? If my city's doing well, then that's all the success criteria I need."

Another time, a state tourism director told a national tourism conference audience that because his office was spending $5 million a year to support his state's $5 billion dollar a year tourism industry, that for every marketing dollar, he was producing a hundred dollars in visitor receipts. And he gave absolutely no credit to the attractions, airline, accommodations or other travel sectors that were all doing their share.

Fortunately, that was then. Today, there's a new mantra, led by savvy destination marketers and the Destination Marketing Assn. International (DMAI), who are leading efforts to help reinforce, through educational training and market planning, the critical need for performance delivery, ROI measurement and accountability.

I was pleased and honored to be apart of DMAI's Performance Measurement team in development of their new handbook on performance reporting.

And now that the Performance-Bound Train is leaving the station, so to speak, with more CVBs than ever getting aboard, I want to share some concerns that need to be addressed to keep this program riding smoothly along on the tracks that lead to long term future success for our industry.

Marshall Murdaugh
CVB Performance Reporting

If you haven't downloaded the DMAI “Standard CVB Performance Handbook” do it right away. But be careful how you assess it for your community's use.

As DMAI President Michael Gehrisch says in his opening letter,” the selected standards should meet the following criteria for your destination:

1. Be consistent with the mission of the CVB
2. Be in accordance and consistent with other vendors providing contracted services to the municipality”.

Practical Guidelines
But in my opinion, here are guidelines you should follow for the practical management of performance and reporting.

1. Recognize these “standards for what they area: common guides and approaches.
“Standards” may imply to some that destinations should endorse and employ all of the 45 pages of performance reporting recommendations in this handbook for their cvb. (Recently a bureau chief received a copy of the DMAI manual from a city official with an attached cover note that read, “If this is the work you do at the bureau, then you must follow the measurement standards in this Handbook"). Nothing could be farther from the truth.

2. Approaches for performance measuring and reporting may have to change—depending on the characteristics of the CVB's environment, and according to your marketing mission.

3. Before applying these approaches, assess the cost/value benefits in producing them.

4. You don't have to apply all guidelines and performance approaches on an annual basis. Some, such as conversion analyses, and other ROI criteria, can be evaluated every two, three or five years.

5. Finally, be careful what you benchmark. Yes, you want to have a historical perspective on what you produce. Less advantageous are “competitive set analyses” that compare your performance measures with other destinations--because there are so many economic and marketing variables at work that make comparisons suspect. Yet one of these days, when such an industry report is publicly released, destinations will be compared in the press —and some will surely be castigated for apparent low performance against the competition.

Jeff Hungate, Sr. VP of the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association and former exec with IACVB says it this way:

“No two CVBs are alike.  If analysis is not done correctly, it would be comparing apples to oranges.  CVBs have evolved over the years based on their community's needs, organizational structure, types and amounts of funding.  These factors must also be considered when performing comparative analysis.  The real question to be answered is not how a bureau compares to another bureau, but what type of return does the bureau generate compared to other city-funded activities within the community.”

I believe Baltimore has also produced one of the best, most effective productivity reports, and they have graciously allowed me to share it with you as follows:

Fiscal Year 2005 Business Production Report 4th Quarter Edition – June 30, 2005
The Quarterly Business Production Report provides an update to community stakeholders on the internal progress of the Association’s activities and the corresponding results that generate economic impact to the Greater Baltimore region.

FOREWORD
In promoting a destination, bureaus spend untold hours and dollars selling their story to the traveling public. Focus groups, visitor perception surveys and even man-on-the-street interviews are tactics often used by cities trying to capture what makes their destination unique and appealing to travelers around the world. But no amount of research can raise the awareness of a destination like a third-party endorsement from a giant in the travel industry – Arthur Frommer and his legendary travel guides.

What an honor for Baltimore to be selected as one of the top ten destinations in the world for summer travel in 2005 by the travel writers who have made Frommer’s guides famous. When the world wants to travel, they turn to Arthur Frommer, and that’s good news for Baltimore.

At BACVA we couldn’t have written a better script to close out fiscal year 2005. Production inside the bureau is strong, and we are making great strides as a destination. According to D.K. Shifflet & Associates, overall visitation to Baltimore grew almost 4 percent in 2004, as Baltimore welcomed 11.79 million out-of-town guests – a six-year high. Spending also jumped 5.8 percent to $2.9 billion; and Baltimore’s day-trip market continues to show growth, increasing more than 6 percent in 2004 to 7.92 million visitors.

Baltimore’s position in the marketplace can only get stronger as we work toward developing the destination’s brand identity. Landor Associates and Longwoods International are in the field talking to our members, stakeholders and customers about Baltimore’s strengths and weaknesses as a destination and areas of growth. The creative platform they come up with, based on your feedback, will be shared with BACVA members at our annual meeting the morning of December 16.

I encourage you to use this Quarterly Business Production Report as a tool to measure BACVA’s internal and external progress in terms of the impact from sales and marketing initiatives. Promoting Baltimore as a destination for business and leisure travel is a team effort, and your participation and input is critical.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Leslie R. Doggett
President & CEO

Marketing

Super-Stuffed
Summer Campaign
During the spring and summer months, families with children typically represent the largest segment of visitation to Baltimore. Media was planned to target mothers looking for things to do with their children over the summer break. Recognizing that Baltimore had so many new attractions opening – the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture and Sports Legends Museum at Camden Yards to name a couple – as well as exciting opportunities at existing venues such as the reopening of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum – BACVA developed the “Baltimore's Super-Stuffed Summer” promotion campaign. The advertising highlighted over 20 new and existing attractions and drove traffic to the www.baltimore.org Web site and a special microsite that highlighted attractions, offering discounts and ticketing options.

Print ads, including co-operative participation from several attractions, ran adjacent to relevant editorial in the Washington Post Weekend Section. Outdoor billboards ran in transit shelters and Metro stations, in prime locations near malls and other highly trafficked areas, and radio sponsorships of Metro Traffic reports were purchased. BACVA also participated in a Meredith Publishing insert that ran April, May and June in mid-Atlantic state editions of Better Homes & Gardens, Country Home, Ladies Home Journal, More and Midwest Living.

Legends and
Legacies Campaign
Recognizing the national exposure that would be created by the opening of the Reginald Lewis Museum, the media scheduled for the annual African American campaign – Legends & Legacies – was significantly increased over the previous year. Print insertions ran for more than six weeks versus two and radio ran seven weeks versus three. The Washington, D.C. media exposure was estimated to deliver more than 5 million impressions – an increase of 66 percent over the prior year. The Philadelphia media exposure was estimated to deliver more than 5.8 million impressions – an increase of 140 percent over the previous year. National exposure was generated by Web banners and sponsorships on SoulofAmerica.com and BET.com. Prospective visitors were directed to the www.baltimore.org Web site and its expanded African American heritage microsite, and urged to request the new African American Heritage & Attractions Guide.

Web Site Activity
There were 432,904 Web site user visits in the fourth quarter, a 37 percent increase over the same quarter in fiscal year 2004. Overall, there has been a 22 percent increase in Web site unique users during fiscal year 2005 over fiscal year 2004.

Visitor Inquiries
In the fourth quarter, the call center received 6,149 phone calls, and 4,610 information packets were requested during the quarter. During the same three months, the Web site has provided 119,492 information packets in response to requests. These include those who completed the online request form or downloaded The Baltimore Attractions Brochure. Together these requests should result in over $49.4 million* in future
visitor spending.

For the fiscal year, the call center generated 9,607 packet requests and the Web site another 249,521 information requests. From these requests, WB&A estimates over $103 million* in future visitor spending generated by the users of BACVA information.

* WB&A 2004 Baltimore Post-Campaign Conversion Study.

Visitor Ticket Sales
During the fourth quarter, 6,911 tickets were sold through Connect Baltimore. This represents a 57 percent increase over the prior year. The Connect Baltimore system distributes tickets in the Visitor Center, through the call center and on the Web site. Over the entire fiscal year, 16,692 tickets were sold through the system, valued at over $344,000. The most popular tickets were for the Baltimore Harbor Pass, the Baltimore Sightseeing Tours, and Ed Kane’s Water Taxi.

The top five tickets sold through Connect Baltimore:

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Top of Page

Visitor Center
The Baltimore Visitor Center welcomed 130,772 visitors in the fourth quarter to bring the total number of visitors to 382,404 during fiscal year 2005, and 479,669 total visitors since the center opened May 7, 2004. Over 863,000 brochures and collateral material have been distributed during the fiscal year. Over 102,000 pieces of the collateral material were tourist information for the state of Maryland and other counties which represents 12 percent of all collateral distributed. In the fourth quarter alone, over 31,000 pieces of collateral were distributed for state-wide entities and over 200,000 pieces for local BACVA members. In addition to the material distributed, 50,252 visitors viewed the “Baltimore Experience” film during fiscal year 2005.

Travel Media

Journalist Activity
and Inquiries
During the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2005, the travel media department hosted 20 individual journalists from around the country. These journalists write for publications as varied as National Geographic Traveler, Country Living Magazine, New England News Service and Black Meetings & Tourism. BACVA travel media staff also hosted two group familiarization (FAM) tours during fourth quarter 2005 – one dedicated to family fun in the Inner Harbor, the second dedicated to Baltimore's African American heritage product – that brought an additional 17 travel journalist to Baltimore. Articles resulting from these FAM tours have appeared so far in Big Apple Parent, BET.com, soulofamerica.com and the Philadelphia Sun. During fiscal year 2005, BACVA conducted four group FAM tours, bringing 33 journalists to the city. A total of 78 journalists have visited individually or as part of a FAM tour over the course of fiscal year 2005. BACVA travel media staff has responded to 208 media inquiries from journalists and publications all over the world throughout the year.

Also, for the fourth quarter of the fiscal year, a total of 58 print articles generated or guided by BACVA's communications/travel media staff have been published. These articles have appeared in publications such as the New York Times, the Washington Examiner, Philadelphia Inquirer, Minneapolis Star, the Boston Globe and Southern Living Magazine. Twenty-two print and five online publications picked up an Associated Press article about the Harbor Pass, reaching over 2.66 million readers for a total ad value of over $66,000. These placements and others generated a total circulation of 16 million readers, and an advertising equivalency value of over $453,000. This brings the fiscal year total of articles placed to over 36 million in circulation valued over $1.3 million.

Some noteworthy placements in the fourth quarter include:

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In addition to efforts placed towards travel media, the BACVA communications department also performs targeted outreach to group tour and convention trade publications. In the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2005 articles on the city’s hotels, attractions and convention sales staff were published in a variety of publications including Meetings & Conventions Magazine, Mid-Atlantic Events and Convene Magazine.

Convention Sales

Consumed Bookings
Fiscal year 2005 saw 61 national events arrive at the Baltimore Convention Center. These events brought over 307,000 people to the city, who spent approximately $290 million in the local economy.

The top five groups for the fiscal year, based on actual room nights consumed were:

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Future Bookings
During the fourth quarter, the convention sales team booked 96 groups representing 105,040 future room nights. This brings the total fiscal year room nights booked to 289,820 versus 248,233 for fiscal year 2004.

As of the end of fiscal year 2005, the convention sales team generated 651 new tentative meetings, with more than 1.2 million room nights for future years as compared to just over 857,000 room nights in fiscal year 2004, which represents a 41 percent increase in potential room nights.

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Housing
Housing services provides hotel reservations to the attendees of future groups coming to Baltimore. A group qualifies for housing services if it reserves more than 500 rooms on peak night, and utilizes more than one hotel in the city. Reservations are received via fax, e-mail, phone or the Web site. Housing serviced two groups in the fourth quarter of 2005 to bring the fiscal year end total of completed housing groups to 15. This represents more than 20,000 reservations managed by BACVA staff and over $117,000 in closed housing revenue.

Registration
Registration provides on-site assistance to meetings and conventions occurring in Baltimore. These services include staffing registration desks, providing information kiosks and providing room monitors. By having staff on-site at an event, attendees can obtain information about restaurants, hotels and attractions around the city which generates spending outside of the event. The registration department assisted 30 groups in the fourth quarter for a total of 86 groups in fiscal year 2005. The staff provided 18,436 person-hours to these groups.

Group Travel Sales

Client Activity
BACVA’s group tour sales team produced a cooperative sales mission, including seven BACVA members, to Cincinnati, Cleveland and Pittsburgh in April 2005. During the sales mission, partners conducted presentations to group leaders and tour operators interested in bringing groups to Baltimore. Over the course of the sales mission, a total of 45 current and prospective clients attended the presentations.

In June 2005, five tour operators and their guests attended a joint African American FAM that was conducted in conjunction with Baltimore’s African American Heritage Festival. These tour operators from around the country were among the first to tour the Reginald F. Lewis Museum during its inaugural weekend.

Tradeshow Representation
In May 2005, BACVA exhibited at the Travel Industry of America’s International Pow Wow in New York City. Along with partners from the Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel and the Days Inn Inner Harbor, BACVA conducted appointments with 40 international tour operators representing the United Kingdom, Germany and Ireland, among others.

Servicing
The group tour department also serviced 37 groups booked as definite in Baltimore. The groups booked directly with BACVA member hotels and requested services, including brochures, maps and member referrals, from the tourism department. This brings the total number of leisure groups that have received services to 179 for fiscal year 2005.

Bookings
During the fourth quarter, group tour sales booked 24 tours that will utilize 2,317 room nights. This brings the fiscal year total room nights booked to 6,809, a 7 percent increase over fiscal year 2004. For the entire fiscal year, group tour sales generated 90 tentative tours, with 9,178 room nights