SIOUX CITY -- The Sioux City Regional Convention & Visitors Bureau's hotel/motel tax collection was the highest on record in the last fiscal year at more than $2.8 million.
Kristi Franz, executive director of the Sioux City Regional Convention & Visitors Bureau (SCRCVB) told the Sioux City Council Monday that $2,843,241.80 was collected and that the bureau now has 10 lodging partners. The SCRCVB, which does business as Explore Siouxland, focuses on bringing in new events and marketing Sioux City as a destination for tourists, conventions and sporting events.
"We currently have 10 hotel partners and we will add our 11th, which will be the Double Tree," Franz said.
The SCRCVB is primarily funded through a 1.65% lodging fee paid by guests at hotels in Sioux City, South Sioux City, North Sioux City and Dakota Dunes that have opted in. The fee is in addition to the 7% hotel/motel tax collected on all rooms in Sioux City. Half of that 7% tax is currently earmarked for tourism purposes, while the other half goes to the city's general fund.
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"I think the large tick up in our hotel/motel tax revenue shows that we have more heads in beds," Councilwoman Julie Schoenherr said. "I think it has a lot to do with tourism, with the sports tourism -- many contributors to that. That really tells a lot. It's a good measure of the improvements that are being made."
Franz said the SCRCVB has a "really big announcement" coming soon, which she said will have a significant economic impact on the community.
"I can't tell you what it is until the state tells me that I can tell you. But it's going to be huge for the Siouxland area," she said. "It's going to have a huge economic impact, and I cannot wait to share that information with you."
Mayor Pro Tem Dan Moore asked Franz what the SCRCVB's strengths and weaknesses are and how it measures success.
Franz said the SCRCVB subscribes to Destinations International's economic impact calculator, which she said provides a "good breakdown" of where people are coming from, how much money is being spent on hotels, restaurants, retail and gas stations.
"It's hard to really gauge successes," she said. "Our hotel partners are very happy with what we're doing. They've seen their occupancy reports are going up. When we have our meetings with them, they're really happy, as well as the other communities that we partner with."
Moore also asked, "If there's anything that you could change in Sioux City to make improvements, what would that be, if anything? Maybe there's nothing."
Franz said the capacity for flights at Sioux Gateway Airport is one of the biggest hurdles in bringing large-scale events to the community.
"Sioux City's an amazing community. We just wish we could get more people here," said Franz who noted that the city already has the facilities, hotels and amenities to accommodate such events. "That has been something that we have tried to work around, saying, 'Well, if you fly into Sioux Falls or Omaha, we'll try to have a hospitality area and send a bus to come and get you.'"
Franz said most visitors are coming from up to a 75-mile radius of Sioux City, followed by Omaha, Sioux Falls/Mitchell, Des Moines/Ames, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Lincoln/Hastings/Kearney.
"Most of the advertising and marketing that we do you probably won't see in the Sioux City area, because we are targeting those destinations 75 miles and out," she said.
Local leaders refocused their tourism efforts after Sioux City eliminated the city department that oversaw not only tourism, but also the Tyson Events Center and the Convention Center. The change occurred after the city hired OVG360, formerly Spectra, a Philadelphia-based venue management firm, to run the Tyson. The Convention & Visitors Bureau Board manages the new CVB, while the Events Facilities Advisory Board continues to oversee the city-owned venues.
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