Group tour report
At the April 13 City Advertising and Promotion Commission meeting, Sales Director Karen Pryor gave commissioners a survey of the geography she has covered so far this year, saying she handed out 5000 Ride Guides at the Progressive Motorcycle Show in Chicago where prospective visitors told her they would visit on four wheels first, then on two. Another 3000 Ride Guides were distributed in Dallas and other shows closer to home. Pryor met with a gathering of tour operators in Oklahoma City, and later this month two representatives of Mayflower Tours will get her familiarization tour. As a result of these shows, three motor coaches will visit Eureka Springs in April.
Five more trade shows are planned for the rest of the year, and 25 to 30 tour planners, who book groups, will meet in Eureka Springs in autumn.
Event coordinator report
CAPC Events Coordinator Dori Thomas reported a crowd of 350 assembled in Basin Park for the first Second Saturday concert. Blues master John Hammond entertained, and following his performance was the April gallery stroll. The rest of the Second Saturday lineup is set and available at eurekasprings.org.
Thomas told commissioners the May Festival of the Arts would feature more than 60 events from art, to music, to culinary, to the White Street Walk.
The Bluegrass Festival will be August 18-20, and JazzEureka Weekend is planned for September 8-11. The Celtic folk group, The Elders, will be the featured group at this year’s Folk Festival scheduled for October 12-15.
Thomas also mentioned tickets for the Gordon Lightfoot concert at the Auditorium on Thursday, June 23, are selling well.
Director’s report
Executive Director Mike Maloney again pronounced the benefit of Facebook to marketing. He said there have been 614,184 impressions on the Eureka Springs Facebook page, and as a comparison, Eureka Springs has more than 53,500 likes. Fayetteville has around 10,500, and totals dwindle for everyone else in the area.
“Social media is big,” he said, with emphasis on big. “Virtually every social media outlet we can get our fingers in, we’re in there.” He said he continues to work with 121 Digital, an Internet marketing service, to “hone in on valuable markets.” As a result, the ability to track effectiveness of the marketing efforts continues to improve.
An aspect of the evolving marketing outreach is fine-tuning access to a landing page most pertinent to the viewer. Maloney called it a “rifle shot,” an attempt to reduce the number of clicks a viewer must make to find desired information.
He also reported the Northwest Arkansas Film Association is in its final steps of becoming a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Eureka Springs is the only member city so far which offers incentives to prospective film producers.
Financial report
Finance director Rick Bright reported all categories of collectors are up compared to 2015. Total collections through the end of February were up 17.3 percent, and March collections were looking good, also.
Next workshop will be Wednesday, April 27, at 4 p.m., at the CAPC office and the next regular meeting will be Wednesday, May 11, at 6 p.m.