Carson City tourism forges ahead in new fiscal year

Four years after a re-branding campaign was started to turn Carson City's tourism fortunes around, data since 2013 has shown the investments are beginning to pay significant dividends for the community.

"Over the course of the last four years, we've seen well over 50 percent, and closer to 60 percent increases in our room revenues, average daily rates and occupancies," said Joel Dunn, executive director of the Carson City Culture and Tourism Authority, formerly the Carson City Visitors Bureau. "All of those measurables for tourism have significantly gone up."

In just the past year, some lodging properties have seen room revenue increases of 30 percent or more over 2016 numbers, he said.

The months of May and June this year each saw a 24 percent increase from the top performing properties, Dunn said, while July numbers could push as high as 30 percent.

For all properties, Carson City experienced a 21 percent increase over revenue numbers for the same time period last year, he said, while calendar year-to-date data shows the Nevada state capital has seen an increase of 25 percent from 2016.

"That's an increase of $1.5 million over the 2016 numbers for all properties, all room revenue," Dunn said.

Fiscal year-to-date data shows at least a 16 percent improvement from last year, he said.

"These are fantastic numbers, over and above what I budgeted," Dunn said. "I budgeted increases of about 6.5 percent of what we were anticipating this year, and we're far surpassing that."

The average daily room rate — or average cost per night in Carson City — for all lodging properties in the Nevada state capital approached $100 in the last fiscal year, Dunn said, while some properties are surpassing $200 per night on any given weekend.

"I think that's representative of a stronger economy," he said. "We're also seeing a lot of different visitors coming into Carson City. That's certainly evidence that our re-branding effort has been successful."

Dunn said Carson City's tourism economy is robust and looking to get stronger in the year ahead, too.

Beginning the first weekend in October, dozens of Airstream recreational vehicle owners will converge upon the Nevada state capital for "Airstream On Main," a show-and-shine celebration of Airstream vehicles.

Dunn said as many as 60 Airstreams will be located throughout the community, including several parked downtown along North Carson Street.

"They won't be affecting the traffic downtown, but will be parking in all of the pull out parking spaces throughout Carson Street," he said. "It will be a great opportunity in that shoulder season when we don't get a lot of events from October to April."

The Multi-purpose Athletic Center on Russell Way, opened in December 2015, is expected to help pick up the slack during the traditionally slow winter season.

Dunn said the area can expect to see basketball and volleyball tournaments held in cooperation with the Carson City Parks and Recreation Department.

"We're slowly having the same opportunity with the MAC due to expansion of the sports tourism market, which has been nine to 10 percent of our market for about the last 15 to 20 years now," he said.

While the details of team sports tournaments are still being worked out, Dunn said Carson City has clearly made its mark in the cycling industry since 2016.

It's a reputation that the CCCTA intends to continue building upon.

"We had our second year of the Carson City Off Road put on by Epic Rides with 911 registered riders," Dunn said. "The economic impact report we are putting out is going to be right at $2.1 million."

The city of Reno has secured the cycling industry's signature convention in 2018, Dunn said, by attracting Interbike from its usual venue in Las Vegas to Northern Nevada.

This could mean another significant boost in the tourism economy for Carson City, he said.

"That's a big win for us as a region," he said. "That's only going to give us an opportunity to put our brand out to potential mountain bikers, road bikers, and industry professionals."

From myriad components to whole bicycle manufacturers, the annual conference covers everything bike related and is expected to draw thousands to the region next September.

"We will work with Interbike and see if we can offer some type of downhill component," Dunn said. "They won't have a lot of time to be outside of the conference itself, but when they are they are going to be on a bike."

Moreover, Dunn said the CCCTA is continuing this year to develop its Ride Carson campaign, which celebrates all forms of transportation in and around the Nevada state capital.

Epic Rides was the first of a series of events that are part of the campaign, he said."We'll be bringing in a road bike race that's going to happen Sept. 24 (2018)," he said. "It's a regional race coming down to Carson City from Lake Tahoe and circling back up to the lake."

Dunn said the CCCTA is also going to work with the same group to bring a major Century Rides 100-mile road bike race to the area.

"That's more of a gravel grinder where they do part road, part gravel and maintained dirt roads on a road bike," he said. "We're looking to do that in the fall of 2018."

Dunn said he expects anywhere from 700 to 1,000 riders in the first year of that event.

In the mean time, Ride Carson is also looking to introduce some trail running events, he said.

"The idea is not have several events that are impacting our trail network, but to have one major event for running and one major event for road bike racing, one major event for mountain bike racing," Dunn said.

Collectively, Dunn said he sees these new outdoor recreation events generating more than $2 million for the local economy.

"When we invest our money to market Carson City through the re-branding, we certainly have to have some measured return on our investment," he said.

Tourism, Dunn said, is a key economic driver not only for Carson City, but statewide, too.

"You're talking about the largest industry in the state of Nevada," he said. "Our job is to drive that largest economy in the state at the local level."

Carson City was host to more than 650,000 visitors in 2016, Dunn said, equating to more than $80 million in visitor spending.

"This means that one out of every three people you see in a restaurant or in one of our stores is a visitor to our community," he said. "That's why [tourism] is so important."

Although the CCCTA exists to market Carson City and attract tourism dollars, Dunn said it's not all about the money to him.

"We've increased the quality of life for residents of Carson City collectively as a community over the course of the last four years," he said. "As a lifelong resident, when I have an opportunity to go anywhere in this community, I am continually met by people I've known my entire life talking about the sense of community pride, the changes they've seen in this community over the course of the last several years."