Carson City looks to be at the forefront of state tourism

Three years of change and rebranding efforts by the Carson City Visitors Bureau (CCVB) are turning the Nevada state capital into a tourist destination, said CCVB Executive Director Joel Dunn, and no longer a point on the road map to pass through.

Dunn took over as head of the city's tourism bureau in 2013, after a long stint as operations director of the Carson City Recreation Division.

He brought marketing talent on board with him in an effort to change not only the state capital's tourism image, but also turn its fortunes around.

"When we started three years ago, we were still struggling with the downturn in the economy," Dunn said. "We were a little bit behind the rest of the region in trying to recover and attract tourism back into our area."

At that time, said CCVB Social Media Director J. Kyle Horvath, Carson City was still on the way to other major tourist destinations like Reno and Lake Tahoe.

The state capital was a place to pass through, and not somewhere to stop and experience.

"You used to hear people say there's nothing to do in Carson City," Horvath said. "You don't hear that anymore."

It's a very different story today after just 36 months.

"When people come to Reno or Lake Tahoe now, we're not just a place to pass through," Horvath said. "We're a place to stop, visit and experience because we've gotten the diversity of who we are out there. The pride of who we are and what we have to offer has just shot through the roof both at the local and regional levels."

Building upon rich local history, a strong arts presence, proximity to limitless outdoor recreation, and ideal venues for major events, the CCVB took advantage of what the area already had to offer and has been introducing it to both national and international markets, Horvath said.

So significant has been the transformation that USA Today recently named Carson City its "Most Travel Worthy State Capital In the Country," based upon its Ten Best report, according to the CCVB.

"We haven't created anything outrageously new. We've just designated all the different assets we've already had and started marketing them," Horvath said. "It's always been here. We've always had the talent. Now they are getting put out to the forefront. "

The result of the CCVB's aggressive marketing campaign appears to be a substantial turn-around in the local tourism economy, Dunn said.

"Our effort has really set the bench mark for change," he said. "The change in who comes to Carson City, why they come here, the magnitude of the events we bring in, the target markets with more discretionary dollars that we are bringing in."

Dunn reported that 2016 has been the best non-legislative year he has seen in Carson City, and he grew up in the state capital.

From June 2015 through May 2016 -- the state and city fiscal year -- room tax revenues totaled a little over $16 million in a non-legislative year. The Nevada State Legislature is biennial, and meets every other year.

This was about a 12 percent increase above a normal non-legislative year, Dunn said, and more than 15 percent higher than the last non-legislative year in 2014.

"In 36 months, we've seen a total increase of 16 percent, so that's pretty big," he said.

Typically, a non-legislative year sees about a 5-6 percent decrease in room revenues and occupany, Dunn said, but that trend has been changing since 2014, the previous non-legislative year.

Revenues increased a little higher at 8.3 percent between 2014 and 2015, the last legislative session, Dunn said, which demonstrates an improvement over usual gains.

"It was a little bit more than what we would have typically seen based on a history," he said.

But Dunn emphasized that these numbers only reflect revenue collected from city room taxes, the lodging rates of which account for only about 30 percent of what a visitor spends while in town.

The other 70 percent of what visitors spend translates into non-lodging related revenue, such as dining, recreation and entertainment, he said.

"That shows what the increases have been to our businesses," he said. "To our restaurants and our retail sales."

Visitor spending is varied in Carson City, Dunn said, and those dollars are tracked through surveys by the CCVB.

The data collected has shown less money spent on gaming in the state capital, he said, and more dollars going into retail sales and other non-gaming forms of entertainment and recreation.

"We don't see what some of the other larger communities in Nevada see," Dunn said. "We don't see a lot of spending in our gaming, although it is certainly part of the entertainment aspect. There's a lot of retail sales, and a lot of entertainment outside of gaming, such as museums and points of historical significance. They spend money other ways."

Average daily spending in Carson City ranges from $125 to $135 per visitor each day, he said, and this is close to the rest of the region.

"Now we're a little bit higher than people used to spend in Carson City, because we are attracting a different demographic," Dunn said. "The rest of the region hasn't seen those same increases."

Dunn said Carson City experienced in 2015 sometimes double-digit increases over the previous year's month, while some other parts of the region were actually seeing decreases.

"We're talking about a demographic that typically spends more when they travel," Dunn said. "It's a good target market for us to go after as it showcases that we are a great place to live with a high quality of life, which will, in turn, hopefully drive young educated employees to want to live in Carson City. This helps the manufacturing and manufacturers looking to relocate to a community based on its education, resources and quality of life."

Dunn stressed that while tourism accounts for a large percentage of both state and local revenue, it is not the end all, be all of the Carson City economy.

"We have an important role," he said. "We are one of the three key elements of growth in the community, and we have to add to that."

Dunn said manufacturing and industry play an equally essential role in the community, so it's important to regard tourism as part of the machine that makes the Carson City economy go.

"We are just another cog in the wheel," he said.

But that wheel is moving with more vigor than in years past thanks, in part, to the growth of tourism in the state capital.

Two of the strongest indicators of a healthy visitor economy, Dunn said, are the CCVB's data on the average daily rate (ADR) and bookings for lodging.

Because tourism revenue in Carson City is funded completely by the room tax, data on the ADR and bookings is crucial to measuring the growth and vibrancy of visitor spending.

"The average daily rate is one of the strongest components of a healthy, successful tourism economy in Carson City," Dunn said.

The ADR rose 8.6 percent from 2015 to 2016, Dunn said, increasing from about $66 per night in the Top 13 performing lodging properties in the area to an average of just less than $72 per night over the course of 12 months.

The Top 13 lodge properties, Dunn said, acount for the majority of room revenue. There are a total of 34 lodge properties in Carson City, he said.

When the ADR climbs, Dunn said, so, too, does the average per diem rate paid by public agencies for government travelers into Carson City.

"Three years ago, we saw a decrease in the per diem rate, and that really hurt us, because a large number of our visitors are coming in as government travelers," he said. "So, finally with the ADR going up, we saw our per diem rate go up, and I'm anticipating they'll go up again in October. I expect we'll catch back up with the region, which went up and we didn't."

Along with an increase in the ADR, Dunn said, bookings have also risen the past year.

About 260,000 room nights were booked in Carson City between June 2015 and May 2016, he said, and the city has a range of up to 280,000 bookings.

"That's a real healthy component, and plays in a couple of different ways," he said. "The average stay in Carson City is 2.5 days for a leisure traveler per room, and up to 3.5 days for sports tournaments and traveling families. People typically stay here 2-3 days on average. Having the mid-level properties getting closer to the $70 ADR makes for a pretty significant economic engine in the community."

The demand for lodging helps to drive up the room rates, and having plenty of events in town throughout the year to attract overnight visitors helps to make that happen.

In Carson City, sporting events have accounted for a large chunk of visitor revenue being pumped in the local economy. It has been a mainstay for the area's tourist industry for more than a decade, Dunn said.

"The sports tourism market was created about 15 years ago, and it has really led us in a new direction," Dunn said. "The biggest bang for the buck on the bureau's effort is to bring in major events."

Dunn said that market was realized while he headed the Carson City Recreation Division, and it has just taken off since then into what is now a $20 million a year economic driver.

"It started as just an opportunity to bring additional revenue into our concession stands to off-set the operational costs for our local programs," he said. "After the first year, we realized it truly was an economic engine for our business community."

As of the 2015-16 fiscal year, Carson City played host to 28 sports tournaments, which drew a substantial number of teams from outside of the area.

The total number of out-of-area teams stands at around 593, Dunn said, with total out-of-area attendance of more than 56,000 people. The average length of a tournament is around 3.6 days, he said.

Regional draws, Dunn said, remain the focus for sports tourism growth, because outside dollars equate to new wealth brought into the community.

"The focus has always been on sports tournaments that bring in teams from outside of 100 miles," he said. "We have at least six tournaments now that are at 100+ teams in size. So we're talking about a $1.5 million impact over the course of three days for a tournament."

The CCVB has attracted several tournaments that actually stretch to over four or five days, he said. These are regional and national level tournaments.

But there isn't much more room to grow in this sub-market of area tourism, Dunn said, because the city has limited grass available due to first rights of refusal for local community sports programs.

"Although we have some great sports complexes, they are dedicated for the public use first," he said, "and they should have the first right of refusal of all of those fields."

Dunn said the Centennial Park Sports Complex in northeast Carson City has reached its capacity for use by adult sports tournaments.

"We really don't have a lot of opportunity to expand into additional sports tournaments," he said. "We've maxed out the use of Centennial. That's the only adult dedicated sports complex."

Short of constructing additional sports venues, the 25-30 tournaments drawn to Carson City per year is about at capacity for the area, he said.

"And that's nearly every weekend anyway," Dunn said. "Actually on some weekends, we'll have multiple events."

The one facility, though, that has room to expand its tournament capabilities, he said, is the new Multipurpose Athletic Center (MAC).

Currently, this facility should have more activity going in inside of it, he said.

"We need to focus on a few other events with the MAC," Dunn said. "We've got a great working relationship with the city and our interlocal agreement."

Horvath said the CCVB is looking into attracting more non-traditional and non-sport indoor events that the MAC can host, such as video-gaming and lego building competitions.

Sports tourism in the state capital has grown steadily since about 2010, economic impact data from that year forward has shown.

Carson City made about $14 million from sports tourism activities in 2010, with the Centennial Complex accounting for the lion's share of those events. That number increased to $16 million the next year.

By the time Dunn had left the Carson City Recreation Division and joined the CCVB, sports tourism was grossing around $20 million per year for the area, he said.

"It's essentially an $18-20 million economic engine per year," he said. "That's significant."

Dunn said the CCVB provides three-fourths of one percent tax revenue to the city to cover all direct costs related to the events brought in, passing the cost savings on to tournament directors looking for both quality and value.

"That makes it more affordable for the event promoters to use Carson City as a destination for their events," Dunn said."We're doing everything we can to protect this. We have great relationships with the tournament directors, and they continue to come back."

Returning visitors are key to helping Carson City's tourist industry remain sustainable and stable over a period of years, both Dunn and Horvath agree, because returning outside dollars means repeated new wealth being pumped into the community over and over again.

"We never really marketed ourselves to the return visitor," Dunn said. "Someone who has a good experience in a community will typically return to that community anywhere from 5-7 times. That's a pretty easy market for us to go after when they are already here."

He said an important part of rebranding Carson City is to promote activities that alllow visitors to immerse themselves into local culture and make them feel like they are part of the community during their visit.

"All we have to do is create an experience for them while they're here, and create a better awareness of what we have to offer," he said. "That's an incredibly wise investment on our part."

Day-trip visitors also factor into this formula to a significant degree, he said, because daytime spending accounts for a large chunk of sales revenue.

"We've opened up the door much more for the day-trippers. The daytime spending is significant for our whole community," he said. "We may not see a lot of it becaue those people aren't staying in our lodging properties, but we have a responsibility to continue that economic engine. So we've increased a lot of the business from day visitors."

The Nevada State Capital is centralized, Horvath added, about 25 minutes from most other regional attractions. This has the potential of turning day-trippers into overnight tourists, who use Carson City as their hub, and making them repeat visitors.

The three-year effort to rebrand Carson City has been as much about viability as it has been promoting attractions that can be marketed to a broader audience.

Viability is a characteristic that Dunn feels already exists with both local and statewide tourism.

"According to the Nevada Business Weekly, 28-30 percent of all revenue in the state comes by way of visitors," he said. "These numbers come from the UNR School of Business and Industry."

Those numbers are also consistent with visitor dollars spent in Nevada's rural counties, Dunn said, including Carson City.

Tourism has grown into Nevada's top industry, Dunn said. He feels Carson City, as the state capital, should be at the forefront of this segment of the economy.

"Tourism is the largest economic engine in our entire state," he said. "For somebody to downplay that, why would our capital city be different? Why wouldn't the capital city of Nevada be driving those numbers for the rural communities?"

Both Dunn and Horvath said visitor dollars have a different impact on the community than local dollars.

"It's an industry that when you bring outside money into a community, it increases the pie for everybody," Horvath said. "It's not just redistributing money throughout a community through locals buying local. You're talking about somebody coming in and putting new money into the economy."

Dunn agreed, adding that redistributed wealth is money that is already here and continues to be spent here.

"A visitor brings new wealth. Every dollar they spend is new wealth to our community, and that's significant," he said. "That's why the 30 percent is so dynamic in Nevada. It's new wealth coming into the community."

New wealth generated by tourism, though, can have a more long-term impact on the vibrancy of the local economy than just spending, Horvath said.

"Tourism, in general, is not just about somebody coming in and having a good time. It's more of a quality of life thing," he said. "That's what industries are looking at, businesses looking to relocate, people looking to relocate their families here. They are looking at the same things we are promoting that a visitor would enjoy, but those are all the same things that locals enjoy, too. It's a good place to visit and a great place to live."

Although 2016 appears to be the turning point after three years of hard work at the CCVB, the job of building a robust visitor economy in Carson City is far from over.

Part of the master plan is the expansion of arts and culture, Dunn and Horvath said. This includes hiring a full-time arts administrator, who will likely start this month.

"As part of the arts and culture master plan, you're going to see cultural tourism grow," Horvath said. "It's about diversity. One person might like one thing, and another person might like something else. But we're showing we are a deep community and when your arts and culture take to the forefront, that's a level of pride that you're showing in the community. It shows where you've come from and where you are going, communicating confidently in who you are."

Dunn said cultural tourism is a market in which Carson City has not invested. He said cultural tourism is what defines a community and distinguishes it from others.

"Cultural tourism is one of the top growing trends in travel tourism, and we have not before had an opportunity to take part in that," he said. "The Nevada Commission on Tourism ... struggled to find a cultural event in Carson City that they could market. That's going to change."

Dunn said he intends to market Carson City as a multi-dimensional destination for culture, the arts, recreation and history.

"We're going to be very diverse and make sure we reach to almost every demographic that wants to travel," he said. "We're going to showcase why Carson City is that destination."

Dunn said an increase in the room tax will stage Carson City for the future by allowing the area to invest in greater diversity of its attractions.

"We're investing in an increase in the quality of life with exposure to the arts and culture," he said. "The public art aspect is one thing that's been lacking. But now we are going to be showcasing it the same way we showcase our trails and our history."

Horvath said making the necessary changes to invigorate the local visitor has required a lot of alternative thinking and creativity beyond what has been conventional tourism over the years.

"We're being creative and thinking outside of the box," he said. "When you've got a limited budget in a recession, and you're trying to think of new ways to catch people's eyes, I think we've accomplished that in the last three years. People from all over the world have taken notice of Carson City as being part of that fabric of Northern Nevada, which is as a world-class destination."

Dunn said making the investments now to change the Carson City brand will help it keep pace with the demand that is expected to follow.

"It's difficult to determine the return on an investment, but there's no doubt it's going to play out over the course of the next decade," he said. "What we are doing today to create an arts and culture component, there are going to be a lot of measurable components. There's going to be a lot of new offerings in our community, and truly you won't feel that impact probably for the next 7-10 years."

But when that time comes, Dunn said, Carson City is going to be much different than it is today as perceived by visitors.

And that's exactly where the CCVB feels the Nevada State Capital should be, transforming into a leader of the state's tourism industry.

"We should be in that role," Horvath said. "If we are not playing that role as a state capital, then we are not serving the state as well as we could be."

Dunn said Carson City is already beginning to serve as a tourism leader to the rural communities across Nevada. The CCVB is providing a working model upon which rural Nevada communities can improve their own visitor economies.

"We've become noticed," he said. "Other communities have contacted us to help them set up their social media platforms, explain the target markets, and put them in contact with event promoters. They are trying to follow the success that we've had."

The exposure that Carson City has had in just the past couple of years is moving the Nevada state capital steadily upward on the tourism ladder to a place where Dunn and Horvath hope it can be a key player in the state's No. 1 industry for years to come.

"We're going to continue to put ourselves at the top of the pyramid," Dunn said.