On Thursday's work session, the Board of County Commissioners received a briefing on Experience Olympia and Beyond's multi-layered approach to assessing Thurston County's post-pandemic tourism situation.
Annette Pitts, chief executive officer at Experience Olympia and Beyond, said the group's mission is "to reveal the most iconic experiences in Thurston County for the world to discover."
Pitts said she assumed that visitor volumes in Thurston County would not immediately return to pre-pandemic levels. "We needed to adjust our strategy and ensure that we were using every resource possible to bring the maximum economic impact or the highest possible spend to Thurston County."
She said they employed a combination of a variety of things to guide the groups' strategies and initiatives in the tourism industry:
Before 2021, Pitts said, they only focused on asking stakeholders, who might be businesses, nonprofit leaders, or employees in or adjacent to hospitality and tourism.
Pitts, added that they call it 360 degrees because they expanded surveying, including visitors, prospective visitors, and residents.
Citing the US Travel Association prediction, Pitts said domestic leisure travel will not return to pre-pandemic levels of visitor volumes until the end of this year. Domestic business travel would take until the end of 2024 to recover.
International travel is estimated to not come back until the end of 2025. Regarding economic impact, overall domestic spending - combining leisure and business - is not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2024, while international spending is not expected to return until the end of 2026.
Because of this information, Pitts said they shifted their focus to getting multi-day visitors. She explained that visitors staying for multiple days have much economic impact.
If visitors stay for two days, they will likely pay for lodging, generating revenue from lodging taxes and tourism promotion area fees. Additionally, they will spend money on food, activities, and shopping daily, resulting in sales tax revenue.
"Every day that we keep them, we exponentially impact and increase how much money is left in the county," Pitts commented.
With 400 respondents in the survey, Pitts noted that visitors agreed with residents that waterfront and access to water activities are the number one greatest assets of the county.
She said 86% were repeat visitors.
According to Datafy, in the past three months, the largest number of visitors are coming from Vancouver, Washington, with 60,212, followed by Portland, Oregon, with 42, 839; Longview, WA, with 27, 140; Seattle, WA, with 24,857; Everett, WA, with 14, 695; and Spokane, WA, with 14,497.
Pitts said the visitation between Olympia, Tumwater, and Lacey is quite balanced.
Rochester and Grand Mound have almost as many visitors as the three cities because of tribal tourism.
"Tribal tourism is massive," Pitts commented. "We are actively working on it to figure out how we better partner with this."
However, Rainier, Yelm, Bucoda, and Tenino have small numbers of visitors.
According to Pitts, Rainier, Yelm, Bucoda, and Tenino only have one lodging property. "We desperately need more. If they don't have options to spend the night, they go to where there is an option. We need to support further lodging development in these areas."
Pitts added that many believed people visited the city for business and meetings. Still, recent surveys have shown that the primary reason is visiting friends and family, resulting in a high repeat rate.
A weekend getaway is the second most popular reason due to its proximity to national parks, beaches, and Mount Rainer.
Pitts noted that only 12% of visitors come for festival and event-related reasons.
According to the survey, only 45.1% of residents and 61% of stakeholders believed guests would feel safe at the county destination. However, 84.9% of visitors rated their safety experience as positive.
Regarding homelessness and panhandling, Pitts said 86.6% of residents and 90.3% of stakeholders believed it would pose a significant issue for visitors. Only 50% of visitors reported encountering such issues. "It doesn't matter if it is valid or real, but it is a perception that I think is important for us to be aware of."
In addition, only 17.5% of visitors had issues locating public parking.
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Citizen
Hard to imagine Tourism here, with the homeless encampments, streets full of potholes, public spaces full of weeds and little landscaping, no water taxis to enjoy the waterfront, derelict brewery buildings, empty shops in downtown Olympia WOW.
Keep the tourists, on the Capital grounds, the Farmers Market and waterfront which are well kept areas. Otherwise, they will leave and tell others not to come.
Consider using tax payer money to improve our communities for those of us who live here.
Sunday, June 18, 2023 Report this