2014 Semi-Annual Report

Tourism Matters to San Juan County!

Tourism is one of our top economic drivers, and visitors’ “imported” dollars benefit all residents as they “trickle down”

throughout our islands. Our economy depends on our environment, and the SJIVB works hard to balance stewardship

ethics and sustainable tourism efforts with vibrant economic development. Below you’ll find destination marketing

highlights for January through June 2014. Further detailed information is available.

Mission – To enhance the economic prosperity of San Juan County by promoting the San Juan Islands as a preferred,

year-round travel destination, while respecting and sustaining the Islands’ unique and diverse ecosystems,

environments, lifestyles and cultures.

Goals – To help strengthen San Juan County’s year-round economy; to foster an appreciation of San Juan County’s

maritime and rural ways of life, as well as its history, arts and culture; to communicate San Juan County’s

environmental stewardship message to all visitors; and to enhance visitors’ travel experiences county wide.

Membership – We gained 21 new members during the first half of this year, for a total of 358 members on all four

islands and the mainland. We held online marketing workshops, hosted by the Washington Tourism Alliance and Miles

Media, as our spring membership meeting on both Orcas and San Juan Islands May 1, and staff took “familiarization”

tours on both Lopez and San Juan Islands during February and April respectively. (Orcas in the fall.)

Board of Directors – Our 12-member Board represents Lopez, Orcas and San Juan Islands, and has contributed

approximately 253 volunteer hours so far this year for Board meetings, Marketing Committee meetings, and Tourism

Master Plan Steering Committee meetings. Our Board includes the following community leaders: President At-Large -

Carl Silvernail*, Otters Pond B&B; Treasurer - Anna Maria de Freitas*^, Harrison House/Tucker House/Coho

Restaurant; Secretary & Lopez Chamber Rep - Lia Noreen*; Orcas Chamber & County LTAC Rep - Lance Evans*^; San

Juan Chamber Rep - Tom Kirschner*; Friday Harbor LTAC Rep - Laura Saccio*^, Earthbox Inn/Bird Rock Hotel; At-Large:

Susan Fletcher, Turtleback Farm Inn, Orcas; Kristin Shea^, The Bay, Lopez; Stephen Robins*^, Pelindaba Lavender;

Veronica San Martin, Orcas Events Rentals & Planning; Appointee/Non-Voting - SJC Economic Development Council,

Marilyn Gresseth; and Board Appointee/Non-Voting, Activities & Attractions - Brian Goodremont*^, San Juan

Outfitters/San Juan Safaris. (*Marketing Committee, ^Tourism Master Plan Committee)

Staff – Staff includes the following: Deborah Hopkins Buchanan, Executive/Marketing Director; Barbara Marrett,

Communications/Stewardship Manager; Carole Sue Conran, Visitor/Membership Services Manager; and Shannon

Borg, Marketing Coordinator (32 hours). We also contract with part-time bookkeeper Patty Gaylard (7 hours).

DESTINATION MARKETING HIGHLIGHTS

We implemented the following marketing strategies to create awareness of the San Juan Islands brand and put “heads

in beds,” primarily targeting the greater Seattle area leisure travel market.

Website – All of our marketing strategies drive consumers to our website, www.visitsanjuans.com, our #1 marketing

tool. We continued to work with local business Swiftsure Marketing on search engine optimization, content, niche

market driving tours, etc. Compared to last year at this time, web sessions were up +10% (414,364), users were up

+12%, page views were up +6%, and new sessions were up +2% during the first half of this year.

New Video – We hired Orcas Island’s Rock Island Media to produce a two-minute video to promote the islands, which

will soon be seen on our home page at www.visitsanjuans.com. It can currently be viewed on our YouTube Channel at

www.youtube.com/user/visitSJIslands.

Social Media – At the end of June we had 3,362 Facebook ‘likes’/subscribers, up +37%,

www.facebook.com/VisitSanJuans, and 2,605 Twitter followers, up +28%, @visitSJIslands, compared to a year ago.

E-Newsletter – Winter, spring and summer E-newsletters were published, highlighting activities, events, and other

reasons to visit. Our E-newsletters were distributed to approximately 5,986 subscribers, up +0.6% from a year ago.

Brochure – We published 120,000 (increased from 100,000 last year) updated copies of our brochure which included

new maps of Friday Harbor, Eastsound and Lopez Village, as well as a scenic byway/driving tours map for all four

Islands, descriptions and photos for each Island, getting here info, and SJIVB and Chambers contact info. These are

sent out as fulfillment for requests for visitor information and media kits, at travel and wedding shows, and are

distributed by Certified Folder Display in brochure racks at approximately 600 locations in Washington and Sidney, B.C.

Advertising – We placed ads in key, regional, ‘portal’ travel guides and their corresponding websites including the

Seattle Visitors Guides (350,000 each issue, winter/spring and summer/fall) and the Washington State Visitors Guide

(375,000). In addition, we continued to work with The Communications Group, our marketing firm in Seattle, which

managed our spring and summer ad campaigns, based on our brand “Inspiration for the Senses.” Both campaigns

were funded with Friday Harbor lodging tax grants, and were targeted at the greater Seattle area via print, online,

radio and television. Our spring campaign report was emailed on July 7; copies are available.

Weddings – Destination weddings, honeymoons and anniversaries are big business for the Islands – one bride and

groom can potentially bring hundreds of guests here. We continued to distribute our newly-designed, 6-page, 8.5x11”

fold-out brochure at the annual Seattle and Portland wedding shows in January, and to brides-to-be who called our

office. We also placed full-page advertorials in two top wedding directories in the Seattle and Portland markets: B&E

Wedding Resource Guide (7,000) and Bravo Wedding Guide (11,000).

Travel Trade – We attended the Go West Summit in Tacoma in February, meeting face to face with 30 receptive and

international tour operators during 10-minute appointments. We also exhibited at the Victoria Clipper “Two Nation

Vacation” Show in Seattle in March. Our partners at Visit Seattle and Port of Seattle were very generous in sending

travel trade to the Islands for “fam” tours in light of new direct flights to/from France and Germany. To date we’ve

hosted 16 Germans and 2 French, plus a receptive tour operator from Boston, TourMappers, in February (post Go

West), setting up meetings with members on Orcas and San Juan Islands.

Scenic Byway – We continued to work on our Branding & Wayshowing $33,190 signage federal grant, and most of our

new signage was up by July 1 on Orcas and San Juan Islands. This was very exciting as it’s been over 8 years since we

began the scenic byway process in the fall of 2005. In June we attended a public meeting on Lopez Island to educate

residents and discuss their joining the byway. You can find more information at www.visitsanjuans.com/scenicbyway.

Tourism Master Plan – We held a key stakeholder’s retreat on February 5 to begin this process, which included reps

from the SJIVB Board, staff, County LTAC, Friday Harbor LTAC and Administrator, and key tourism niches. Subsequent

meetings were held each month through June.

Press Trips – We hosted or assisted 23 journalists and photographers on 15 press trips during the first half of the year

on Lopez, Orcas and San Juan Islands. Among the publications the journalists represented were Travel + Leisure, AAA

Western Journey, Zagats Seattle, Sunset, Fodors, The Seattle Times, Lonely Planet magazine, Islands, Le Monde, Seattle

Met and a new Michelin green guide, “Guide to the Pacific Northwest.” SJIVB members provided complimentary or

discounted services to these important marketing ambassadors including lodging, meals, transportation and activities.

See in-kind member donations in the budget section of this report.

Media Leads – With the support of local organizations and businesses, we responded to or shared over 22 significant

media leads with our members, generated from our marketing efforts as well as those by the Washington Tourism

Alliance, Port of Seattle and Visit Seattle.

Media Marketplaces – Funded by our Friday Harbor lodging tax grant, we’ve attended one annual media

marketplace/conference to date, the Travel & Words conference in Spokane, WA. The purpose of this marketplace is

to pitch story ideas to more than 45 predominantly Northwest writers and editors, and network with other DMOs.

Some notables included National Geographic Traveler, Alaska Airlines, American Way’s Crai S. Bauer; Northwest Travel

Magazine Editor Allen Cox; and Washington Trails Magazine Editor Eli Boschetto. While in Spokane we took the

initiative to meet with Spokane Review’s Outdoor Editor Rich Landers and Food Editor Adriana Janovich afterwards.

Print Coverage – We tracked coverage of the San Juan Islands in over 300 print and online articles through Google

Alerts, Twitter, Meltwater Media Tracking Service and our own research. Major publications included (circulation is in

parentheses, m=millions) Alaska Airlines magazine (2m), Bon Appétit (1.5m), Runners World (660,000), Coastal Living

(670,000), Islands (550,000), Popular Photography (350,000), AAA Highroads (490,000), and The Chicago Tribune

(415,000). A highlight was making the cover of The Seattle Times Sunday Advance Edition the weekend before

Memorial Day weekend (346,000 print/2.8m online). A combined total circulation of over 9 million, for major print

publications, would be a conservative estimate for coverage. Note: More than one article about the San Juan Islands

appeared in many of these publications, and versions of most of these articles were also printed online. See some of

these top stories at www.visitsanjuans.com/media/san-juans-in-the-news/.

Stories through June have included these 2014 “Best” lists:

• #2 “Top Islands in the Continental U.S. and Canada,” Travel + Leisure

• #10 “Top 10 Overall” islands in the world, Travel + Leisure

• #4 “Top 10 Islands - United States” (San Juan Island) TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice 2014

• Top 10 Life-list Adventures, Kayak the San Juans, SunsetTravel.com

• 6 Best Weekend Getaways in America, Fodors.com

• Best Hiking Trails in the West (Moran State Park), Sunset.com

• America’s 10 Best State Parks (Lime Kiln Point State Park), Fodors.com

• Best Coastal Bike Trails (Lopez Island), Coastal Living

• 5 Great Places to See Whales, The Boston Globe

• 10 Great Cities for Weekend Getaways (Friday Harbor), Travel + Leisure

• The Summer’s Hottest Food Destinations, Zagat.com

• 5 Destinations Every American Should Visit, Luxury Travel Magazine

Online Coverage – The largest online media reach (measured as muv, monthly unique visitors) came from The

Huffington Post (91m), 3 articles; Examiner.com (19m), 3 articles; USA Today (49m), 4 articles; ABCNews.com (24m),

Business Insider (17m), Los Angeles Times (17m), Chron.com (9m), and The Boston Globe (3m) for a combined total of

229 million muv, not counting multiple articles in the same publications. Some of these articles also appeared in

printed versions which our media tracking service does not pick up.

Television Coverage – In February, CBS Saturday Morning hosted travel guru Peter Greenberg who extolled the virtues

of the San Juan Islands in “Secret Islands to Visit Right Here in the U.S.”

http://petergreenberg.com/2014/03/02/secret-islands-visit-right-us/, and ABC News announced TripAdvisor’s “10

Best Islands in the U.S.” with San Juan Island in the #4 spot. In March, The Travel Channel featured San Juan Island’s

Natural Balance home in a segment of “Extreme Vacation Homes.” The segment also showcased the Islands’ many

attractions including orcas swimming by the house.

Film Production & Catalog Shoots – An article entitled “The San Juan Islands: A Palette of Emotion & Variety,” written

in house, was published in Washington Film Magazine conveying the allure of filming in the islands. Commercial

filming activity in 2014 included Wineram Production Company filming TV spots focusing on Washington Wine

growing and San Juan Islands sightseeing, and Norm Thompson shoes chose the islands for a catalog shoot.

Social Media Gold Prize – We won a gold prize in the North American Travel Journalists competition for our 2013

social media marketing campaign “History Lives Here.” A joint effort by the Orcas, San Juan and Lopez Island historical

societies; San Juan Island National Historical Park and the Town of Friday Harbor Historic Preservation Coordinator,

the campaign combined efforts to market and brand May as “History Lives Here – Heritage Month in the San Juan

Islands.” This year’s press release, “Quilts, Quarters and Quirks of History” was picked up by Northwest media outlets

for story ideas, most notably The Seattle Times travel section and blog.

Photos & B-roll – We are often asked to provide B-roll for television, or photos for upcoming books, articles and

promotional materials which all bring new business to the San Juan Islands. We fulfilled over 29 requests for photos

and B-roll. Among the entities requesting images were CBS Saturday Morning, The Weather Channel, Travel + Leisure

online, San Antonio Express News, Fodor’s online, Australia Club Magazine, TripAdvisor, Komo News, Popular

Photography and Islands magazine.

International Media Highlights – It was another busy season of hosting foreign media partially due to interest

generated by new Delta Airlines direct flights from Asia and Europe. In June, we partnered with Visit Seattle to host

five top journalists and a guide book author from France, and at the same time hosted two young Korean bloggers. We

have already seen newspaper media coverage from this trip in France’s largest newspaper Le Monde. The Korean

bloggers also produced several blogs to their huge number of followers. Cover stories in glossy foreign travel

magazines included Germany’s Spartacus Traveler and France’s Grands Reportages. SJIVB members provided

complimentary or discounted services to these important marketing ambassadors including lodging, meals,

transportation and activities. See in-kind member donations in the budget section of this report.

Stewardship and Community & Government Relations – Tourism impacts many Islands’ organizations’ missions, and

as a result, we are members of several committees including the following: Stewardship Network of San Juan County,

Salish Sea Association of Marine Naturalists, EcoNet (the education outreach branch of the Puget Sound Partnership),

SJC Agricultural Resources Committee’s Economic Development Committee, SJC Ferry Advisory Committee, SJC Ferry

Reservations Committee, and Washington State Ferries Community Marketing Partnership. Deborah & Barbara

attended the 4thrd

Annual Washington Tourism Alliance Summit and ‘Tourism Matters’ Rally in Olympia, and met with

Representative Morris in March. In addition, Barbara is a Port of Friday Harbor Commissioner.

Local Media Coverage – We track positive mentions of tourism in local media. As a result of press releases from our

office, there was a nice spread in May about “History Lives Here - Heritage Month in the San Juan Islands,” and our

press release “The Invisible Visitor” regarding the tourism effect, was also picked up online in conjunction with

national tourism week.

VISITOR SERVICES HIGHLIGHTS

SJIVB Visitor Services – During the first half of 2014 we answered 411 phone calls on our 888 line for visitor

information (which also refers callers to the three Chambers of Commerce), answered all e-mail and website requests

for information (1,114 requests), and sent our travel brochure as fulfillment. Calls and emails were received from the

following top five states: #1 Washington, #2 California, #3 Oregon, #4 Colorado, and #5 Texas.

Chambers of Commerce Visitor Services – We continued our important partnership with the three Chambers, which

receive 15% of the ‘special’ 2% lodging tax fund to help provide and enhance visitor services. Each Chamber receives

$20,976.35 this year, in quarterly increments, for a total of $62,929.05 to all three.

Island Friendly Spirit Program – We continued to partner with the EDC, three Chambers, Town of Friday Harbor and

Northwest Workforce Development to develop this customer service program.

TRACKING & MEASURING RESULTS

Budget – Our 2014 operating budget includes the following income and investments/expenses; the County Auditor

receives detailed monthly invoices.

Income:

County lodging tax grant (85%; 15% for Chambers) $ 356,598 (61% of our income)

Friday Harbor lodging tax grant $ 149,729 (26% of our income)

Membership dues, website ads & second listings $ 77,115 (13% of our income)

Total $ 583,442*

Investments/Expenses:

Website $ 65,030

Advertising Campaigns $ 129,729

Media Relations $ 28,150

Other Marketing (brochure, weddings, travel trade, etc.) $ 82,347

Visitor Sales & Services (phones & postage) $ 9,400

Personnel (3.8 FTE) (marketing/sales force!) $ 233,293

Administration (rent, dsl, insurance, office supplies, etc.) $ 35,335

Total $ 583,284

*In addition, total in-kind donations from members for media press trips and travel trade fams was $9,000+ which included lodging,

meals, outdoor activities/tours and transportation.

Lodging Tax – County lodging tax collected through May increased by +4.6% compared to this time last year; Town of

Friday Harbor lodging tax (collected separately) increased by +7.6% through April. (Friday Harbor’s May was up +16%

over last May according to Duncan Wilson, however we didn’t have year-to-date data at press time for this report.)

Sales Tax – County sales tax collected through May increased by +14.7% compared to last year. Town of Friday Harbor

sales tax through April decreased by -4.65%; Duncan stated that sales tax revenue for May was tracking almost

identical to last year. (This is the latest year-to date data available at press time; data always lags behind two months.)

Washington State Ferries Ridership – Ridership statistics are only available through first quarter March. Total

ridership from Anacortes to each of the islands (including interisland) increased by +3.3% compared to last year.

Website – As mentioned earlier, all of our marketing strategies drive consumers to our website,

www.visitsanjuans.com, our #1 marketing tool. We continued to work with local business Swiftsure Marketing on

search engine optimization, content, niche market driving tours, etc. Web sessions were up +10% (414,364), users

were up +12%, page views were up +6%, and new sessions were up +2% during the first half of the year.

IN CONCLUSION

Lodging tax collections and anecdotal information paint a positive picture for our tourism industry to date, and we will

continue to work strategically to help close 2014 with significant growth. We thank San Juan County and Friday Harbor

government leaders and administrators for your support and investment in destination marketing. We look forward to

the continued, positive impact our unified, ‘umbrella’ destination marketing strategies -- paired with the three

Chamber of Commerce visitor services programs, as well as our members’ individual marketing efforts – will bring to

our Islands’ economy and our sustainable, stewardship-minded tourism industry into the future.

For further information or questions please contact Deborah Hopkins Buchanan, Executive/Marketing Director, 378-

3277x5 or deborah@visitsanjuans.com, or Carl Silvernail, Board President, Innkeeper, Otter’s Pond B&B, Orcas Island,

376-8844 or otter@otterspond.com. Previous reports can be found at www.visitsanjuans.com/members.

Examples of media coverage cover stories

SJI – A Beacon in the PNW Best Whale Watching Spots San Juans Flotilla Whale Watching

Examples of spring and summer ads