By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor
The theme of the meetNKY annual meeting Thursday was “NKY for the Win” and 2015 was a victorious year on many fronts for the Northern Kentucky Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Bolstered by the Major League Baseball All-Star Game and other regional events, meetNKY recorded its best year ever in terms of occupancy, revenues and average daily rate (ADR).
meetNKY president and CEO Eric Summe addresses the crowd at Thursday’s annual meeting (photos by Mark Hansel).
“There is no doubt in our minds that 2015 was All-Star in many ways,” said Eric Summe, president and CEO of meetNKY. “The area results are powerful and our industry continues to lead the way as a catalyst for regional economic development.”
meetNKY serves as the region’s sales, marketing, and service organization. Its primary responsibility is to positively impact the Northern Kentucky economy through conventions, meetings, and visitor expenditures.
Travel and tourism contributed nearly $366 million to Northern Kentucky’s economy, or an average of about $1 million per day, during 2015. That number represents a $26 million increase over 2014 in Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties.
Featured speaker Hank Phillips, President/CEO of the Kentucky Travel Industry Association, called tourism the “sleeping giant” of Kentucky’s economy. He said Kentucky legislators could find the answers to some of the budget issues they are grappling with in Frankfort if they traveled the roughly 79 miles to Northern Kentucky.
“Here they would find tourism done the right way,” Phillis said. “Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties generate $2.6 billion in economic impact through tourism. That’s one dollar out of every five dollars in tourism across the state. Take that same ratio and apply it to the total tourism…local and state tax moneys generated, and one dollar out of every five of those, is $270 million.”
Hank Phillips, CEO of the Kentucky Travel Industry Association said tourism is the sleeping giant of the state’s economy.
Other statistics revealed at Thursday’s annual meeting include:
* meetNKY provided convention services to more than 125 groups, totaling 23,085 attendees.
* The average daily rate for hotel rooms increased 4.85 percent to $91.47 per room.
* Each leisure visitor spends, on average, an additional $101 per day in the region and each meetings/business visitor spends an additional $189 per day on average.
* Convention rooms booked for future years are up 29 percent, which represents $72 million in future visitor spending.
* Hotel occupancy levels are in their sixth consecutive year of growth, increasing 4.6 percent to 66.61 percent in 2015, ranking above the national average.
* meetNKY — along with its hospitality partners — continues to receive outstanding feedback for the service provided to group and convention customers, with an overall satisfaction score of 98 percent. Of the 91 percent said they plan to return to the region in the future.
* The travel and tourism industry offsets the average tax burden imposed on citizens by $602 per household, which helps keep Northern Kentucky one of the most affordable places to live in the United States.
Summe said the increase in hotel occupancy rate is huge because the supply of rooms has decreased over the last several years.
“A lot of that occurred when the Drawbridge went under and that took a big chunk out of our hotel inventory,” Summe said. “Any time you have less supply and more demand, your rates will go up and they will sustain themselves. We did have the All-Star Game last year and we picked up a lot form that and the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway was about the same time and we get a big bump from that as well.”
There were a total of 1.59 million room nights combined at hotels in Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties last year, with an average visitor expenditure of $229 per room night.
Those numbers are impressive, but Phillips said the tourism potential in the region, and the state, is much greater.
“We need more funding at the state level to market Kentucky,” Phillips said. “There are over 40 states that invest more in marketing their state for tourism than Kentucky. Of the ten states in the Southeast, Kentucky’s investment in state marketing is dead last.”
It may seem contradictory for a state with budget issues to spend money on tourism, but Phillips said every dollar spent promoting tourism returns $150 dollars in visitor expenditure and more than $15 in state and local taxes.
“We cannot realize our full potential until we become fully competitive,” Phillips said.
meetNKY Board Chair Alan Bernstein, owner and operator of BB Riverboats, focused on the board’s ongoing goals for the Convention and Visitors Bureau and the region.
“We began a serious discussion in 2013 with our partners in the river cities and in our counties to continue to make improving our riverfront a priority,” Bernstein said. “We are excited to see that a critical mass is being reached and plans are moving forward to improve the streetscape in our central convention area as well as connect the urban core to the riverfront in all our river cities. We also will continue to be an advocate for the Brent Spence Bridge replacement so that our region continues to grow to its full potential.”
Bev Holiday, Community Liaison for the City of Newport was presented the meetNKY Star of Tourism award (pictured l to r; Campbell County Commissioner Tom Lampe, Holiday, meetNKY CEO Eric Summe and Newport Mayor Jerry Peluso).
Bev Holiday, Community Liaison for the City of Newport was presented the meetNKY Star of Tourism award in recognition of her decades-long career as an advocate for Northern Kentucky.
Holiday, who has served in a number of roles, was surprised by the recognition, which she called a great honor.
“My first involvement with the Convention and Visitors Bureau was in the early 90s,” Holiday said. “They needed photographs for their different brochures and they hosted a photography contest. I was on that committee and that was how I got involved and I’ve been involved, off-and-on, ever since.”
While there will not be an event with the impact of the Major League All-Star Game this year, other attractions are expected to bring significant tourism dollars into the region.
The Ark Encounter, a life-sized replica of Noah’s Ark, is scheduled to open in July in Williamstown, with projected crowds of up to 5,000 per day. The Ark is being developed by the Apologetics ministry Answers in Genesis, which also owns the Creation Museum in Boone County and the attractions will be marketed together. Grant County does not yet have the hotel rooms or amenities to accommodate the anticipated crowds, so Northern Kentucky is expected to see a generous bump in tourism dollars from the attraction.
Northern Kentucky will also add to its hotel inventory with three new properties scheduled to come online this year. Hotel Covington, in the Historic Coppins Department store building, and the region’s first hotel under the Aloft brand in Newport are both slated to open this year. The new Hampton Inn, near Newport on the Levee, will provide a significant upgrade from the old Travelodge motel it replaces.
“There is a lot of positivity and a lot of momentum and I think this time next year we will have a lot to talk about again,” Summe said.
Contact Mark Hansel at mark.hansel@nkytrib.com
