2017-11-02-TOUR2-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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to�y5 Mogh,� o� 1775 s p Town of Lexington W 3 Tourism Committee ., APRIL I9' IN(Oil Dawn McKenna, Chair (781) 862-0500 ext 84585 Minutes Thursday,November 2, 2017 at 4:30—6:00 pm Dawes Room (Second Floor Town Office Building) Members Present:Kerry Brandin,Margaret Coppe,Bebe Fallick,Trisha Kennealy,Jon Himmel,Dawn McKenna Staff Present:Maureen Rynn,Megan Zammuto Members Absent:Marsha Baker,Wim Nijenberg,Leeying Wu 1) Visitors Center Project next steps The committee discussed the visitors center project,which is currently listed on the Fiscal Year 2020 capital budget. To keep the project on schedule, the committee is advocating that it be moved to the Fiscal Year 2019 capital budget. The committee discussed the Historic Districts Commission meeting later this evening where the commission will discuss the visitors center project. The committee discussed the Massachusetts Cultural Council Cultural Facilities Fund grant in January, 2018.Part of this grant application includes demonstrating community support for the project. The committee discussed potential fundraising sources including internal revenue and external community partners. Dawn McKenna and Megan Zammuto will attend an information session regarding the grant application this week. 2) Annual Report The committee discussed the draft annual report for Fiscal Year 2017. Suggestions included adding demographic information,website analytics, Liberty Ride ridership statistics,visitors center people counter data, additional statistics from the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism. 3) FY2019 Budget Megan Zammuto discussed the marketing program improvement request that was submitted as part of the Fiscal Year 2019 budget request. 4) Minutes The committee reviewed the minutes from Tourism Committee meetings on August 30"' and October 5"'. The committee suggested edits to reduce abbreviations and other minor edits. A motion was made to adopt the Tourism Committee minutes from August 30`h and October 5rh with minor edits. The motion was seconded and approved unanimously. 5) Staff Operations Updates The Minuteman Bike Share launched with a ribbon cutting ceremony on October 27"'. To date we have had 55 active members and 39 unique trips. Zip code data will be sent from the vendor quarterly. Staff is working to increase the Liberty Ride corporate charter business. Gross profit from July—October is down this year, and we have seen similar trends in the Visitors Center and other retail establishments. Staff is working on a strategy for increased sales in the spring including marketing initiatives. 6) Marketing Staff produced an advertisement on NewEngland.com for September. Additional advertising initiatives include standard ads with the Greater Merrimack Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau. Megan Zammuto discussed the google analytics provided in the meeting packet. The Liberty Ride related pages are the most highly visited.Visitors are finding the website through organic searches, direct input, and referral websites. There has been some progress in design improvements for the tourism home page. A designer has created a mock up sample that will be sent to you via email prior to the next meeting. The tourism newsletter has been under the management of staff for 1625 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE•LEXINGTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02420