TAPP budget looks for big boost

Winter, shoulder season revenues increasing fast

[ By Katherine Nettles ]

Shoulder seasons are growing (or shrinking, actually), lodging revenues are climbing and airline competition is getting more intense, according to Local Marketing District (LMD) reports this fall. The Tourism and Prosperity Partnership (TAPP) has put forward a plan of flat tourism marketing for winter, focusing more on managing tourism impacts, economic development and supporting Western Colorado University (WCU). Airline marketing will be prioritized over the drive market and a dramatic spending increase on behalf of Western will center around the campus’ mountain sports and the Rady School of Engineering. And a new venture-style funding for entrepreneurs at the ICELab is being tailored to offer support and manufacturing expertise. TAPP’s primary funding comes through a countywide lodging tax to the Local Marketing District run by the county commissioners who then allocate funds to TAPP.

TAPP’s team of presenters met with Gunnison County commissioners this month, with a budget request of $3.4 million for 2022 that includes a budget increase of $1.1 million over 2021. Commissioners discussed this at length before giving general guidance that they are comfortable with the request—with the caveat that TAPP has agreed it can pull back on its budget if needed.

LMD data shows for 2021, January through August lodging revenues in the Gunnison Valley grew 57 percent compared to the same period in 2020 and held stronger than other mountain valleys such as Telluride, Steamboat and Aspen. The latest LMD numbers show even higher growth factoring in August, and a substantial projected remaining fund balance ($1.5M) that would more than cover TAPP’s budget hike. TAPP has outlined a plan to focus now on airline marketing, better forecasting of visitor numbers and economic development that focuses on some inherent strengths at WCU and emerging needs at the ICELab.

Shoulder seasons growing fast
Winter and shoulder seasons once again outpaced summer in growth. TAPP marketing director Andrew Sandstrom reports the biggest overall gains are in winter, which have grown nearly 200 percent 2014 to 2021.

Shoulder season visitor revenues have also more than doubled in less than a decade. “The shoulder seasons are the second fastest growing seasons for us,” said Sandstrom, with spring (April through June) having grown 160 percent since 2014 and fall (October through December) having grown 135 percent during the same period. Summer has grown 70 percent during that period and remains the overall busiest season.

Airline capacity increasing
The biggest opportunity in tourism is growth in airline seats, said Sandstrom. As business travel has lapsed during the pandemic, the airlines are betting big on outdoor destinations as airlines increase capacity to a more recreation, less business driven clientele. The 50 percent capacity increase this winter previously reported by RTA airline consultants means Gunnison-Crested Butte Regional Airport (GUC) will need to fly 32,000 passengers this winter to meet 60 percent capacity compared to 22,000 in previous years. Sandstrom said competitors are also trying to fill those extra seats.

“Airline passengers are the most valuable visitors we have. They book earlier and they stay longer than drive market guests,” he said. That early booking allows lodges to secure occupancy and then raise rates later. Another goal in filling airline capacity is expanding flight markets, said Sandstrom.

Last, an FAA grant is funding a new summer flight servicing Dallas in 2022. The additional Denver, Houston and Dallas flights are important for connectivity to other places and for local business people, noted Sandstrom.

“We are going to focus heavily on the flight markets and not on the drive markets,” he concluded, and a successful effort in the next 12 months will have more people flying to GUC to ensure the airlines do not shed service to GUC.

Managing tourism
Tourism marketing spending will otherwise remain flat in 2022. The Sustainable Tourism and Outdoor Recreation (STOR) committee spending will not increase, said Sandstrom, thanks to funds via the National Forest Foundation’s Gunnison Stewardship Fund as well as grant opportunities. TAPP will continue supporting Gunnison Trails, Crested Butte Conservation Corps and STOR Corps by using the Stewardship Fund as a conduit for donations, allowing LMD funds to be matched by the NFF. A new website launch in November will focus on a valley-wide stewardship message, said Sandstrom.

TAPP’s new data dashboards and website redesign will also compile various data sources to forecast visitation, to help restaurants and other businesses predict needs for staffing and orders. “It will also help businesses to grow revenues while also improving the visitor experience,” said Sandstrom.

ICELab
For 2022, retail giant Moosejaw has committed to sponsor the ICELab accelerator, and TAPP has a plan to address two issues facing ICELab startups: manufacturing and finding capital. ICELab director David Assad said he is creating an independent, venture-style capital fund and working to establish manufacturing consultants to help companies navigate the complex process of overseas manufacturing while they work to reach profitability. He said an investment committee of three to five experienced businesspeople would ideally manage the fund and make decisions independently from the ICELab team.

WCU
“For Western it’s going to be a breakthrough year,” said TAPP’s executive director John Norton, in terms of TAPP’s plans to work with the university. The idea is to “transform WCU into an Outdoor Industry powerhouse,” by highlighting the Mountain Sports programs to recruit more students and by collaborating with the new Rady School and an Outdoor Industry Engineering (OIE) testing lab.
Nancy Chishold, WCU’s interim president, spoke about the key role that athletes can play in Western’s overall enrollment and retainment “in a way that raises our academic standards.”

She said WCU’s sports programs have proved to be a tremendous growth area, with youth sports having grown through them as well and connected the university more to the community. She said higher retention and GPAs hold across club sports and mountain sports, but a pilot project will start with the freeride ski program, where they hope to double student numbers and increase gender diversity by 50 percent.

Jennifer Blacklock, director of the Rady program, spoke about recruiting more outdoor industry engineering students. She said with so many outdoor industry focused businesses, collaboration could support internships and eventual job placement in the valley, while driving research opportunities for students. The initiative will be used to create standardized testing for gear, which isn’t currently being done in the outdoor industry, said Blacklock. “But it’s something that we do over and over and over again—especially when we talk about manufacturing, robotics and aerospace.”

In a subsequent budget work session on October 19 with TAPP, commissioner Liz Smith questioned some of the WCU Snowsports program ideas and funding increase. “I think there is an opportunity there that might have a much lower upfront investment,” she said. Smith, who has worked at Western and also been a student athlete, said marketing and recruitment might be tough on university staff with the time commitment. She also suggested approving a slightly lower budget for TAPP of $3.2M.

Both commissioner Roland Mason and chairperson Jonathan Houck said they were comfortable with TAPP’s general ideas, and Mason suggested, “I think we can fine tune some of the more minute details.”

Norton said he appreciated Smith’s input and suggested they meet to further consider her insights. He also agreed to remain “nimble” as revenues for 2022 tested the projections, and to pull back on the budget if projections fell short of actual revenues.

“There’s nothing here I see as frivolous or not on target,” said Houck, and the commissioners agreed to support the full ask of $3.4M. The county attorney’s office will continue a legal analysis around the LMD statutes relating to both WCU programming and adding personnel for the ICELab.