The story of tourism in Carlsbad is a story of success. Since LEGOLAND California Resort opened in 1999, the number of visitors has steadily increased, hitting 3 million in 2013. Carlsbad hotel room occupancy averages 68 percent annually, and the hotel room tax, transient occupancy tax, generated a historic $17.5 million in 2014.
The city has promoted our nearly seven miles of beaches and other attractions to develop a thriving tourism industry. Today the city has approximately 4,300 hotel rooms and more than 1,000 timeshare units.
With such success there's a temptation to rest on our laurels, continue to do what we're doing and expect visitors to keep coming. But city officials and tourism professionals have long felt there's room for improvement, and that standing still will open opportunities for our Southern California competitors to grow at our expense.
Last year the city hired Strategic Advisory Group, an experienced tourism consulting firm, to research the current state of Carlsbad's tourism industry and advise the city on how we can improve and strategize for the future. SAG, as the firm calls itself, undertook an eight-month study during which it consulted with Carlsbad city officials and tourism professionals, 75 stakeholders in all, to take the pulse of our tourism industry and recommend improvements.
Here is a quick snapshot of what SAG discovered:
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Carlsbad's tourism season peaks between April and August, with hotels scoring consistently high occupancy rates. June, July and August are especially fruitful, with 87 percent of hotels rooms filled.
• Families with children ages 2 to 12 love visiting Carlsbad, and that market segment constitutes the city's largest customer base. LEGOLAND California Resort is the big attraction, followed by the beach and golf. When LEGOLAND opened a new hotel two years ago featuring 250 LEGO-themed rooms, it had no problem filling those rooms with eager families.
• Marketing efforts are heavily focused on the leisure family traveler, with nine of every 10 marketing dollars targeting this segment.
• Hotel occupancy drops significantly during September through March, with nearly half of Carlsbad's hotel rooms sitting empty in December.
• Carlsbad invests less in marketing per hotel room than our Southern California competitors, spending $174 in marketing per room. By comparison, Newport Beach spends $1,388 per room, and Santa Barbara $1,131. Our northern next-door neighbor, Oceanside, outspends Carlsbad, at $370 per room.
SAG's advice, which is sound, is that Carlsbad needs to diversify our marketing efforts, focusing on new visitors who aren't locked in to summer travel. SAG recommends expanding our reach in the leisure segment to attract middle-aged and older travelers who are unaware of the city's many attractions. The firm also recommends using an approach that would directly target this group.
A large untapped pool of travelers is groups and group meetings. The city has 287,000 square feet of meeting space that can host a variety of conventions, conferences and group events, and our tourism efforts are doing very little to promote this space. SAG recommends dedicating half of our marketing resources to developing group sales, as opposed to the current 10 percent.
The city also offers myriad attractions like our beach, lagoons, golf courses, LEGOLAND, The Flower Fields, shopping and dining venues, and Carlsbad Village, which together offer something unique to Carlsbad. No one else can offer this "Carlsbad experience," and we should nurture and promote it.
SAG presented a series of nuts-and-bolts recommendations to help improve sales, such as unifying marketing under a single governing body and implementing tools to measure results. Current efforts are split between two groups, the Carlsbad Tourism Business Improvement District and Visit Carlsbad.
We know that Carlsbad is exceptional, and our return visitors know it as well. Our challenge is to expand our visitor base and spread our message so more people can experience Carlsbad year-round.
The city has promoted our nearly seven miles of beaches and other attractions to develop a thriving tourism industry. Today the city has approximately 4,300 hotel rooms and more than 1,000 timeshare units.
With such success there's a temptation to rest on our laurels, continue to do what we're doing and expect visitors to keep coming. But city officials and tourism professionals have long felt there's room for improvement, and that standing still will open opportunities for our Southern California competitors to grow at our expense.
Last year the city hired Strategic Advisory Group, an experienced tourism consulting firm, to research the current state of Carlsbad's tourism industry and advise the city on how we can improve and strategize for the future. SAG, as the firm calls itself, undertook an eight-month study during which it consulted with Carlsbad city officials and tourism professionals, 75 stakeholders in all, to take the pulse of our tourism industry and recommend improvements.
Here is a quick snapshot of what SAG discovered:
•
Carlsbad's tourism season peaks between April and August, with hotels scoring consistently high occupancy rates. June, July and August are especially fruitful, with 87 percent of hotels rooms filled.
• Families with children ages 2 to 12 love visiting Carlsbad, and that market segment constitutes the city's largest customer base. LEGOLAND California Resort is the big attraction, followed by the beach and golf. When LEGOLAND opened a new hotel two years ago featuring 250 LEGO-themed rooms, it had no problem filling those rooms with eager families.
• Marketing efforts are heavily focused on the leisure family traveler, with nine of every 10 marketing dollars targeting this segment.
• Hotel occupancy drops significantly during September through March, with nearly half of Carlsbad's hotel rooms sitting empty in December.
• Carlsbad invests less in marketing per hotel room than our Southern California competitors, spending $174 in marketing per room. By comparison, Newport Beach spends $1,388 per room, and Santa Barbara $1,131. Our northern next-door neighbor, Oceanside, outspends Carlsbad, at $370 per room.
SAG's advice, which is sound, is that Carlsbad needs to diversify our marketing efforts, focusing on new visitors who aren't locked in to summer travel. SAG recommends expanding our reach in the leisure segment to attract middle-aged and older travelers who are unaware of the city's many attractions. The firm also recommends using an approach that would directly target this group.
A large untapped pool of travelers is groups and group meetings. The city has 287,000 square feet of meeting space that can host a variety of conventions, conferences and group events, and our tourism efforts are doing very little to promote this space. SAG recommends dedicating half of our marketing resources to developing group sales, as opposed to the current 10 percent.
The city also offers myriad attractions like our beach, lagoons, golf courses, LEGOLAND, The Flower Fields, shopping and dining venues, and Carlsbad Village, which together offer something unique to Carlsbad. No one else can offer this "Carlsbad experience," and we should nurture and promote it.
SAG presented a series of nuts-and-bolts recommendations to help improve sales, such as unifying marketing under a single governing body and implementing tools to measure results. Current efforts are split between two groups, the Carlsbad Tourism Business Improvement District and Visit Carlsbad.
We know that Carlsbad is exceptional, and our return visitors know it as well. Our challenge is to expand our visitor base and spread our message so more people can experience Carlsbad year-round.