SIREN- During their annual meeting held Tuesday, Feb. 7, at the Lodge on Crooked Lake, the Burnett County Tourism Coalition discussed what was being done to promote and sustain tourism in the area and elected board members.
Highlights included a marketing report presentation by Sarah Schowalter, which showed data collected from Facebook and website initiatives. For the Facebook page reach there were 37,517 people who saw the content at least once, including 4,846 followers, with 67% women and 33% men. For the website, there were 24,316 users, and 52,376 page views, with top pages including event and business directories that are aimed at lodging and dining. It was also mentioned that recent initiatives to reach markets outside of the local area online had appeared to be successful based on the online statistics, with more users appearing outside of the local area. There has also been a push for website advertising and a revamping of the website using the North of 8 service to make it more user friendly and seasonally geared.
Director Kevin Klucas also gave an interesting report, making the statement that one of the purposes of the group was to send the message that “Burnett County says, ‘Don’t love me to death.’” He presented several slides on what he called a sustainable tourism plan, which he stated was focused on being responsible with what the coalition would put out there, how crowds were handled and making sure that infrastructure was in place to promote responsible visits. He also spoke about the concept of “leave no trace” for visitors to the area, which included: 1) Plan ahead and prepare; 2) Travel and camp on durable surfaces; 3) Dispose of waste properly; 4) Leave what you find; 5) Minimize campfire impacts; 6) Respect wildlife; and 7) Be considerate of other visitors.
For the Short-Term Rental Initiative, Ed Dedman shared that short-term rental listings have grown 61% in 2022 in the county with over 200 unique units identified, averaging $200 per night and being mostly single-family but some multifamily homes. Dedman stated that this can affect local infrastructure, the power grid, law enforcement, emergency services, and also have a positive impact on area businesses. But he also stated that unmonitored growth could pose a problem with noise, trash, traffic issues or the character of the area. As a response, Dedman explained that the county set forth to understand the market, identify potential revenue loss, look at health and safety standards to ensure all lodging providers are properly licensed and permitted, and provide automation tools to support staff and provide efficient implementation and enforcement of regulations. Moving forward Dedman said the county would be working alongside Localgov by contracting with the turnkey provider as they provide services to all municipalities in Burnett County as no charge if BCTC is the designated tourism entity for the municipality. Taxes gathered by the program must be used for tourism promotion and development, and 30% of that tax stays with the municipality and 5% can be designated toward room tax compliance costs. Each municipality now needs to implement a STR room tax ordinance, and BCTC will guide the municipalities through the process with the help of Localgov and an administrative assistance that BCTC is working to hire to help with the process. BCTC will also provide monthly reports on identified properties, collected tax revenues, and disperse the funds collected. There is a follow-up meeting scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 23, at 6 p.m. in Room 165 and you can contact ededman@gmail.com or call 763-339-9782 with questions.
Julie Fox, the Northwest Regional Tourism specialist, shared about Travel Wisconsin as the state’s designated marketing organization and how it drives economic impact for the Burnett County region. The primary audience the group works to reach is adults ages 35-55 with kids, saying they are more likely to travel as a parent and kids group, for a 3- to 6-plus-night stay that is lower than the national average, traveling in larger parties than other groups, and spending an average of $1,020.57 which is the highest U.S. average for a 3- to 6-night stay. For a secondary group, they aim at adults ages 25-34, who are as likely to travel with or without kids, for a 3- to 4-night stay that is lower than the national average, traveling in larger parties than other groups, and spending the third highest national average for a 3- to 6-night trip at $856.92. On an interesting note, Fox shared that target markets out of state include Chicago, Minneapolis, Cedar Rapids, Duluth, Rochester, Davenport, Des Moines and Rockford. In state the group focuses on Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay and Wausau. For more information about Wisconsin’s tourism industry, you can visit industry.travelwisconsin.com.
