Walton Countytourist development council

Annual Report FY 14

Letter from the Director ......................................................1

Mission Statement/TDC Leadership ...............................2

Branding ....................................................................................3

Website/Mobile.......................................................................4

Media StatIstics .......................................................................6

Emerging Markets initiative ...............................................8

Visitor Guide .......................................................................... 10

Research ................................................................................... 11

Public Relations .................................................................... 12

Social Media ........................................................................... 13

Visitor Services ..................................................................... 14

Meeting/Group Sales .......................................................... 15

Beach Operations ................................................................ 16

Beach Nourishment ............................................................. 18

Beach Safety Program ....................................................... 19

Ecotourism .............................................................................20

Van Ness Butler Jr., Hospitality Award ........................ 21

Artist of the Year Program .............................................. 22

Sponsorship Grant Program ........................................... 23

Administration/Financial .................................................. 24

Awards and Accolades ..................................................... 26

Table of contents

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Letter from the Director

Wow!!! What a year we had in the tourism industry in South Walton. Just when we thought we could not improve

any further, we completely blew by all past records. What makes this even more special is that all this was accomplished while significant changes were going on in the Walton County Tourist Development Council (TDC) and Visit South Walton organizations and operations. Never satisfied with the status quo, over the past year we have initiated positive and productive change at every level of our organization. From the creation of new positions and new processes to adopting a new logo and beginning work on a new best-in-class website, we have embraced change, and we’ve only just begun. The impetus for all these changes and our organizational focus is to continually improve our visitor, partner and community engagement.

To improve our engagement we revived our internal advisory committees that allow for community input on marketing, beach management, destination improvements and events and activities. We created a North Walton Events Committee to promote events offered to visitors to go beyond the beach. We teamed with the Riverway South Apalachicola Choctawhatchee organization to promote regional eco-tourism and maintain preservation of natural and historical resources. We’ve made improvements to both Legion Park and the Dothan Avenue boardwalk that benefit not just tourists but everyone in order to sustain the quality of life we have come to enjoy.

To better serve and engage our visitors, partners and community we hired a new research firm, Kerr and Downs, to find out what we can do to keep South Walton the most unique and best destination to visit and live in Florida. The results of that research helped us in the adoption of a new logo, parking study workshops and additional beach access studies and workshops. We continued to work with Zehnder Communications, our Marketing Communications firm to improve brand value and engagement. As an example, over the past year our Facebook page increased from 20,565 likes to 113,146 likes, that’s an increase of over 453%.

New positions have been created and vital staff changes made, as well as changes to existing job descriptions. We welcomed a new Director of Administration, Jennifer Vigil, and a new Director of Beach Operations, Brian Kellenberger. We’ve also welcomed support staff additions including a new Community Relations Coordinator, Website and Graphics Coordinator, Executive Assistant and Beach Ambassador.

To improve our partner engagement we created a CEO Forum of the 15 largest bed tax collectors to ensure that our collective marketing spends complements our partners, not competes or conflicts with them. This group also serves as another avenue for the discussion of issues regarding county ordinances and TDC initiatives.

We hired a national-scale public relations firm, Spring O’Brien. They have provided insightful research, creative programs, and introduced national journalists to South Walton. As destination specialists with ties to Walton County they have brought with them a fresh approach to public relations and consumer engagement. Spring O’Brien has provided media development to include pitching stories, coordinating familiarization tours, news releases to regional and national outlets, and provided crisis communications should it become necessary.

Tim Norris, Gary Brielmayer, Kurt Tape, Jennifer Frost, Jim Richard and Art Miller joined Pam Avera, Maurice Gilbert and Cindy Meadows on the Tourist Development Council this year. All have been very involved in South Walton issues and have taken on their role of leadership and financial oversight very responsibly.

South Walton beaches continue to be an area leader in pristine beauty. July 4th was one of the busiest holiday weekends we have seen. Our beach crew worked hard to keep our beaches clean and beautiful and as a result we were one of a very few destinations without a media story on the trashing of the beaches. The South Walton beach crew continues to set the bar high and proved that South Walton leads by example. This past year the TDC also took over the maintenance of the bike bath along 30A and vastly improved its appearance almost immediately.

The month of June was a record breaking month for bed tax collections. For the first time in South Walton history bed tax collections reached over $4 million. We were the second highest in the state for June. July continued to break the record with over another $4 million in bed tax collections. South Walton is in the top 10 among bed tax collections in the state, which is amazing as our bed tax is only 4.5% and most of the others collect 6%.

Next year will bring even more changes as we implement the new logo and brand standards; launch our new and improved website; conduct a public space design charrette; seek additional beach accesses; move forward on our beach protection project; and continue with projects that improve the quality of life for both our visitors and our residents.

South Walton continues to move forward with the help of our partners and the community to show our visitors South Walton is where they can find their perfect beach.

Sincerely,

Jim Bagby

Executive Director

Walton County Tourist Development Council

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The mission of the Walton County Tourist Development Council is to direct and manage activities that will strengthen the

position of the South Walton brand in the tourism marketplace, in order to increase the tourism economy of Walton County. The TDC will manage and maintain our beaches as a primary attraction and serve as a responsible industry organization to take a leadership role in addressing issues that affect tourism and the quality of life in Walton County.

TDC LeadershipJim Bagby – Executive Director

Jennifer Vigil – Director of Administration

Jon Ervin – Director of Marketing and Communications

Pamela Watkins – Director of Sales and Special Events

Brian Kellenberger – Director of Beach Operations

TDC Legal CounselClay Adkinson

Board of County CommissionersWilliam Chapman Chairman – Commissioner, District 1

Cindy Meadows Vice Chair - Commissioner, District 5

Kenneth Pridgen Commissioner, District 2

Bill Imfield Commissioner, District 3

Sara Comander Commissioner, District 4

CouncilTim Norris – Chairman, South Walton County Mosquito Control

Cindy Meadows, County Commissioner, District 5

Maurice Gilbert, South Walton Fire District

Gary Brielmayer, General Manager - Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa

Kurt Tape, Owner - Hibiscus Coffee and Guest House

Jennifer Frost, Executive General Manager - Resortquest by Windham

Jim Richard, Chef and Owner - Stinky’s Fish Camp

Pam Avera, General Manager - Seaside Community Development Corporation

Art Miller, Institute of Senior Professionals

Mission Statement

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During FY 14, the TDC updated and evolved the brand through a new creative campaign that launched in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year. While this development occurred, the TDC continued to deploy its existing brand execution in print, online, radio and television, which focused on delivering the message,

“Find Your Perfect Beach.”

The strategy for the new branding creative focused on portraying the “perfect” natural and cultural elements of South Walton in a narrative format. Authenticity in visuals allows the concept of “perfect” to go beyond the beach to every beach neighborhood, accommodation, dining venue and quintessential activity that allows visitors to escape.

New brand elements include:

• Three :30 Television Spots

• One 2 minute long-form video

• Four new leisure print ads (co-op and brand)

• Two interim sales print ads (co-op and brand)

• Four new banner ads (co-op and brand)

In addition, the TDC began the process of developing a new logo for the destination (South Walton) and orga-nization (Visit South Walton). Redesign addressed legibility, color palette and established an “icon” for South Walton that will appeal to a highly affluent audience. The new mark was approved in August 2014 and the de-ployment of the logo will take place primarily in the first quarter of 2014-15.

These efforts contributed to continued growth in bed tax revenues for Walton County.

Branding

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In FY 14, the TDC focused on optimizing analytics for website and mobile to generate both higher usage and higher levels of engagement with these digital marketing tools.

Digital highlights for FY 14 include:

• Developed and added new content monthly in accordance with Beach Momma.

• Updated mobile homepage monthly with monthly top five articles.

• Added identifiers to home page images in rotating slide show.

• Introduced Florida into home page to help geographic location.

• Created and launched the Perfect Beach Finder and accompanying promotional elements.

• Optimized sweeps page.

• Developed maintenance mode landing page for website down time occurrences.

• Integrated database forms with sweepstakes so information for e-newsletters and sweeps automatically populates in database.

Key statistics for FY 14 include:

• Total of 985,969 visitors to the website, a 32.21% increase from the previous fiscal year.

• Visitors went to an average of 3.31 pages per visit, spent 2:03 minutes on the site and there was a bounce rate of 48.91%.

• The mobile site received 32,968 visitors, with an average of 5.49 pages per visit, 2:09 minutes spent on site and a bounce rate of 37.10%.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

• Over the course of this fiscal year, primary campaigns focused on Romantic Vacations, Family Vaca-tions, Florida Vacations, Weddings, Groups & Meetings, South Walton Destination and 16 Beaches. These campaigns were interspersed throughout the year based upon seasonality, promotion schedules and/or budgets.

Website & Mobile Analytics

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• The program received 4,160,557 impressions and 86,740 clicks for an average CTR (click-through rate) of 2.08%, which was up 54% from last year’s average CTR of 1.35%.

• The cost-per-click (CPC) was a low $1.39, and improved $0.20 from last fiscal year.

eNewsletter CampaignThe TDC implemented subject line testing and optimization for its ongoing sweeps and leisure eNewsletter cam-paigns, which resulted in higher open rates and engagement throughout the fiscal year.

Highlights include: • Monthly consumer e-newsletter: Newsletter that is deployed monthly and highlights the two monthly

stories, as well as any special events and sweepstakes information. The open rate averages 7.51% with a 17.83% click through rate. This is over a 2.75% open rate increase from last year.

• Monthly sweeps newsletter: Visit South Walton hosts a sweepstakes each month, featuring a prize pack-age from a co-op partner. This newsletter averages an open rate of 9.36% with an average of 2,899 total click-throughs per month. This is over a 2.3% open rate increase from last year.

• Monthly paid sweeps support e-newsletter: Visit South Walton deploys sweeps e--newsletters through travel sites including Sherman’s Travel, Dunhill Travel and Luxury Link. On average, 37,128 newsletters are opened a month with an average of 4,663 click-throughs per month.

• There were 11 partners participating in monthly sweeps with over 103,602 entries and over 22,894 leads.

• A targeted behavioral email campaign launched to target brides in the planning stages of their wed-dings. This deployed to 5,661 email addresses and received a 12.3% open rate and 3 RFP submissions.

Mobile ApplicationThere were two updates made and released for the Perfect Beach app in FY 14. The first updated the app for iOS7 compliancy and addressed an issue relating to the load time for the app. This version was released in the App Store in mid-May 2014. The second update revised map pinning, organization of events and weather dis-plays and went live in the App Store in August 2014.

Statistical highlights for the app include:

• 5,110 total downloads.

• Peaked at 1,245 active users in late June

• Following the May update, screens per session increased to just under 3 screens per session (as opposed to an average of 1.5) and average session time increased over two minutes (as opposed to approximately 10 seconds before the update).

• The app was promoted via SEM and video campaigns, with a total of 7,447 visitors to the app from these initiatives.

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Media remains one of the driving factors for driving South Walton awareness in core and emerging markets. Core dollars allowed for a combination of media that drove awareness of the brand identity, helped South Walton and its partners join forces to garner qualified leads, and drove drive traffic during shoulder season.

Print Leisure and WeddingsIn FY 14, print continued to build awareness of South Walton in targeted, upscale publications that represent the brand. They also continued to generate substantial qualified leads in publications with significant circulation and reader engagement. The leisure and weddings print plan generated approximately 10.4 million impressions.

Some of the publication features included:

• Twenty leisure insertions in: Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine, Better Homes & Gardens, Coastal Living, Condé Nast Traveler, Cooking Light, Food Network Magazine, Garden & Gun, Oprah, Oxford American, Real Simple, Town & Country, Elle Décor, Southern Living, Southwest Spirit, Martha Stewart Weddings and Bridal Guide.

• $1,015,163.12 in added value exposure (48.5% of core paid schedule value), including advertorials, reader service listings, promotional mentions in-book and online, eBlasts, and social exposure.

• 23,645 total leads generated for Visit South Walton and 22,766 total leads for its partners through the Reader Service program.

South Walton placed brand ads in a variety of local and regional publications to generate awareness in specific core markets. These publications included: Atlanta Magazine, Birmingham Magazine, 002 Houston, Memphis, Nashville Homes & Lifestyles, Texas Monthly, B Metro Magazine and Florida Travel + Life.

Online Display AdvertisingOnline display adverting had three flights (fall, spring and summer) that featured co-op partners, brand display ads, and promotion of Signature Events. Fall, spring and summer flights had 12 participating partners.

Media Statistics

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Results of the three flights include:

• The fall flight delivered each of the two participating Partners an average of 6.4 million impressions and 4,800 clicks.

• The spring flight delivered each of the five participating Partners an average of 9.4 million impressions and 5,200 clicks.

• The summer flight delivered each of the five participating partners an average of 5.4 million impressions and over 5,100 clicks.

• The brand campaign delivered 107 million impressions and 283,406 clicks. The Average click through rate was 0.26%.

Online Facebook AdvertisingFacebook advertising was utilized to increase page likes, promote key posts, showcase social videos and pro-mote beach safety. Paid Facebook advertising generated an additional 11.9 million impressions on social during the fiscal year, generating 85,373 page likes.

Radio AdvertisingAll radio advertising was focused on promotion of Visit South Walton Signature Events, with the goal of driving traffic during shoulder season.

• The 30-second radio campaign ran October 2013 through April 2014 on top-ranked stations in top drive markets including Atlanta, Birmingham, Mobile, Nashville and New Orleans. A second flight with brand-ing and Signature Events messaging ran in September 2014.

• The 15-second radio campaign ran October 2013 through April 2014 on local NPR stations during high-rated day-parts in the following markets: Atlanta, Birmingham, Dallas, Houston, Jackson, Memphis, Mobile, Nashville and New Orleans.

Television AdvertisingThe 30-second branding television spots ran during SEC and ACC football and basketball through a buy with Fox Sports South. From September 2013 through April 2014, this television garnered 48 million impressions.

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To reach new audiences in emerging markets, the TDC sought to bring the essence of South Walton to potential visitors through multiple channels and initiatives.

Chicago 900 Shops ActivationTaking over the premier shopping venue of the 900 Shops on Michigan Avenue, Visit South Walton introduced Chicagoans to the destination’s beaches, music, food, fashion and lifestyle at a point in time when they were desperate to escape the winter. A concurrent BEach Social promotion encouraged social engagement for the opportunity to win a luxurious getaway to Rosemary Beach.

Key Results:

• Chicago was the #3 city for visitsouthwalton.com visitation during the month of February – this is the first time that Chicago ranked in the top 3 cities.

• Impressions for the weekend totaled over 7.2 million

Iroquois Steeplechase ActivationAs a major sponsor of the 73rd Annual Iroquois Steeplechase in Nashville on May 10th, 2014, Visit South Walton had high visibility throughout the event and hosted a Perfect Escape Experience in the exclusive Hospitality Vil-lage, featuring the destination’s lifestyle offerings. A BEach Social promotion enhanced social engagement with a getaway to South Walton.

Key Results:

• Impressions for the event totaled 3.1 million

BlogHer Food Miami SponsorshipAt BlogHer Food 2014, Visit South Walton demonstrated that South Walton is one of the emerging culinary des-tinations for food enthusiasts in the country. Using a three-fold approach to target influential female bloggers, Visit South Walton made a huge impact on the tradeshow floor, held an exclusive and intimate Culinary Show-case and worked with blog ambassadors to share the destination with readers.

Emerging Markets Initiative

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Key Results: • Impressions for the event totaled 5.7 million

Emerging Markets Paid Media CampaignA dedicated emerging markets media effort launched in September 2014 to promote South Walton’s shoulder season in emerging markets. Channels include:

• Hypertargeted cable television busy in Dallas, Houston, Nashville and St. Louis – 900,000 impressions

• Airport wifi sponsorship in Southwest airports including Dallas Love Field, Houston Hobby, Nashville International, Lambert-St. Louis, BWI and Chicago Midway – 92,224 impressions generating 42,727 clicks (46.3% CTR). – Video completion rate of over 70%.

• Exterior Skybridge and exterior parking lot high impact signage at Dallas Love Field airport – 1.4 million impressions

• Digital banners and social promotions in all emerging markets – 12.7 million impressions generating 69,916 clicks (0.55% CTR).

• Total impressions projected: 15.6 million

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This year, the TDC has mailed and given out over 95,000 Visitor Guides to visitors that have requested a guide through the website, media leads, received at group/leisure tradeshows or visited the Visitor Information Center. The online Visitor Guide has had over 64,575 visits with an average of 6.2 pages viewed per visit.

There were 13 partners who participated in the cooperative opportunities with more than eight pages of partner co-op ads.

Visitor Guide

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Kerr & Downs Research conducted the following studies this year:

• Spring Visitor Tracking Study - Results of this study were based on data received via internet surveys from 823 visitors. Travel parties included 4.7 people who stayed an average of 5 nights. 21% were first time visitors, and 89% drove. Tailored re-ports were provided to each bed tax collector that participated in the study.

• Summer Visitor Tracking Study - Designed to pro-file summer visitors to South Walton. Data is cur-rently being collected and results will be available by the end of October.

• Logo Testing Study - Interviewed 1,078 visitors, po-tential visitors, and local residents via internet and on-beach surveys. Six logo options were presented and four font options. Findings were presented to the Marketing Committee, CEO Forum, and the Advisory Council.

• Spring Product Definition Study. Average occupan-cy rate was 53.9%; average length of stay was 6.8 nights; average travel party size was 4.6 people, average daily rate was $322.62; and RevPAR was $173.74

• Emerging Markets Advertising Effectiveness Study - Pre-Test. Interviewed 563 potential and actual visitors to South Walton via internet in Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Nashville, St. Louis, and Washing-ton DC/Baltimore.

• Potential Visitors Study - Interviewed 775 potential visitors to South Walton via the internet and tele-phone. Markets included the 21 top origin markets for South Walton visitors based on past research. Top-of-mind preferences for the brand name, South Walton, are virtually nonexistent.

• Aided recall of the brand name, South Walton, is 35%. Aided recall of the brand name, South Wal-ton, or one of the 16 beach communities is similar to awareness for Destin and Gulf Shores, but below Panama City Beach. Lack of awareness is the #1 reason for not vacationing in South Walton, and there is low awareness of the specific geographic location of South Walton.

• Summer Product Definition Study - Average occu-pancy rate was 81.3%; average length of stay was 5.4 nights; average travel party size was 5.2 peo-ple, average daily rate was $374.99; and RevPAR was $304.82.

• Emerging Markets Advertising Effectiveness Study - Post-Test – Results will be compared from this study to results from the pre-test to determine the impact of the advertising strategy in emerging markets. Kerr & Downs Research is currently col-lecting data, and the final report will be completed by the end of October.

• Group Business Study. This study will examine why meeting/event planners who considered South Walton selected other destinations. The question-naire is completed and data will be collected in October and November with the final report avail-able in December.

Research

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The TDC’s public relations strategies are designed to complement paid media placements by engaging journalists across various platforms to share South Walton messaging. Members of the media are encouraged to share their own experiences as visitors to the destination, providing personal context and testimonial

value to their stories.

The following public relations strategies were implemented during FY 14:

• Distributed 6 press releases and 5 newsletters highlighting South Walton’s culinary, cultural, artistic and eco-activities and events.

• Secured placements in print and online media across core and emerging markets. Highlights include Jezebel (Atlanta), Dallas Morning News, Lexington Herald Leader, USAToday Online, The Local Palate, Travel Weekly, Houston Chronicle, Palm Beach Post, CNN.com, Pursuitist, Destinations Weddings and Honeymoons, WineEnthusiast.com, and Boston Globe, among others.

• Coverage of South Walton exceeded 589 million impressions and $25.3 million of equivalent advertising value

• Hosted two April culinary-themed media familiarization (FAM) trips in conjunction with the Sandestin Wine Festival and the South Walton Beaches Wine & Food Festival. Engaged in heavy pitching efforts and secured five attendees from emerging and core markets. Publications included: New York Resident Magazine, New York Daily News, Chattanooga Times Free Press and Celebrate Magazine.

• Hosted five journalists on individual, customized visits to the area: Don Redman, AAA Southern Traveler, Patti Nickell, Lexington Herald Leader, Hayley Phillips, The Local Palate, Maria Smith, MamaliciousMama.com, Ashley Marshall, MommyWeek.com.

• Attended four-day Travel Blogger Exchange (TBEX) in Cancun, MX, in September 2014.

Public Relations

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The goal for Visit South Walton’s social media during FY 14 was to increase fans and followers in all social media followers, but primarily Facebook, by creating unique, relevant and engaging content.

Social Media Channel Growth• Facebook growth in FY 14 fiscal year: 93,250

– Total followers at end of fiscal year: 113,146, a 453% increase over the previous fiscal year.

• Twitter growth in FY 14 fiscal year: 1,913 – Total followers at end of fiscal year: 8,457, a 29% increase over the previous fiscal year.

• Instagram growth in FY 14 fiscal year: 1,406 – Total followers at end of fiscal year: 2,591, a 119% increase over the previous fiscal year.

• Pinterest growth in FY 14 fiscal year: 404 – Total followers at end of fiscal year: 1,218, a 49% increase over the previous fiscal year.

• YouTube views in FY 14 fiscal year: 40,421 – Total views at end of fiscal year: 112,840, a 107% increase over the previous fiscal year.

#SouthWaltonTo aggregate conversation surrounding South Walton, the TDC continued to emphasize the use of #SouthWal-ton throughout FY 14. This allows users to search for information, comments and general sentiment for the desti-nation. #southwalton was used 11,543 times across various social media channels.

Video ContentVisit South Walton continued its development of a social video series to highlight activities within the destina-tion. The following videos were shared across social media channels and together received almost 7,500 You-Tube views.

• Wine & Dine in South Walton, Florida

• The Art of South Walton, Florida

• The Perfect Girls’ Getaway in South Walton, Florida

• Follow Me to #SouthWalton

Social Media

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The visitor services team staffs the South Walton Visitor Information Center seven days a week, providing information and directions to visitors, encouraging first-time and repeat visitation. The Center displays and distributes information of potential interest to visitors including accommodations, dining, shopping,

outdoor activities and events. The visitor services team also provides administrative support to the marketing, communications and sales departments.

• The Visitor Center hosted 19,932 visitors from October 2013 to September 2014. A .7% increase over 2012/2013’s 19,793 visitors and a 15.3 increase over 2011/2012’s 17,276 visitors.

• Sold $15,331.00 in Visit South Walton branded merchandise. A 53.8% increase over 2012/2013’s $9,962.00 in sales and a 120.7% increase over 2011/2012’s $6,944.50.

• Delivered 50,279 Beachgoer’s Guides, 1,220 Visitor Guides, 102 area maps, 7,422 mobile APP cards and 8,999 Hiking and Biking Guides to Bed Tax Collectors for distribution to their guests.

• Coordinated delivery of 22,740 Visitor Guides to the Visit Florida Welcome Centers in Campbellton, FL and Pensacola, FL.

• Coordinated delivery of 5,208 Visitor Guides to the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport in Panama City, FL and 5,904 to the Northwest Florida Regional Airport in Niceville, FL.

Visitor Services

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The TDC’s group sales efforts are designed to complement leisure market strategies with the main goal of increasing visitation among groups including meetings, weddings and reunions. Group sales strategies primarily target meeting planners, tour/travel operators, destination brides and leisure visitors to introduce

these markets to South Walton’s desirability as a group destination. These markets are engaged in a variety of ways including comprehensive marketing and advertising programs and participation in numerous sales missions such as industry trade shows and TDC-sponsored events.

The following meeting/group sales efforts were completed this fiscal year:• Attended 11 trade shows across the Southeast as well as emerging markets including Chicago, Nashville,

Boston and Washington D.C. These efforts reached 95,166 meeting planners and consumer attendees through direct contact, collateral distribution, advertising, added-value opportunities and website marketing.

• Secured a total of 156 RFPs for meetings and reunions for South Walton bed tax collectors for bid processing.

• Secured a total of 274 RFPs from brides seeking venues and accommodations in South Walton for a destination wedding.

• Assisted a total of 80 convention, meeting, wedding, and reunion coordinators so that their attendee and guest experiences in South Walton would be memorable.

• Hosted Atlanta Bridal in September on assignment for a honeymoon/romance feature.

• With the support of Zehnder, produced a 90-second destination video targeted to meeting planners.

• Hosted a 2014 meeting journalist FAM tour for Collinson Media representing Collaborate, Connect, and Rejuvenate.

• Partnered with DMIHotels.com to represent South Walton meeting facilities to their clients based across the U.S. DMI represents over 200 hand-picked hotels, Destination Management Companies (DMC), Convention & Visitor Bureaus (CVB), and upscale retreats in popular event and meeting destinations throughout the U.S. Canada, Mexico, Caribbean and Europe, with a demographic in keeping with South Walton’s.

• Offered and secured 13 co-op opportunities with lodging partners for the leisure sales missions.

Meeting/Group Media The FY 14 media plan for meetings focused on targeting meeting planners that plan small to mid-size meetings in the Southern & Southeastern United States.

• Visit South Walton advertised in the publications with the highest penetration in core markets that provided the most relevant editorial opportunities: Association News, Collaborate, Connect, Convention South, Meetings Focus, Meetings & Conventions, Prevue, Smart Meetings, Rejuvenate, Small Market Meetings, Successful Meetings and the TSAE Annual Buyers Guide, as well as a Visit Florida Meeting Planner co-op with Collinson Media that was distributed at tradeshows.

• South Walton appeared in the following annual directories with enhanced listings: Georgia SAE, Louisi-ana SAE, Tallahassee SAE, and Florida SAE.

• South Walton appeared in the following annual directories with full page ads and enhanced listings: Texas SAE and Tennessee SAE.

Meeting/Group Sale

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Beach Operations

Walton County’s beaches have earned a reputation for being among the most pristine and accessible in the country. With an estimated three million visitors annually, maintaining their condition is an ongoing challenge handled well by the TDC’s beach operations team. The team services 580 trash receptacles

365 days a year, and maintains 62 beach, bay and lake accesses. Beach operations also includes the monitoring of sea turtle nests in conjunction with South Walton Turtle Watch during nesting season, which runs from May 1 through October 31 annually.

Code EnforcementTDC Code Enforcement continued its primary duties in FY 14 by helping to ensure the safety and enjoyment of beachgoers by enforcing the all beach-related ordinances. Though education is the first line of communication, the Code Officers are authorized to tag and remove Leave No Trace violations, issue citations for ordinance vio-lations and issue notice to appear before the code board. Identifying and informing property owners of wildlife lighting violations was a major effort during turtle nesting season. The code enforcement officers also assist lifeguards and Walton County Sheriff’s Office personnel in keeping beachgoers from entering the water on dou-ble-red flag days.

FY 14 Code Enforcement Activity Summary

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Beach AmbassadorThe beach ambassador has continued the role of welcoming and informing beachgoers about beach safety, the county ordinances affecting the beach and promoting destination information. The beach ambassador made nearly 3,000 contacts during FY 14. This role is crucial in establishing positive relationships with beach vendors as well as educating locals and visitors.

Beach MaintenanceThe following is a summary of beach maintenance accomplishments this fiscal year:

• In March, the TDC hired Brian Kellenberger to manage beach related initiatives as the new Director of Beach Operations. One of the new tasks taken on by the crew is to oversee the maintenance of the multi-use paths located along Scenic Highway 30A and Scenic Gulf Drive.

• Completed numerous improvement projects including the rebuilding of the Grayton Beach boardwalk, repainting of the exterior and interior of all 9 regional access facilities, rebuilt 6 beach flag poles, con-structed an observation deck at One Seagrove Place beach access

• In order to minimize the number of signs posted at beach accesses, a pilot program was launched to install graphics on the beach walkovers with safety related messaging. The regional accesses were the initial locations where the graphics were installed. Upon evaluation, the program could be expanded in the future to include more walkovers.

• Helped to promote and administer two beach clean-up days, the July 5th beach clean-up in partnership with the South Walton Community Council and the International Coastal Clean-Up Day in September. To encourage participation from the general public, the TDC offers cleanup supplies at select locations.

• Assisted South Walton Turtle Watch in identifying and protecting 47 marked nests, which are all identi-fied as Loggerhead Turtles. As of September 30, South Walton Turtle Watch reported 43 hatched Log-gerhead nests. South Walton Turtle Watch works closely with the TDC, South Walton Fire District and Walton County Sherriff’s Office, to make sure Walton County beaches are safe for sea turtle nesting.

• The TDC beach maintenance team has collected an estimated total of 800 tonnage of trash from South Walton beaches for the year to date.

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In conjunction with consultant Seahaven Consulting, the following items were accomplished in FY 14:

• The Walton County Hurricane and Storm Damage Reduction Project (Federal Shore Protection Project) Feasibility Study was completed, and included by Congress in the Water Resources Reform and Devel-opment Act in 2014. This bill was signed by the President in June 2014 and authorizes the project for construction once the Preliminary Engineering and Design Phase (PED) is completed.

• The PED phase of the Walton County Hurricane and Storm Damage Reduction Project is underway and includes three main pieces: state permitting, funding and construction easements. In May 2014, the project application was submitted for a state permit by the Mobile District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Mobile District). Additionally, the TDC successfully worked with Marlowe & Company, our federal lobbyists, to secure $360,000 in federal funding to complete the PED phase. Third, the County is developing the construction easement that will be used to get owner’s permission for construction. Securing these construction easements will be a major focus in the coming year. Six workshops were held in FY 14 to update the public on the status of the project and will continue in the coming months.

• Continued to monitor changes to the Western Walton County Beach Restoration Project completed in 2007. The 2014 monitoring shows the project continues to exceed initial projections with over 80% of the sand placed remaining in the project limits. The monitoring of the borrow site where the sand came from continues to show no negative impacts from removal of the offshore sand for placement on nearby shorelines, and the project has met or exceeded all criteria regarding aesthetics and habitat restoration.

• Data collection was completed in June, July and August 2014 to document the state of the beach in the event of a future hurricane. Data collected includes aerial video, ground photography and surveying of the Western Walton County Beach Restoration Project. No post-storm monitoring has been necessary in 2014.

• After successfully using state grant funding to offset costs from previous beach nourishment activities, the TDC requested additional grant funding this year to assist in the cost sharing of the Walton County Hurricane and Storm Damage Reduction Project Construction Phase. These funds could be available as early as July 2015 if approved by the state legislature.

Beach Nourishment

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• Visit South Walton took a straightforward, PSA approach to beach safety to drive awareness of the flag system and drive visitors to opt-in for daily flag updates via text.

• The media focus for beach safety shifted primarily online and creative deployed on geo-targeted desktop and mobile banner ads, Pandora internet radio, social media, public relations and through aerial banners during hazardous water conditions.

• The SMS, or text messaging, program continues to give visitors daily updates about beach conditions. The campaign is triggered by three keywords: “Beach Flag,” tied to the collateral, merchandise and print; “Safe-ty,” tied to Outdoor signs and feather flags; and “Flag,” tied to online advertising. At the end of September 2014, the TDC had sent out over 322,000 text messages with flag conditions to up to 1,222 active subscrib-ers, which is more than twice the amount of text messages sent in 2013 (137,000 in 2013).

Beach LifeguardsThe TDC contracts with the South Walton Fire District (SWFD) to administer the lifeguard component of the TDC’s Beach Safety Program providing trained lifeguards at the nine regional beach accesses from March through September annually. The beach safety director monitors surf conditions and determines the beach flag color, which is updated daily, twice if necessary, on the SWFD’s website and subsequently on the TDC’s website and Facebook page.

Beach Safety Program

SWFD Beach Safety Activity Report Summary

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In FY 14, the TDC entered into an agreement with the Choctawhatchee Basin Alliance (CBA) of Northwest Florida State College (NWFSC) to strengthen nature-based tourism by offering ecotourism opportunities. This collaboration showcases activities beyond the beach and incorporates Walton County’s diverse

and abundant natural communities by promoting sustainable, recreational use of the destination through education, tours and excursions.

Ecotourism

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This annual hospitality award was established in 2003 by the TDC to encourage and recognize excellence in hospitality service, travel/tourism marketing, advertising, promotion, and contributions to the local community. The award honors the legacy of service embodied by the Van Ness Butler family who acquired

the land now known as Grayton Beach in 1922.

The 2013 recipient of this prestigious award, Malcolm Patterson, was the Walton County TDC’s first executive director and one of South Walton’s original tourism advocates in 1988. He championed beach access for visitors and residents by acquiring seven parcels of federal property, directed the development of 26 public beach accesses and began the TDC’s oversight of cleaning the beaches. He negotiated the lease with the State of Florida for two acres of land to build a Visitor Information Center and created the first TDC website to serve visitors.

Van Ness Butler Jr., Hospitality Award

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Artist of the Year Program

Each fall, a new artist in residence is chosen and honored with the distinction of South Walton’s Artist of the Year. In 2014 the program was expanded to honor niche category winners in addition to the overarching South Walton Artist of the Year.

The 2014 South Walton Artist of the Year is Mary Hong, a glass artist with over 20 years of experience. Mary uses a dimensional glass technique to stand glass rigidly on its edge to allow light to pass through the glass while re-flecting colors and textures onto a surface. Her work is inspired by South Walton’s coastal environment with her use of marine life, birds, and coastal landscapes.

The TDC also recognized Mike Whitty as Performer of the Year, Chandler Williams as Photographer of the Year, Juan Adaro as Painter of the Year, and Stephanie Carter as Designer of the Year.

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The Sponsorship Grant Program continued to grow in FY 14 with nine Signature Events and 13 Experience Events.

SignatureSouth Walton Fashion Week South Walton Celebrity Golf ClassicSeeing Red Wine Festival Taste of the Beach Wine.Dine.Donate30A Songwriters Festival 12th Annual Seaside School Half Marathon & 5K Run28th Annual Sandestin Wine Festival South Walton Beaches Wine and Food Festival 26th Annual ArtsQuest Fine Arts & Music Festival

Experience Baytowne Wharf Beer Festival Rosemary Beach UncorkedCottage for Kids30A10K 19th Annual Hilton Sandestin Beach (Christmas) Basketball Blowout at Freeport High SchoolSinfonia Gulf Coast Presents Wine Women and Shoes30A Wine FestivalDestin Charity Wine Auction Sandestin Beach Bicycle TourDigital Graffiti at Alys Beach Emerald Coast Blue Marlin ClassicSandestin TriathlonAlys Beach Fun Run

In 2014, 21 events applied for Sponsorship Grant funding for the 2014-2015 fiscal year. Through the review pro-cess were awarded funding totaling $419,000 either as a Signature or Experience Event.

Sponsorship Grant Program

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Tourist Development CouncilThe council and seat appointments were re-structured in early 2014.

The council’s members represent the following ambassadors: • Member of the Board of County Commissioners selected by the Chair of the BCC

• South Walton Fire District Board Member to be selected from and by the South Walton Fire District Board of Directors

• South Walton Mosquito Control District Board Member to be selected from and by the South Walton Mosquito Control District Board of Directors

• Lodging Industry Owner/Operator representing large (more than 50 units)

• Lodging Industry Owner/Operator representing small (50 or fewer units)

• Lodging Industry Owner/Operator representing rental management

• Two Tourism Related Industry representatives in the areas of retail, restaurants or recreational services

• Lodging Industry Owner/Operator or Tourism Related representative.

The new council attended its first official meeting and strategic planning session on April 1, 2014. The council convened for scheduled bi-monthly and any special meetings as warranted.

AdministrationThe TDC leadership implemented an extensive reorganization of staff which provided quality support in Finance, Administration and Beach Operations. A staff professional development program was established to provide the skills and tools to contribute to the success of the mission of the organization.

Visit South Walton staff are steadily working to create and improve numerous standard operating procedures to further expand on the policies and practices that are followed.

An intern program was established to provide a work environment with educational credits exposing the intern to all aspects of a TDC and then focusing on the interns program of degree to complete their requirements.

The TDC reinstituted committees that contain diverse members representing the community and providing advice, ideas, solutions and support for several categories of scope. Committee meetings are held with specific missions scheduled accordingly. The committees are Marketing & Media, Beach Management, Destination Im-provement, Events, Activities, Arts & Culture, North Walton County Event Advisory and Chief Executive Officers.

Administrative & Financial

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FinancialsThe TDC uses proceeds from overnight visitor dollars to manage and maintain its beaches and market the desti-nation nationally and internationally. The TDC and its programs are funded through four and a half cents of bed tax paid by visitors on short term lodging rentals. The first two cents are dedicated to marketing, promotions, beach and facility maintenance; the third cent is dedicated to beach nourishment; the fourth cent to product de-velopment including shoulder season marketing, arts/nature/cultural tourism, beach safety and education to in-clude the lifeguard and code enforcement programs. The half cent is dedicated to marketing new and emerging markets. At the end of fiscal year 2014 the additional half cent collected to attract a low cost carrier and emerg-ing markets marketing will sunset reducing the bed tax collection rate from 4.5% to 4%. State Statue 125.0104 governs how destination management organizations make use of bed tax revenues.

Walton County experienced another year of record breaking bed tax collections. As a result of the improved performance of the bed tax collector enforcement, the successful marketing initiatives and the beautiful 26 miles of beach the council approved to increase the budget an additional three million dollars.

Each year the TDC financials are included in the county audit done by Carr, Riggs and Ingram and audited every two years by the Walton County Clerk of Courts internal auditor. The 2013 County Audit Financial Report will be located at www.clerkofcourts.co.walton.fl.us. This contains all financial information for the county including the TDC.

BP Loss Bed Tax ClaimThe TDC’s portion of the claim resulted in an award of $5.370 million dollars for loss bed tax revenue based on the models forecasted by BP and the attorneys.

*September 2014 collections will be available on November 1, 2015

Walton Count Bed Tax Collections FY14

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2013 HSMAI Adrian AwardsHospitality Sales Marketing Association International Winner: Gold Adrian Award - “BlogHer” Tradeshow MarketingWinner: Gold Adrian Award - “Emerging Markets Cam-paign”

2013 Choice AwardsConventionSouthWinner: 2013 Reader’s Choice Award – “South Walton”

2014 New Orleans Advertising Awards (ADDYs)The Advertising Club of New OrleansWinner: Silver Addy Award - “Visit South Walton App” Layar CoastersWinner: Gold Addy Award - “Perfect Escape” Trade-show BoothWinner: Gold Addy Award - “BlogHer” Branded Envi-ronment

2014 AAF Emerald Coast American Advertising Awards (ADDYs)American Advertising Federation Emerald Coast ClubWinner: Gold ADDY Award, Judge’s Choice Award - “Meet You in South Walton” BrochureWinner: Gold ADDY Award, Judge’s Choice Award - “Savor South Walton” Culinary Excellence AwardWinner: Gold ADDY Award - “Junk to Funk, Andy Saczynski” Artist of the Year Poster

2014 Florida Public Relations Golden Image AwardsFlorida Public Relations Association Northwest Florida ChapterWinner: Image Award, Judge’s Award – “BEach SO-CIAL 900 Shops”Winner: Image Award – “900 Shops in Chicago” Brand ActivationWinner: Image Award, Judge’s Award – “Meet You in South Walton” BrochureWinner: Judge’s Award, Award of Distinction – “The Connection” eNewsletter

EXHIBITOR Magazine 2014 Portable/Modular AwardsEXHIBITOR MagazineWinner: Best 10’ x 10’ Exhibit – “Perfect Escape Booth”

EXHIBITOR Magazine’s 2014 People’s Choice AwardsEXHIBITOR MagazineWinner: First Place – “Perfect Escape Booth”

Florida Public Relations Association - State Level2014 FPRA Golden Image AwardsWinner: Judge’s Award, Award of Distinction – “Meet You in South Walton” BrochureWinner: Judge’s Award – “BEach SOCIAL 900 Shops”Winner: Grand Golden Image Award, Golden Image Award, Judge’s Award – “Savor South Walton Champi-on Award”

2014 Flagler AwardsVisit FloridaWinner: 2014 Flagler Award, Bronze – “Visit South Wal-ton Emerging Markets Airport Takeovers”

Accolades & Awards

This year, Visit South Walton earned the following regional and national awards for marketing and public relations strategies: