Tc Convention & Visitor'S Bureau

“Memberships of the visitors bureau consists of area businesses that operate within the local hospitality industry.”

“The visitors bureau consists of business members that elect among themselves individuals to participate on the board of directors.”

“Form 990 is reviewed by the executive director when presented by the bureau's auditing and tax preparation firm and sent to the board for approval before filing.”

“Conflicts of interest are reviewed annually as well as on an as needed basis during a regularly scheduled meeting of the governing board and any time such a conflict may arise in the course of doing business.”

“Upon the completion of each year, the board of directors selects a compensation review committee that evaluates the organization's performance, as determined by the audited financial statements, against the goals and financial objectives as defined by the board. The results of this evaluation help determine the compensation of the executive director.”

“The board approves the annual operating budget which includes a review of staff compensation costs. For staff positions, the executive director evaluates compensation in comparison with information provided by "destination marketing association international- and the "michigan association of convention and visitors bureaus".”

“No documents available to the public.”

“Original return did not include the key employee and schedule j. This corrects the return to include all relevant key employees and wage information.”

“1. Marketing the destination traverse city tourism focuses the majority of its marketing efforts on the leisure travel market knowing that leisure also drives group demand. Target audiences vary depending on the time of year, theme, events, and attraction highlights. Throughout much of the year we target market segments that align with our values and show a propensity to convert. Frequent themes for promotion include: agriculture, culinary and wine / craft beverage offerings; outdoor recreation; events; golf; and sleeping bear dunes. Addition areas of focus include shopping, entertainment, casinos and more. Tct engages in collaborative marketing partnerships with regional partners to build awareness of common regional assets among targeted interest groups and collaborates with pure michigan at a national and regional level to promote our region. Success is measured over the long-term impact on the destinations economy, as well as by evaluating near-term accomplishments reaching targeted audiences with our campaign. We use google analytics, smith travel research, airdna, and other research tools to track our marketing efforts and conversion. One of the best indicators of effectiveness is monitoring our monthly assessment collection to analyze year-over-year revenues. We actively review visitor numbers to the sleeping bear national lakeshore and tvc throughput. We also seek out anecdotal information from our members to help determine what they are observing and to corroborate the data with personal experiences and member data. 2. Promoting and supporting conferences, meeting and group travel, and international traverse city tourism has a sales and group services department that assists those planning a meeting or other group event in the area. Our primary goal is to proactively attract meetings and events that take place during off-peak times (need times), helping ensure greater industry sustainability by spreading out demand for hospitality businesses and staff resources. Target group markets include but are not limited to state, regional and national associations; corporate; smerf (social, military, education, religious and fraternal); sports; and group tours.”

“3. Destination development traverse city tourism supports efforts being put forth - including large- scale regional partnerships that are focused on the development of new or improved regional assets such as sports facilities and attractions. Further, it provides a range of supports for events and business models that can enhance our regional appeal and reputation and workforce-related initiatives that can bolster the future sustainability of the hospitality industry and ensure a strong local economy.”