LT-2019-005-Kittitas Co Historical Society

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Response 2.1: 1. Away from their place of residence or business and staying overnight in paid accorrrodations; Projection * By advertising in the Seattle/Tacoma, Portland, Oregon, and Eastern Washington areas, we will draw travelers to and through Ellensburg and Kittitas County. We know at present many of our guests are from outside of the Kittitas County area, especially more than 50 miles away, as all major cities in the Pacific Coast region are more than 50 miles away. In a recent assessment of our register book, we found that between January 1 and July 31 of 2018, 64% of our visitors who signed it were from areas more than 50 miles, totaling 456 visitors of an overall 742. Of these individuals, when inquired, half had indicated they were staying overnight due to comments such as "heard from the hotel' verbally or written. This is out of a current total of 4,397 people who have visited the museum; with 3,042 attending for exhibit or general purpose. Our Facebook page reflects primary visitation by individuals from 50+ miles, including Portland, Oregon and the major Washington cities of Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, Spokane, Vancouver, Kennewick, and Puyallup all within the top 10 cities following our page. We anticipate based on current numbers that visitation and overnight stays will increase due to advertising in 2019. We have already had several individuals from out of the area stay overnight as part of a Haunted Legends walking tour or an evening lecture, or they came with the Museum intended as their destination for research purposes and stayed overnight as a result. We expect that as our activities increase, visitation and overnight stays will increase as well. We plan to roll out special deals with local hotels for upcoming events which then gives an option for visitors to stay overnight. Visitors have indicated to us that multiple venues on certain weekends justify them staying overnight. Many of these events will add to existing events or create an opportunity to extend their stay in the Ellensburg and Kittitas County area. In similar activities polled throughout Washington, most guests stayed overnight, attended other activities in and around their cities including food, shopping, and other museums and historical sites. Through this data, we can project that with targeted advertising to the Seattle - Tacoma market and the areas of Portland, Oregon and Eastern Washington, we can see an increase in overnight stays and longer visits to our community. 2500 character limit