ANNUAL REPORT

2 0 1 8 I N R E V I E W

Downtown Aerial / Jack Kenner

KEVIN KANE O U R P R E S I D E N T & C E O

Downtown Aerial / Jack Kenner

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Much like the city of Memphis itself, now in its bicentennial year, MEMPHIS TOURISM IS LOOKING

FORWARD. While we are proud of the recent successes we have detailed in this year’s annual report,

we are still pursuing the many opportunities waiting for Memphis and Shelby County on the horizon.

Technology has already disrupted the travel sector in significant ways. From the launch of online travel

agencies like Expedia to the latest Google Travel products, from Airbnb to Uber, the way we travel is

rapidly changing. However, Memphis Tourism is COMMITTED TO STAYING AHEAD OF THE CURVE.

Our NEW $1 MILLION BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE AND RESEARCH PROGRAM consistently keeps us

on the leading edge of industry trends. In fact, when we analyzed our 2018 performance against the

Destination Next Futures Study by Destinations International, which identified the 25 top trends that

destination marketing organizations of the future will need to navigate, there were only two trends

that were not already on our radar. Now, ALL 25 TRENDS are being directly addressed by strategic

initiatives currently underway at Memphis Tourism.

Now, as a NEW CENTURY OF SOUL DAWNS, we can truly say that the stage is set for the future of

tourism in Memphis and Shelby County.

Kevin Kane2

THE MEMPHIS ECONOMYE C O N O M I C D E V E L O P M E N T

T H R O U G H T O U R I S M

Beale Street Crowd / Allen Gillespie

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Memphis Tourism plays a fundamental role in ensuring that tourism continues to fan the flames of economic development. According to the most recent figures released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the hospitality and leisure industry in Memphis and Shelby County paid over $1.13B in wages to local employees, most of which gets reinvested back into our local economy—and these wages have consistently grown over time, increasing over 8% in recent years. Tourism in Shelby County also generated over $98M in local tax collections, according to the most recent U.S. Travel Association analysis. That’s an increase of 3.1% over the prior year’s tax collections. Clearly, the hospitality and leisure industry is vital to ensuring the continued success of our local economy.

According to the most recent U.S. Travel analysis,

domestic visitors spent over $3.5B in our local economy,

growing by an increase of 9.5% since TID funding was

implemented.

Memphis visitors support 2,081 businesses in the

hospitality and tourism industry in Memphis and Shelby County, according

to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

There are over 48.9K hospitality and leisure industry

jobs in Memphis and Shelby County. For every $1,000

invested in Memphis Tourism, three local jobs are supported

and sustained.

DIRECT TRAVEL SPENDING

T O U R I S M BUSINESSES TOURISM JOBS

$3.5B 2000+ 48.9K

*2018 impact numbers expected Summer 2019.

MEMPHIS VISITATIONC O N T I N U E S T O G R O W

Rum Boogie / Craig Thompson

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11.8M visitors arrived in Memphis and Shelby County in 2018. Music continues to be the core travel motivator for 60-80% of all Memphis and Shelby County visitors, especially our music heritage attractions, legendary live music scene and music-centric entertainment districts. In fact, nearly 70% of all Memphis and Shelby County visitors describe themselves as music lovers. That’s one reason why promoting the rich diversity of Memphis music has become increasingly important. Based on this data, along with other key insights, Memphis Tourism has created eight precise visitor profiles, so we can deliver the brand messages that matter most to each potential visitor, enhancing our persuasiveness.

In 2018, Memphis and Shelby County welcomed over

11.8M visitors, indicating a longer growth trajectory

that will continue for years to come.

Since TID funding was implemented, Memphis and

Shelby County visitation grew by 6.9%. Our increased investment

in tourism marketing is paying off.

Peak season in Memphis and Shelby County typically lasts

from March until October. We welcomed more than 1M visitors

during each month of peak season in 2018.

VISITORSI N 2 0 1 8

11.8M1M+

monthlyvisitors

6.9%

G R O W T H

VISITATIONO N P E A K

MEMPHIS TOURISMA H I G H - I M P A C T I N V E S T M E N T

Mighty Lights / Adarryll Jackson

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BUSINESSESSUPPORTED

S P E N D P E RV I S I T O R V I S I T O R

S P E N D I N G R O I

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In the last several years, Memphis and Shelby County began investing more heavily in tourism sales and marketing, increasing the annual budget for Memphis Tourism through a $2 nightly TID tax on hotel room nights sold within the city limits. While our budget increased significantly, it’s important to note that our competitors can still outspend us by up to 72%. However, despite this hurdle, Memphis Tourism has still made considerable gains. In fact, since our budget increased, Memphis and Shelby County visitation has grown by 6.9% and direct domestic travel spending by visitors has grown by 9.5%. When you can’t outspend your competition, you have to become more creative to get competitive results—and that’s exactly what we’ve done. Clearly, our high-impact strategies are generating outsized results.

For every $100K invested in our tourism sales and marketing strategies, Memphis Tourism

sustains 14 hospitality and leisure businesses—more than any city

in our competitive set.

For every $1.26 Memphis Tourism spends on tourism sales

and marketing strategies, we attract a visitor. Meanwhile, our competitors spend up to twice

as much to attract a visitor.

Every dollar invested in Memphis Tourism generates

over $200 in direct domestic visitor travel

expenditures in Memphis and Shelby County.

$1.26 200:1

$$

$$

THE MEMPHIS TOURISM BRANDD E F I N E D B Y O V E R 1 , 0 0 0 V I S I T O R S

Main Street / Craig Thompson

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From New York to Knoxville, many destination marketing organizations across the country have updated their names to more clearly reflect their role in attracting tourists to their cities. In addition to updating our organization name to more clearly convey our mission, we decided to update our mark and tagline.

Data played a significant role in narrowing down our final selections; however, we also trusted the insights and instincts we’ve honed over the years. Our final concept has combined the art of marketing with relevant data points to maximize the success of our new name, mark and tagline.

NATIONAL SURVEY FACE-TO-FACE

First, we delivered a brief survey to our core audience of

key industry stakeholders. Based on the results of this survey,

we chose our new name, Memphis Tourism.

Next, we worked with Destination Analysts to gather

baseline perceptions about our current logo with a national

survey, identifying the most powerful ideas.

Finally, we interviewed over 300 tourists on Beale Street,

gathering their insights about our final direction. Based on the results of this survey, we refined

our final selections.

S U R V E Y

S TA K E H O L D E R

1 800

R E S P O N S E S I N T E R V I E W S

300

TOURISM STRATEGIESD R I V E N B Y D A T A

Young Avenue Deli / Craig Thompson

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Memphis Tourism strategically leverages over 30 research partnerships, delivering key insights that will influence our local tourism economy. For example, in 2018, the Memphis Tourism research team began utilizing our tourism data in partnership with the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority, working hand in hand with their leadership team to bring more direct flights to Memphis. Our research team also collaborates frequently with the Downtown Memphis Commission, providing relevant insights that will influence future hotel developments in downtown Memphis. We routinely share data with our community stakeholders as well, ensuring that all of our partners have access to the knowledge they need to compete in an increasingly competitive travel landscape. We know that vetted facts based in data analysis are vital to Memphis’ future, and we’re proud to be leading the way.

Memphis Tourism strategically leverages over

30 research and data partnerships, learning more

about the key travel motivators for our visitors each day.

Utilizing an interconnected network of research tactics,

we have gathered over 30,000 survey responses that directly

inform key decisions acrossour organization.

We have tracked nearly 300K arrivals since our partnership

with Arrivalist began, giving us significant insight into the behavioral travel patterns

of actual Memphis visitors.

30+ 30K+RESEARCHPARTNERSHIPS

TOTAL SURVEY RESPONSES

DIGITAL ARRIVALSTRACKED

300K+

THE MEMPHIS TRAVEL WEBSITED E L I V E R S A B I G R E T U R N

O N I N V E S T M E N T

Shelby Farms Park / Allen Gillespie

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New technologies have allowed Memphis Tourism to measure the impact of the Memphis Travel website with more accuracy than ever before by leveraging the Arrivalist A3 platform alongside our own proprietary data sources. By comparing our new results to the outcomes captured in a website ROI study conducted by Destination Analysts for Memphis Tourism in 2013, we can clearly prove the growing persuasiveness of our digital presence. Not only has the economic impact of the Memphis Travel website grown 88% over the past five years, it has also increased website-influenced visitation by 105% and influenced room night bookings by 15%. Our digital presence is clearly more powerful than ever before.

Based on our data, visitors whose travel plans were directly

influenced by the Memphis Travel website spent over $49M

in Memphis and Shelby County in 2018.

Over 120K Memphis visitors were directly influenced to travel to Memphis and Shelby County based on the information they

discovered on the Memphis Travel website in 2018.

Memphis visitors who were directly influenced by the

Memphis Travel website booked over 62K hotel room nights

during their trips to Memphis and Shelby County in 2018.

$49M+INFLUENCED

TRAVEL INFLUENCEDS P E N D I N G V I S I T O R S R O O M N I G H T S

120K+ 62K+I N F L U E N C E D

OUR SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGIESI N F L U E N C E M I L L E N N I A L T R A V E L

Graceland / Alex Shansky

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The Memphis Tourism digital teams delivered strong results across all of our social media channels in 2018, generating over 33M impressions of content about Memphis and Shelby County. The I Love Memphis Blog continues to have a powerful impact among locals and tourists alike. In 2018, the I Love Memphis Blog reached over 7,000 viewers on Instagram every day on average, generating over 7.4M impressions total—more than doubling our reach compared to 2017. Meanwhile, the Memphis Travel social media account generated over 15M impressions on Facebook alone in 2018. Our research indicates that younger travelers are the most likely to report that their travel plans are influenced by social media, so we also recruit Millennial influencers to promote traveling to Memphis and Shelby County, actively inspiring a new generation of travelers to come experience our destination for themselves.

Our social media channels have over 265K followers

across all social media platforms, including the

I Love Memphis Blog social media accounts.

The Memphis Travel social media accounts grew our following across all platforms by 26.9%

in 2018. We saw the largest leap on Facebook, with over

79% follower growth.

Our social media channels generated over 567K

engagements across all social media channels, including

clicks, likes, comments and shares of targeted content.

FOLLOWER265K+F O L L O W E R S

SOCIAL MEDIA 567K+

E N G A G E M E N T S

SOCIAL MEDIA

G R O W T H

26.9%

OUR PUBLIC RELATIONS TEAMD E L I V E R S G O O D N E W S

F O R M E M P H I S

Music Festival / James Wessels

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In 2018, Memphis Tourism earned media coverage for Memphis and Shelby County all over the world, including travel stories and television coverage in key origin markets like the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and France. Combined, our digital coverage of earned media was shared over 76,400 times across all social media channels—and that’s just what we can track. Our most notable media coverage in 2019 included placement on the list of “Best Places to Go in 2019,” published by Frommer’s; coverage on “Why Memphis is the Hottest Southern Destination,” published by the Travel Channel; and placement on the list of “Emerging Destinations for 2019,” published by Lonely Planet, which was also featured on Travel Lemming. We also earned coverage from Southern Living, Buzzfeed, Travel + Leisure and Food & Wine, among other high-impact outlets.

Our team of PR professionals earned over 650 media

placements by actively pitching stories and inviting journalists

to visit Memphis and Shelby County in person.

Over 3.6B readers heard the good news about Memphis and Shelby County from news outlets they know and respect

because of our proactive PR strategy.

Based on data available through our partnerships with

TrendKite and Cision, these media placements are valued

at over $17M in equivalent ad spend.

EQUIVALENT

650+ 3.6BE A R N E DM E D I A PLACEMENTS

READERS R E A C H E D

$17M

AD VALUE$$

$$

ATTRACTING MEMPHIS VISITORSF R O M A R O U N D T H E W O R L D

The Peabody Hotel / Alex Shansky

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Memphis is a world-renowned destination that consistently attracts visitors from all over the world, year after year. Based on data from our partners at VisaVue Travel, our top international origin markets for 2018 remained consistent, with Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan and Australia continuing to claim the top four spots. We also saw continued growth in visitation from each of these countries. In particular, we received 13.1% more visitors from the United Kingdom in 2018, compared to 2017. Our fastest growth in international visitation came from Spain this year. Spanish visitors represented over 6% of our visitors from international origin markets in 2018, translating to 132.8% visitation growth in a single year.

In 2018, Memphis and Shelby County welcomed

7.8% more visitors from international origin markets

compared to 2017, according to new data from VisaVue Travel.

Our partners at VisaVue Travel report that direct travel

spending by international visitors to Memphis and Shelby

County on Visa cards alone grew by 3.5% in 2018.

VisaVue Travel reports that our international visitors completed more transactions during their trips to Memphis and Shelby

County in 2018, which suggests a longer trip duration.

VISITATION TRAVEL SPENDING GROWTH IN

G R O W T H

7.8% 3.5% 12.2%

G R O W T H T R A N S A C T I O N S

$

OUR TOUR & TRAVEL TEAMD R I V E S M E A S U R A B L E R E S U L T S

Beale Street Landing / Jimmy Ogle

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Our tour and travel team represents Memphis and Shelby County domestically and abroad, generating and tracking future hotel room night bookings by working with our industry partners around the globe. The appeal of traveling to Memphis and Shelby County continued to grow in 2018, and our destination is currently featured in over 350 holiday travel programs in Europe alone, including holiday programs owned and promoted by British Airway Holidays, Trailfinders and Dertour, along with other high-impact holiday booking brands. Overall, international tour and travel companies booked over 300,000 hotel room nights in Memphis and Shelby County for future dates in 2018—and that’s just what we can prove. In North America, we tracked over 80,000 hotel room nights booked in Memphis and Shelby County in 2018 for future dates by over 700 different tour and travel companies. Again, that’s just what we can measure, based on the data available.

In 2018, we tracked over 385,000 future hotel room

night bookings by leveraging our relationships with industry

partners, domestically and abroad.

We estimate that the visitors represented by the future

hotel room night bookings will spend over $225M in

Memphis and Shelby County during their stays.

We generated a 28% increase in the number of future

hotel room night bookings tracked from tour operators located in the United States

and Canada.

ECONOMIC IMPACT DOMESTIC GROWTH

385K++28%

HOTEL ROOM NIGHTS

$225M+

MEETINGS, CONVENTIONS & SPORTS

A N O P P O R T U N I T Y F O R

G R E A T E R G R O W T H

Memphis Convention Center / Rendering courtesy of Looney Ricks Kiss and tvsdesign

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With the $200M renovation of the Memphis Convention Center well underway, our meetings and conventions sales team has more opportunity than ever before to chart the future of group business in Memphis and Shelby County. In the long run, this renovation will broaden our horizons as a city, redefining what’s possible for our industry in Memphis and Shelby County. While our meetings and conventions team works to pivot their sales strategies based on this renovation, our sports team is continuing to strengthen their influence. We recently added two new members to our sports team, and this market segment has consistently continued to generate strong results for our destination — including over 76,000 hotel room nights booked in 2018 for future dates with an estimated economic impact of $75 million.

Our meetings and conventions sales team

booked over 113K room nights for future dates, with 76K

additional room nights booked for sporting events.

Our conventions sales team generated over $70M in

economic impact in 2018, while our sports sales team

generated an economic impact of more than $75M.

Our sports team grew the number of sports events held

in our city by over 50% in 2018. Overall, more than 400 events were booked in Memphis and

Shelby County in 2018.

FUTURE EVENTSROOM NIGHTSB O O K E DB O O K E D I M P A C T

190K+ 400+$145M+ ECONOMIC

$

ECONOMICIMPACT

AN ENHANCED EXPERIENCEF O R M E M P H I S V I S I T O R S

Railgarten / Craig Thompson

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Now more than ever, the visitor experience reaches beyond individual travelers. Online reviews, social media and personal influencers all increase the potential impact of each positive visitor experience exponentially. Just one visitor with an outstanding travel experience in Memphis and Shelby County can have an outsized impact on the perspectives of future visitors. That’s why it’s so important that we continue to deliver exceptional experiences to everyone who visits Memphis and Shelby County, transforming every traveler into a brand ambassador for our city. Delivering a memorable visitor experience is essential to attracting more visitors to Memphis and Shelby County, and that’s why we prioritize connecting with visitors at every touchpoint—whether they’re visiting our website, stopping by a visitor center or interacting with front-line employees at one of the 2,000+ hospitality and leisure industry businesses in our community.

The Memphis visitor centers welcomed over 419K visitors in

2018, providing over 135K recommendations for member

businesses directly to visitors, one on one.

Welcome to Memphis trained over 1,584 front-line

employees at hospitality businesses, so our

visitors have the best possible experience.

In 2018, the Memphis Travel website referred over 243K users to the websites of our local members, including

attractions, hotels and restaurants, among others.

VISITORS SERVED EMPLOYEES TRAINED ONLINE REFERRALS

1,584 243K+419K+

LANI GLANCY T H E C H A I R O F O U R B O A R D

Downtown Aerial / Jack Kenner

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Over the past TWO YEARS, while I served as Board Chair, we laid a SOLID FOUNDATION FOR THE FUTURE OF MEMPHIS TOURISM.

■ Completed the Tourism 20/20 strategic plan to understand the opportunities and amenities for visitors across all of Memphis and Shelby County

■ Championed a data-first strategy that delivers compelling insights to inform all of our investment and promotional decisions

■ Developed an extensive relationship with the Downtown Memphis Commission to recruit new hotels, with a number of promising possibilities emerging and several property developments already underway

■ Secured long-term sources of funding for the Memphis Tourism organization, enabling the team to focus on envisioning, improving and championing the City’s visitor experience not only in the United States, but globally

However, no project will have a larger long-term impact on the future of Memphis tourism than the transformation of the MEMPHIS CONVENTION CENTER. Construction is currently underway. Once completed, every part of the building will impress with hotel-quality finishes, state-of-the-art meeting rooms, a panoramic glass exterior and new outdoor spaces. Our Memphis Convention Center will be a beacon for the City, attracting new business and increasing the ECONOMIC IMPACT of convention attendees. As important, it will improve the event experience for our loyal meeting partners, whose commitment to Memphis over many years has often required great fortitude and resilience.

Today, we have so much to celebrate in Memphis and Shelby County. We are looking forward, not back. We are seeing investments increase, buildings rise and a population working together to achieve the PROMISE OF WHAT IS TO COME.

Thank you to the Executive Committee and Board, the incredible staff of Memphis Tourism and, especially, to Kevin Kane, Linda Sawyer, Mary Schmitz and Regena Bearden. It’s been my HONOR AND PRIVILEGE to be part of the Memphis journey.

Warm regards,

Lani Glancy

We:

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Sally Pace, Vice ChairConnect Healthcare Collaboration

Doug Browne, SecretaryThe Peabody Memphis

E X E C U T I V E C O M M I T T E E

Lani Glancy, Board ChairAutoZone

Scott Brockman, TreasurerMemphis-Shelby County Airport Authority

Harold GraeterAutoZone Liberty Bowl

Downtown Aerial / Jack Kenner

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Ekundayo BandeleThe Hattiloo Theatre

Cindy BrewerLEO Events

Mauricio CalvoLatino Memphis

Chris CanaleOld Dominick Distillery

Paul ChandlerGermantown Performing Arts Center

Frank Colvett, Jr., Ex OfficioRepresenting the Memphis City Council

Christopher CriderSheraton Memphis Downtown Hotel

Allison Fouché, Ex OfficioRepresenting the Mayor of Memphis

Lori Huffstutler, Ex OfficioRepresenting Hospitality Sales &

Marketing Association InternationalThe Guest House at Graceland

B O A R D O F D I R E C T O R S

Danielle Inez, Ex OfficioRepresenting the Mayor of Shelby County

Cynthia Johnson, Ex OfficioRepresenting the Metro Memphis

Attractions Association The Hu Hotel

Dwight JohnsonFedExForum/Memphis Grizzlies

Commissioner Eddie Jones, Ex OfficioRepresenting the Shelby

County Commission

Ernie Mellor, Ex OfficioRepresenting the Memphis

Restaurant AssociationHog Wild/A Moveable Feast Catering

Jennifer OswaltDowntown Memphis Commission

Beverly RobertsonGreater Memphis Chamber

Elizabeth RouseArtsMemphis

Melodye RubyHyde Family Foundation

Bathsheba SamsInternational Paper Company

Darrell SmithFedEx St. Jude Classic

Joellyn SullivanBeale Street Merchants Association

Silky O’Sullivans

Craig UngerMemphis Redbirds

Tricia Weatherford, Ex OfficioRepresenting the Metropolitan

Memphis Hotel & Lodging AssociationResidence Inn Downtown Memphis Hotel

Duncan WilliamsDuncan-Williams, Inc.

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Downtown Aerial / Jack Kenner