Great Falls Area Chamber of Commerce

reat Falls Montana Tourism is the leading marketer to encourage overnight travel to Montana's Basecamp. Last year, Great Falls Montana Tourism spent $205,000 in paid media placements which generated 27,075,115 impressions and a click through rate of .51%. Our owned media efforts generated 5.6 million impressions. Our 2021 nonresident overnight visitation grew by 47% over 2019. We benefited from pent-up demand for travel across the United States. The 2021 traveler traded urban experiences for outdoor adventure in 2021 and Great Falls had plenty to offer them. The tourism landscape in 2022 was impacted by temporary lodging needs in Great Falls connected to some amazing construction projects that resulted in hotel stays greater than 30 days. Lodging Tax and Tourism Business Improvement District Assessments are not collected from lodging stays over 30 days. Last year, we saw a 6% increase in rooms rented in Great Falls (over 2019), however, 22% of them were exempt from tax and assessments, compared to 14% in 2019. Our convention recruitment effort continues to work with Great Falls Champions to find leads through their business, industry, and passion affiliations. It's because of amazing Great Falls residents who champion our community that we played host to the International Scout Expo, The Montana East West Shrine Game, Montana High School Rodeo Association Finals, Big River Ruckus, Flight Over the Falls, Montana Student Council Convention, and Montana Economic Developers Association Fall Conference. The ticketed reservation system at Glacier National Park will be enhanced in 2023 and cover all entrances. There is going to be new confusion over this system and our team will be here to help. The best tip we can offer right now is to enter the park before 6 am or after 3 pm, when no reservation ticket is required. You'll still need a National Park entrance pass. Great Falls Montana Tourism will be leading a first ever tourism master planning effort in 2023. This endeavor will be inclusive and provide research and analysis of Great Falls as a destination and Great Falls Montana Tourism as an organization. This will be used to develop a Destination Strategic Plan where the data, research, industry trends, and community input determines our 10-year tourism future with identified strategic priorities and metrics to measure success. We hit an amazing milestone with Montana's #1 Podcast, We're No Dam Experts, by airing our 100th episode featuring local author Jamie Ford, and kept going, making new episodes every week! Since its humble beginning, Tourism's podcast has been downloaded over 23,000 times – and people don't even really download podcasts. This is an amazing tool that will certainly get your friends and family excited to visit and explore Great Falls. Encourage them to listen! We can use more overnight visitors in Montana's Basecamp for Art & Adventure, stimulating our local economy! Sincerely, Great Falls Montana Tourism Tourism G T O U R I S M 21 Great Falls Area Chamber of Commerce www.greatfallschamber.org

• Cover