Tourism expansion in Elk Grove

Friday, November 2, 2018

The head of a local visitors bureau spoke at the Oct. 24 Elk Grove City Council meeting regarding the importance of building a brand and drawing tourists to the city.

In his presentation, Visit Elk Grove (VEG) Executive Director J.T. Thompson described Elk Grove as a destination spot.

To quote Thompson, “We’re a great destination. We have a great city, we have great people, we have a very diverse community, and we have a very active community that likes to do things, likes to go out.”

The city established a tourism-marketing district more than three years ago to fund promotion efforts for Elk Grove hotels.

In 2015, the city and VEG signed a memorandum of understanding that charged VEG with administering funds via the tourism-marketing district.

Visit Elk Grove, which uses the marketing name Explore Elk Grove, seeks to generate visitor economic impact, and pursue its mission to “increase overnight stays in the city through destination development and brand management.”

Thompson said that VEG has six hotel partners, which have the highest occupancy, average daily rate and revenue per available room among their competitors in the region, including Lodi, Sacramento and Rancho Cordova.

The visitors bureau also aims to attract traffic to Elk Grove, develop local and regional partnerships, join interests between city and county governments and serve as a liaison between potential visitors and the businesses that host them.

Besides targeting business and sports travelers, the bureau has started work on the leisure market, including people seeking mini-vacations.

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