Chamber Monthly Reports
AS SEEN IN THE RED ROCK NEWS
December 18, 2020
Our cornucopia of hiking trails – around 400 miles of them – may seem a little overwhelming to the casual hiker. Have you found yourself visiting the same trails time and again due to their familiarity? Would you appreciate a site where you can search trails by level of difficulty, amount of time needed, views and elevation gain? That’s what thousands of people have discovered at SedonaTrailFinder.com, opening a new world of outdoor opportunities even to longtime residents.
An update on this successful Chamber site is just one of the nuggets that make our monthly City Council reports relevant to you. SedonaTrailFinder.com, created in partnership with The Hike House, has been a big hit since we launched it in mid-August, with 4,653 users and almost 25,000 pageviews to date. Check out the gorgeous pictures of our 30 most beautiful hikes right on the landing page, with the length of each and an estimate of how much time you will need to get out there and experience them. You will bookmark it for sure!
Our most recent report to the Council also delivers positive news about the state of our lodging industry, a key economic indicator we discussed in a recent column. November trends continued positive, with occupancy rates and average daily rate – the average amount paid for a hotel room – up double digits over the middle weeks of November 2019.
The latest report adds context to that data, showing the occupancy rate steadily recovering in October from last spring’s severe crash, and the average daily rate surpassing the last year’s July-October period by 12.7%, very good news for our economy and employment picture.
In updating Sedona’s progress on achieving Sustainable Tourism Plan tactics, we informed Council that 11 businesses and organizations achieved sustainability certification for the first time in 2020, and two more achieved upgraded status. One hundred businesses are now certified sustainable by the Sustainability Alliance, and the program has received more than 300 media mentions, gaining public attention for the certified businesses.
Meanwhile, the water refill stations around town have eliminated tens of thousands of single-use plastic bottles, an impressive achievement we can all be proud of. The stations at Sunset Park and Posse Grounds Park have saved 16,104 bottles since April 2019. An amazing 47,968 water bottles were filled at the Visitor Center between July 2019 and October of this year.
The report also updates you a review of safety practices at the Visitor Center, where, despite drop-in traffic being down significantly in 2020, we have served more than 20,000 people in person.
You will also get a feel for how we communicate with visitors and residents and see which of our social media posts had the most impact last month.
See the report for yourself in the “Reports and Research” section of SedonaChamber.com and check back each month for the most recent one.
With just a week to go before Christmas, don’t forget to ‘shop local’ for those unique Sedona gifts, and subscribe to our free bi-monthly e-Newsletter at SedonaChamber.com and stay up-to-the-minute on where to get the best discounts and deals. Happy Holidays!
–Michelle Conway,
Interim President/CEO and Director of Marketing