The Records Keep Falling
July TOT revenue up 21 percent over last year
The Town of Mammoth Lakes continues to set visitation and revenue records.
This June was the first June in history which saw Transient Occupancy Revenue (room tax) collections top $1 million for the month.
July’s room tax revenue came in at approximately $1.7 million, 21 percent above last year’s record July.
At Mammoth’s Town Council meeting on Wednesday evening, newly promoted Parks and Recreation Department Head Stuart Brown said participation in the Town’s summer camp programs was up 25 percent this year.
And if you like numbers, there were all sorts of ‘em thrown around at the Mammoth Lakes Tourism (MLT) Board meeting on Wednesday, as SMARI (a marketing research firm) gave its annual marketing effectiveness report. The most interesting number: 2.32 million. That’s the number of unique visitors SMARI estimated that came to Mammoth last year. Mammoth Lakes Tourism Executive Director John Urdi said that it is the first time in nearly ten years that someone has made a best guess in quantifying the number of visitors that came to Mammoth in a particular year.
Another consulting group, he said, estimated 1.5 million visitors back in 2007 and 4 million total visitor days.
SMARI research showed the average guest stayed 3.2 days. Do the math and that equals 7.44 million total visitor days.
MLT increased its ad spend from approximately $636,000 in 2014 to $1,044,000 in 2015, which SMARI said resulted in increased market awareness and visitation. SMARI said MLT should take credit for nearly 200,000 “influenced trips” to Mammoth and $270 million in enhanced economic activity. It also estimated the per-trip expenditure rose 30 percent last year.
SMARI claims that every dollar Mammoth spent on advertising created approximately $261 in visitor spending and $7 in tax revenue for the Town.
Board member Erik Forsell, Marketing Director for Mammoth Mountain, said MMSA hosted 323,000 unique skiers in 2015-2016.
On average, value passholders ski eight days per season while ticketed skiers ski about two days every two years.
SMARI estimated 859,000 winter visitors to Mammoth last year, placing the percentage of skiing visitors at about 40 percent.
Mammoth’s “Net Promoter Score” (calculated by subtracting the number of a resort’s detractors from a resort’s promoters per 100 visitors) has improved from 47 to 56 over the past two years according to SMARI research.
