Arkansas State Parks, Recreation and Travel Commission Meeting Summary

• 
  SAVE
• 
  SHARE
• 
  TEXT SIZE
• 
  PRINT
• 
  COMMENT
• 
  PDF

. October 14, 2008

JULY 22, 2008. The following is a synopsis of the Arkansas State Parks, Recreation and Travel Commission meeting held July 16-17, 2008, in Russellville, Arkansas. For questions regarding this report, please contact Jana Greenbaum, communications manager, at 501-682-7606.

Executive Director's Report

Flood Recovery

The state has been inundated with a series of tornadoes and extensive flooding that has yet to recede in many places. Sixty-two of Arkansas's 75 counties have been declared federal disaster areas. Despite the devastation, many tourist destinations have recovered and are ready to welcome guests.

The Department will submit a request for Economic Development Act investment funds to deal with two critical issues:

1) The problem that high water and flood damage caused, and continues to cause, in the state;

2) The need to correct the perception in our marketing area that our entire state is still underwater, or covered with debris from tornadoes.

For more information on this request, contact Richard W. Davies, executive director at 501-682-2535.

Meeting Changes

There has been a change in the Commission meeting dates. Next month will be a joint meeting with ADED on Aug. 21 at Mt. Magazine State Park. The September meeting will be in Little Rock on the 17th and 18th and will include the advertising presentation and Arkansas Hospitality Show. On Oct. 13 there will be a staff appreciation dinner at DeGray Lake Resort State Park with the Commission meeting on Oct. 14. For more information on SPRTC meetings, contact Gloria Robins, executive assistant to the executive director, at 501-682-7614.

Tourism Division

Tourism Development Section

Tourism Director Joe David Rice reported that agritourism is coming on strong and Arkansas is getting a lot of attention about it. The Tourism Development section is active in the growing agritourism trend. On July 12, Donna Perrin, section manager, and representatives from five other agencies took part in "Take a Back Road: Discover Rural Arkansas" at the River Market in Little Rock. The purpose of the event was to announce the partnership between the agencies and organizations. They are working together to promote awareness of agricultural tourism across Arkansas and unveiled the initiative's new Web site, www.arkagritourism.org. The Arkansas Agritourism Initiative partners have been collaborating over the last year to develop strategies that will help the agritourism industry grow into a catalyst for rural economic development across the state. The partnering agencies/organizations are Arkansas Agriculture Department, Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, Arkansas Farm Bureau, National Agricultural Law Center, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture and Winthrop Rockefeller Institute of the University of Arkansas system.

Commissioners received the ninth edition of the "Living in Arkansas" retirement/relocation publication by Arkansas Business Publishing Group. The magazine is now in stock and 75,000 copies were printed.

All regional budgets were reviewed and approved for FY09. The grant amount for each of Arkansas's Regional Tourist Associations is $96,062.75.

The Tourism Development section assembled the contents of the Fall/Winter 2008-2009 edition of the Calendar of Events. The cover was prepared by CJRW and submitted for approval in April. Events for Spring/Summer 2009 will be collected throughout the month of August. For more information, contact Donna Perrin at 501- 682-1926.

Research and Information Services Section

The Research and Information Services section processed 102,320 requests for information during June 2008. The year-to-date total is 284,458, down 8.4 percent compared to the same period in 2007. There were 733 requests for retirement/relocation information in June 2007. Arkansas State Welcome Center visitation was 94,951 in June, down 13.6 percent from June 2007. January to June visitation is 351,891, down 12.7 percent.

Section Manager Joanne Hinson provided local visitation and demographic data for ERA, and tax data for Longwoods International, in support of the research project currently underway. For more information, contact Joanne Hinson at 501-324-1520.

Communications Section

Communications Section staff lead familiarization tours throughout the state June 1-18. Articles from those tours are beginning to appear in various publications. A photographer on the trip produced more than 800 photos of Arkansas for purchase by media through his Web site and his photography agencies. The section began work on the 2009 Tour Guide, updating each entry and writing new copy. For more information on communications section activities, contact Jana Greenbaum at 501-682-7602.

Aristotle

Visitors increased slightly (2.9 percent) comparing June '07 to June '08. Unique Visitors increased 18.6 percent comparing June '07 to May '08. Visitors have increased 9.2 percent comparing fiscal year 2007 to fiscal year 2008.

Arkansas.com ranks No. 3 among the 50 state tourism Web sites in June - below only Michigan and Virginia. Arkansas.com ranks No. 1 among contiguous states. "Places to Stay - Cabins" was the most visited page after the home page in June. "Maps" remained the second highest entry page to the site after the home page with 26,500 visitors.

E-mails were sent to 38,813 Missouri e-mail addresses on June 6 as part of a campaign targeting Missouri residents. The e-mail directed people to a landing page containing information on lodging, lakes, activities and other vacation ideas in the Arkansas Ozarks. The e-mail was viewed 3,469 times and 1,754 people clicked through to the landing page. In relation to the e-mail campaign, Aristotle also began a keyword buy campaign to drive traffic to the landing page through search engines. For information about Arkansas.com, contact Jon Eudy at 501-374-4638.

CJRW

The Commission voted to purchase a full-page ad at a cost of $19,984 in Southwest Airlines' "Spirit" magazine. The publication recently introduced a new travel-related section named "Your Adventure In [city]." This September, Little Rock will be the feature destination in this six-to-eight-page section. Readers will take a short quiz that will direct them to editorial coverage of approximately one or two paragraphs reflecting various areas of interest pertaining to Little Rock and its surrounding area. There will be four different itineraries for the city, and only one of the four is linked to the readers' answers. The quiz can be taken repeatedly, and each time readers may find they are directed to a different area of interest within the Little Rock area. The full-page ad will complement the editorial.

The Commission voted to allocate $18,000 (for 6 months) to place a 10- to 13-minute video on Comcast Video-On-Demand in 16 markets in surrounding states, plus Memphis in a month or two. The Travel On Demand section will house multiple videos from markets in the South. Viewers can access the video at their leisure using their Comcast digital cable remote. In addition, Comcast has agreed to air all of Arkansas's VOD videos in the travel section. Any additional videos submitted would run at no charge to the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism and would run across all the markets listed below in the Arkansas section of Travel On Demand: Little Rock, AR; Chattanooga, TN; Knoxville, TN; Huntington, WV; Huntsville, AL; Florence, AL; Tri-Cities (East TN - Bristol, VA/TN, Johnson City, TN); Tuscaloosa, AL; Mobile, AL; Jackson, MS; Nashville, TN; Paducah, KY; Elizabethtown, KY; Monroe, LA; Hattiesburg, MS; Tupelo, MS; Memphis, TN. The Commission also voted to allocate up to $7,000 of ads to promote the fact that Arkansas is on Video on Demand with Comcast Cable. For more information, contact Joe David Rice at 501-682-1088.

Parks Division

CY2008 Fees & Rates

Commissioners received the proposed preliminary fee and rate recommendations for review and consideration at the August SPRTC meeting. Final approval will take place at the September SPRTC meeting, following public comment and input. For more information, contact Joe Jacobs at 501-682-6923.

Village Creek Resort: Golf Course Update

The Commission reviewed photos from June 12 vs. July 11 in the update of the condition of the Village Creek golf course. The Commission approved the proposed preview rates by Village Creek Resort LLC for the first nine holes of the Andy Dye Signature Golf Course at Village Creek. Because the course will be opened on a "preview" basis and with incomplete facilities, the rates will only be through March 31, 2009. The first nine holes are scheduled to open for limited play late this summer. For more information contact Al Frommeyer at 615-423-3388.

Lake Dardanelle State Park Riverboat Project

In May, Brenda Ringhardt, representing The Ritz, Inc., presented a proposal to establish a riverboat restaurant adjacent to the private marina and day-use area at Lake Dardanelle State Park. At that meeting, the Commission voted to proceed with the review process, including public comment on the proposal. There was a 30-day public comment period.

After review of public comments on the proposed project and an on-site evaluation, the commission voted on Thursday to disapprove the project. For more information, contact Greg Butts at 501-682-7743 or Joe Jacobs at 501-682-6923.

Geocaching

As part of this year's 75th anniversary of the Arkansas State Park system, special geocaches have been placed in all 52 state parks. The new program is called ParkCache and features special geocaches and trackable geocoins. Each ParkCache includes a clue that when combined with clues from all 52 caches will give geocachers the GPS coordinates to a final ParkCache. For more information, contact Joe Jacobs at 501-682-6923.

The State Parks, Recreation and Travel Commission will meet again Aug. 21, 2008 at Mt. Magazine State Park. For information on the meeting, contact Gloria Robins at 501-682-7614.