The Kosciusko County Convention, Recreation and Visitors Commission heard updates from the Kosciusko County Convention And Visitors Bureau and the City-County Athletic Complex (CCAC) Wednesday.
Cori Humes, executive director of the KCCVB, informed the Commission on some recent travel trends.
Inflation is still affecting travelers, “but not as nearly as much as we thought,” she said. Hearing from area accommodations, the county is doing well in keeping visitors in the county.
The COVID-19 pandemic doesn’t seem to be affecting travel as much as previous months, but about 19% of people say COVID will impact their travel decisions in the next six months.
There is about 31% of people that are concerned about personal finances impacting travel decisions. About 34% of people say transportation costs will impact travel decisions and if they do decide to travel, they may travel closer to home.
A plus, Humes shared, is there are more new travelers to the area than returning. Occupancy rates are also up substantially than previous months, but Humes didn’t provide numbers.
Humes also informed the Commission on some things pertaining to the bureau itself.
The bureau got the visitor’s guide in on May 26 and about 31,600 have been distributed in the last six weeks. The bureau printed 50,000 copies of the guides and are trying to get the remainder out.
There were 230 visitors to the bureau in the last month.
The bureau has seen more sign ups for the Engage Kosciusko digital passport program, which will include both challenge passports, which will give users the chance to earn prizes, and savings passports, which will give users the opportunity to receive discounts at participating area businesses. Humes said there some “really great redemptions” in the program. There have 746 signups for the program since March.
Mike Hagy, executive director of the CCAC, said the complex wrapped up the fast-pitch softball series that ended Saturday. There were 29 teams, with three teams from Indiana and others coming from other states like Virginia.
Starting today, the CCAC will start a baseball World Series through Sunday. There will be 28 teams involved in that tournament.
The CCAC did get approved to joining the NFL flag football program, so the complex will have a flag football program starting in the fall with a target of September to start leagues. Registrations have begun for the program.
