Economic Development: January 2005 Economic Development Report

January 2005 Economic Development Report

Nelson County Department of Economic Development and Tourism
January 2005 Report

Economic Development Update
Projects
* Managing Lovingston Revitalization planning grant project
* Facilitating Lovingston historic district project
* Issued request for proposals for market analysis for Lovingston and Nellsyford planning processes
* Working with the Economic Development Authority on gateway signs

Meetings
December 2 ö Virginia Main Street market analysis workshop
December 2 ö Economic Development Authority
December 3 ö Lovingston revitalization grant
December 4 ö business retention visit
December 6 ö staff training for web site
December 6 ö Department of Historic Resources ö Lovingston Historic District
December 7 ö Explore Nelson Wine
December 9 - Lovingston revitalization grant
December 9 ö Rockbridge Economic Development Partnership
December 10 ö business retention visit
December 10 ö CVEC Broadband Over Powerlines
December 13 ö business retention visit
December 14 ö Board of Supervisors - Department of Historic Resources ö
Lovingston Historic District
December 15 - Lovingston revitalization grant
December 21 - Lovingston revitalization grant
December 28 ö business retention visit

Referrals from the Economic Development Directory
Month           Viewers on the VA section        Viewers on nelsoncounty.com
September       704                              50
October         779                              75
November        707                              65

Montebello Fish Hatchery Visitation
December 2004 ö   46 paid visitors

Recruitment and Retention
Working with 3 new prospects and 4 ongoing relationships

Web Site Update
* The new site was launched in July 2004
* Average monthly views in 2003 ö 5000
* December views ö 43,388
* Board of Supervisors site includes agendas and meeting minutes
* There have been more than 3500 downloads of the zoning ordinance
information

Tourism Update

Projects
* Working with Virginia Logo company on the Tourist Oriented Directional
Signage program
* Wintergreen Resort discount ski vouchers available

Marketing and Promotion
* 10 media leads distributed to Nelson County tourism businesses
* Short listed for In Flight network program on Frontier Airlines

Meetings
December 2 ö Orchard House B & B open house
December 9 ö Jamestown 2007
December 16 ö Virginia DeRailer event
December 20 ö In Flight network

Tourism Statistics
            December 2004     YTD 2004     December 2003            YTD 2003
Phone       72                      1,825             72                                  1,991
Labels      268                     9,081             259                                10,183
Internet    43,388                 255,882         5,329                             78,004
Walk In     530                    12,067           200                     9,648

Taxes       November 2004     YTD 2004     November 2003            YTD 2003
Lodging     $8,645                   167,844        10,059                           166,626
Meals         $28,999                 434,594         29,653                           399,257

Media Coverage
Nelson County Times, News Advance, Daily Progress, News Virginian, magazines
Column Inches ö 443 Number of articles - 22
Average open rate is $23.67 per column inch for regional papers ö
Nelson County received $10,486 in advertising through print media sources