Go Wichita becomes Visit Wichita, announces marketing campaign

As part of its 35th anniversary – and to kick off a new marketing campaign for the city – Go Wichita Convention and Visitors Bureau has a new name: Visit Wichita.

Susie Santo, CEO and president of Visit Wichita, made the announcement at the group’s annual meeting Thursday at the Marriott.

Visitors now spend more than $1 billion each year in the Wichita area and contribute more than $92.4 million in taxes, Santo said.

In May, Visit Wichita will launch an 11-week marketing campaign that will be financed by the organization’s increased funding.

The group’s funding nearly doubled after the City Council approved a tourism business improvement ordinance that collects a 2.75 percent fee per night on hotels with more than 50 rooms. The money is to be used to promote Wichita as a destination.

Visit Wichita’s 2015 budget is $2.4 million, with an additional $2.3 million expected to be collected through the improvement district tax.

In the next nine years, the tax is expected to bring in $24 million, Santo said. She thanked council members for creating the funding and said it will help Wichita increase its reputation as a unique visitor destination.

Last fall, Visit Wichita held community branding meetings and surveys. The result of those surveys showed that people most often identified Wichita as “friendly.”

The surveys, which were given to visitors and local residents, found local residents were much more critical in their views of Wichita than visitors, Santo said.

In previous years, about 88 percent of Go Wichita’s yearly budget has come from city allocations, which are collected by the city from hotel stays, Santo said.

The city and Visit Wichita will work in the first part of the year to create financial transparency disclosure guidelines

The guidelines, spurred by criticism over a lack of transparency among government-funded entities – particularly leading up to the defeat of a 1-cent-per-dollar city sales tax in November – may eventually also apply to entities like the Wichita Downtown Development Corporation and the Greater Wichita Economic Development Coalition.

The city started funding convention activities in 1976, said City Manager Robert Layton. The Chamber of Commerce was the convention vendor from 1976 to 1980, when an independent convention and visitors bureau was established.

This story was originally published February 19, 2015 at 1:59 PM with the headline "Go Wichita becomes Visit Wichita, announces marketing campaign."