Fairfield visitor’s bureau touts new programs

FAIRFIELD – Visit Fairfield Iowa Director Terry Baker gave her office’s annual tourism report to the Fairfield City Council during its meeting Monday night.

Baker said the visitor’s bureau has focused its efforts on promoting local small businesses, calling them the “backbone of the tourism industry.”

“They’re also the backbone of what makes this community livable,” Baker said. “If we don’t have great shops in our downtown or great restaurants to go to, we find ourselves going out of town to take care of those needs.”

Baker spoke about how the Visit Fairfield website, visitfairfieldiowa.com/blog, has added 25 blogs since May with the addition of the community bloggers initiative. A team of 10 writers formed earlier this year with the purpose of contributing blogs (online articles) on various things to do in and around Fairfield. For instance, the website has blogs on what to do on a rainy day, where to appreciate the best art in town, what to see and do at landmarks such as Maasdam Barns and the Carnegie Historical Museum, and much more.

Moving on to the visitor’s bureau’s finances, Baker noted that her office cut its budget 32 percent last year in the wake of the pandemic and unpredictable travel climate. She said hotel/motel tax receipts fell 44% that year. That was hard on the visitor’s bureau’s budget, 82% of which came from hotel/motel taxes.

Baker said the bureau also overhauled its budget to focus more on marketing, and was able to increase spending on marketing by cutting other items from the budget.

Baker said that survey data from the state and nation showed tourists are taking fewer trips now, but they’re willing to travel longer and they prefer rural areas, which she said could be to Fairfield’s advantage.

Baker announced that the bureau’s “digital passport” for easily accessing attractions, restaurants and shopping on a smart phone had just gone live earlier that day.

Baker said that a person merely needs to download an app to their smart phone, which will connect them with local businesses so they can see what the business has on sale.