Lake County Tourism District reports $75 million economic impact, highlights marketing gains

Ryan Zisher, executive director of the Lake County Tourism Improvement District, told the Clearlake City Council the district’s 2022 work generated an estimated $75,000,000 in economic activity for Lake County, produced about $13,000,000 in combined state and local tax revenue and supported roughly 1,800 local jobs. "These numbers come from Broadband and Associates and Visit California data," Zisher said, citing geofencing and travel‑spend estimates.

Zisher walked the council through marketing metrics used to judge performance: the district’s website recorded roughly 464,000 pageviews in 2022 (a 12% year‑over‑year increase), new users rose about 11%, and sessions increased about 8.7%. He said paid search remains the largest traffic driver (a reported paid‑search CTR of about 7.43%), programmatic display produced roughly 1.7 million impressions with about 1,600 clicks and the district is experimenting with influencer marketing while negotiating rights to creative assets so video and photography can be repurposed across campaigns.

The presentation also covered distribution efforts such as a visitor map that sold out its initial 5,000 copies and partnerships that expanded visibility in prioritized markets including Santa Rosa, Sacramento and parts of the Bay Area. Zisher said the district had a mixed revenue year — county assessments and transient‑occupancy tax receipts experienced timing shifts that reduced recorded revenue versus prior years — and emphasized that cash‑basis accounting affected year‑to‑year comparisons.

On governance, Zisher reported the district completed a renewal process: the prior district will sunset at the end of the year and a new district takes effect in January 2024 with a 2.5% assessment for 10 years to support marketing and operations. Council members asked about short‑term rentals and tracking of transient‑occupancy tax; Zisher described using third‑party datasets (AirDNA) and a 'book direct' widget to track listings and bookings but cautioned that mapping tools and platform data can produce errors and that enforcement and registration remain challenges.

Council members thanked the presenter for the overview. The presentation provided the council with updated metrics and a planning baseline as the city and district coordinate outreach and enforcement related to short‑term rentals.