Commerce RI: Hotel room revenue increases nearly 7% year to date through June

LARA SALAMANO, R.I. Commerce Corp.'s chief marketing officer, said, “Through our efforts at the Commerce Corporation in conjunction with our colleagues in the tourism regions, we are welcoming a growing number of visitors to our great state.” / COURTESY LINKEDIN
LARA SALAMANO, R.I. Commerce Corp.'s chief marketing officer, said, “Through our efforts at the Commerce Corporation in conjunction with our colleagues in the tourism regions, we are welcoming a growing number of visitors to our great state.” / COURTESY LINKEDIN

PROVIDENCE – Hotel room revenue through June has increased 6.9 percent year over year in Rhode Island, according to the R.I. Commerce Corp.
Commerce RI, which released tourism figures on Thursday, citing data from STR Inc., a global travel-industry monitoring service, said hotel room revenue growth was higher in Rhode Island compared with New England, which experienced a 3.2 percent increase during the same time frame, and that of the nation, which saw 4.7 percent year-over-year growth.
The occupancy rate increase also was higher in Rhode Island for the six-month period compared with the same period last year, rising 0.2 percent, while it fell 1.1 percent in New England and 0.1 percent in the United States.
Revenue per available room increased 5.8 percent in Rhode Island compared with 1.9 percent in New England and 3.1 percent in the U.S.
Commerce RI, which launched a tourism campaign that was widely mocked earlier this year for its since-dropped “Cooler & Warmer” slogan and a promotional video that featured footage from Iceland, said it has seen increased activity on the state’s website, visitrhodeisland.com as well as a surge in social media followers.

Commerce RI said that in July, the state website experienced a 35.5 percent increase in activity over the previous month. Nearly 150,000 visitors visited the site, 80 percent of whom were new visitors.

It also said its new digital ad campaign, which began Aug. 2 and will run through Sept. 30, is showing positive results. Its goal is to reach new visitors in the Boston-Philadelphia corridor, re-engage previous visitors and Rhode Island residents, and drive visits to Rhode Island over the summer and beyond. Ads appear on sites where visitors get information on travel and related topics, leveraging digital, mobile and paid search, according to a news release from Commerce RI.

“Through our efforts at the Commerce Corporation in conjunction with our colleagues in the tourism regions, we are welcoming a growing number of visitors to our great state,” Lara Salamano, chief marketing officer, R.I. Commerce Corp., said in a statement. “The strong performance of the digital ad campaign tells us that our strategic deployment of citizen-generated content is helping to amplify the Rhode Island brand.”

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Seth Goldenberg, founder and CEO of Epic Decade, is leading the Make It Yours campaign, which allows residents to share stories, images and suggestions about the state.

“Our Make It Yours campaign is a demonstration of how our Rhode Island community is being empowered to share their voice and use social media to become crowd ambassadors for their home,” he said.

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