STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

“Don’t count the days. Make the days count.”

This bit of shared wisdom—from Muhammad Ali, no less—crowns Visit Sun Valley’s new video designed to lure tourists to Sun Valley.

The website video takes visitors zipping through snatches of fly fishing, up the gondola, hovering over the symphony, cruising an art gallery, golfing, hiking, diving off the dock at Redfish Lake and enjoying a Grumpy’s schooner—all with special effects.

It replaces last year’s campaign featuring John Muir’s famous saying, “The mountains are calling and I must go.”

And, hopefully, Fido will get the message in a summer season that will see the Mountain Dog Games come to Sun Valley Aug. 24 through 26, while the Discrete Cirque Running Series redefines what mountain running is all about on Aug. 11.

Visit Sun Valley’s Executive Director Scott Fortner unveiled this year’s campaign on Tuesday during a community meeting hosted by his organization, which is charged with raising the awareness of Sun Valley.

Bookings for summer and fall parallel last year’s summer and fall bookings, although with lower numbers so far.

The exception is the third week of August which last year saw a huge spike due to the total solar eclipse. Bookings dip during that time this summer as families prepare for children to return to school.

Bookings climb again during September.

“We’re calling fall ‘Festival Season,’ ” said Fortner, pointing out the Trailing of the Sheep, Oktoberfest, Harvest Fest and Wagon Days that fall during that time.

This year Visit Sun Valley will tout the message that Sun Valley is family-friendly, while promoting its new designation as the nation’s first and only Dark Sky Reserve. It will also tout  the new bicycle trails at Galena Lodge and the area’s arts and culture.

“We want to build more awareness for spring and fall,” he said.

Fortner added that his organization is recruiting influencers to post about their experiences in Sun Valley.

“People don’t want to hear what the destination marketing organization has to say. They want to hear what somebody else has to say about that experience,” he said.

Fortner said the winter tourist season, which came on the heels of one of the best winter seasons in a long time, got off to a slow start as snow refused to fall. As a result, Sun Valley tallied 380,000 skier visits—down 5 percent from the 2016-17 season.

That said, LOT tax collections were up 4 percent and emplanements were up 12 percent—a solid increase, although not as lofty as the 25 percent increase last summer. There was also a 13 percent increase in the average daily rate charged at hotels and other lodging properties and a 15 percent increase in web searches for Sun Valley.

Fortner said, conversations with representatives from competitor resorts at the just-concluded Mountain Travel Symposium, indicated that Sun Valley fared “pretty well” compared with resorts in Utah, California and Colorado

Colorado resorts, in particular, were hurt by the lack of snow early in the year, he said. Aspen, for instance, saw a 20 percent decrease in skier visits during the early season that it could never make up, he added.

When Visit Sun Valley representatives realized in January that on-the-books reservations for February and March were only 24 percent and 20 percent, they worked with local lodging properties to put together a promotion offering a fourth night of lodging free for those who booked three nights. The promotion was tied to advertising that marketed direct flights to Sun Valley.

The promotion helped drive the occupancy rate to 40 percent in February and 44 percent in March.

“It could have been a lot worse, but our snowmaking and our ability to be nimble and work together helped us,” he said.

A survey of local business people showed that 26 percent thought business was worse this winter than last winter. Forty-two percent said it mirrored last year’s. And 32 percent said they did better this year.

People were particularly jazzed about events, such as the U.S. Alpine National Championships and the Sun Valley Film Festival, Fortner said.

Here’s more:

• Direct flights will start later this summer and end earlier. There will be no summer flight from Chicago or direct Delta flight from Los Angeles.
• Visit Sun Valley is emphasizing online marketing—mobile web traffic increased 80 percent this past year.
• Visit Sun Valley got 1.64 million clicks on its 30-second videos on YouTube.
• Visit Sun Valley was able to attribute 679 flights booked by someone who engaged with its advertisers. This doesn’t include Alaska Airlines flights, which hasn’t shared its data. It does include 820 travelers and 1,575 room nights.
• Easter Weekend did not draw the crowds it should have, Fortner said. “There’s work to be done there.”
• Fortner said Visit Sun Valley has got to do a better job of telling people other ways they can get here, such as flying into Boise and Twin Falls. “We all know how to work around (the lack of direct flights), but guests don’t,” Fortner said.
• People go to four different websites before they commit. They plan their trip more than 60 days before their arrival but they often don’t actually book reservations until 20 days out.
• Small groups are currently brainstorming place branding to define Sun Valley’s core values and character. The idea is to get everyone on the same page whether they’re building a new hotel or selling T-shirts. “This should change how we go forward,” said Fortner.
• Visit Sun Valley is revamping its calendar on its website, said Aly Swindell. The new format will allow people to search for kid’s activities and other themes. And it will allow nonprofits to share events that are not open to the public so they don’t end up double booking nights.
• Ride Sun Valley Festival is not back but all the events will be back in some form.
• The Visitor Center assisted 33 people per day during winter. The most common questions involved how to get some place, suggestions for activities as time killers and suggestions for things for kids to do. Reviews included, “So charming!” “I had no idea!” “I’m moving here!”
• This year’s marketing is directed at three main targets: Action fun-loving people rbetween the ages of 35 and 55, “passionate participators” and affluent outdoorsy Gen-X-ers and couples between the ages of 40 and 45 with older children.
• Visit Sun Valley is budgeting for publishers to repost past stories. Its peak advertising month will be in May.