'Paid Parking not a concern for tourism,' says Visit Eau Claire
EAU CLAIRE — Tourism in Eau Claire should not be negatively affected if the city implements downtown paid street parking, says Kenzi Havlicek, Visit Eau Claire executive director.
Havlicek spoke at an informal social event Tuesday at the Sonnentag Center, where visitors discussed the potential impact of parking fees.
'The discussion was very positive,' she said. 'There are not concerns with paid parking in the tourism space because in most metropolitan areas, there is paid parking and the rates that the city is able to offer is very competitive with other metropolitan areas.'
Havlicek said that the biggest issue with visitors to Eau Claire will be ensuring there's a lot of signage and that it's convenient and easy for the visitors to utilize.
'People are used to paying for paid parking in other metropolitan areas at the rate that the city is offering it,' she said. 'It's very affordable compared to others. Right now, in the parking ramps, there is already paid parking here. What I'm saying is [visitors] are used to paying for parking beyond parking ramps as well. Visit Eau Claire does not have concerns.'
According to the last compiled statistics, in 2023, visitor spending in Eau Claire was $284.5 million.
'That was up 5.4 percent compared to 2022,' she said. 'Obviously, we had a little bit of a dip in 2020, but since then it's surpassed 2019 numbers. The tourism numbers will be released by the Department of Tourism in June for the 2024 numbers.'
Havlicek said people visit Eau Claire for the opportunity to get away from the big city.
'It's affordable, so people are able to take affordable vacations, get to indulge in all the fun activities that we're able to offer,' she said. 'What usually brings the visitors here is a combination of different things. Leisure, sports, and meetings are kind of the three segments we're always going for.'
She mentioned music festivals like Country Jam and Jazz Crawl as well as marathons and bicycling events.
'Later in September, we are hosting the Association of Great Lakes Outdoor Travel Writers,' she said. 'That will bring outdoor travel writers to the area and not only will that bring in tourism for that particular weekend, we are able to use that as an opportunity for these travel writers to write about Eau Claire and generate more tourism for the area.'
City Council Member Larry Mboga, City Manager Stephanie Hirsch, and Deputy City Manager Dave Solberg were in attendance at the Sonnentag Center event. Other attendees included hotel management and staff.
'It was a meeting with a presentation,' she said. 'We gave them a tour of the Sonnentag Center and tourism updates. In addition to that, city staff provided an update on city parking. I am super thankful that the city was able to present this with tourism as part of the conversation and am looking forward to continuing to work with the city.'
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