Tourism Advisory Committee — Lynnwood, WA
Date: 2026-04-10

LYNNWOOD TOURISM ADVISORY COMMITTEE - regular Tourism
 Advisory Committee meeting
 Lynnwood Recreation Center
 Conference Room 105
 18900 44th Avenue W Lynnwood, WA 98036

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 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2026 8:00 AM



1. Call to Order

2. Roll Call

 2.A Roll Call:

 Chairperson Isabel Mata
 Committee Member Chip Peterson
 Committee Member Leilani Kamala
 Committee Member Janet Pope
 Committee Member Frank Percival
 Committee Member Anthony Angel
 Committee Member Jerry Irwin
 Committee Member Brian Pouch
 - 0 minutes

3. Approval of Minutes

 3.A Approval of Minutes, December 11, 2025 - 5 minutes
 Ryan Bush, Tourism Project Manager

4. Public Comments

5. Reports from Committee Members

 5.A Committee Member Reports - 15 minutes

6. Resolutions and Action Items

 02/12/2026
 1
7. Staff Reports

 7.A Tourism Funding Bills - 15 minutes
 Ryan Bush, Tourism Project Manager

 7.B 2025 Annual Report - 30 minutes
 Ryan Bush, Tourism Project Manager

8. General Discussion

 8.A Q1 Tourism Meetup - 15 minutes
 Ryan Bush, Tourism Project Manager

Adjournment




 02/12/2026
 2

ACTION MINUTES
 LYNNWOOD TOURISM ADVISORY COMMITTEE
 Lynnwood Development & Business Services
 February 12, 2026, | 8:00 AM


 1. Call to Order

 Tourism Manager Bush called the meeting to order at 8:00 A.M.


 2. Roll Call

 2.A Roll Call

 Committee Members Present: Committee Members Absent:
 Chairperson Isabel Mata Committee Member Anthony Angel
 Committee Member Chip Peterson
 Committee Member Leilani Kamala Staff:
 Committee Member Janet Pope Tourism Manager Ryan Bush
 Committee Member Frank Percival Development & Business Services Director Ben
 Committee Member Jerry Irwin Wolters
 Committee Member Brian Pouch


 3. Approval of Minutes

 3.A Approval of Minutes, December 11, 2025

 Committee Member Pope motioned to approve the minutes as written and was
 seconded by Committee Member Peterson.

4. Public Comments

 There were no public comments during this meeting.

5. Reports from Committee Members

 5.A Committee Member Reports

 Committee Member Pope informed the committee that they are working on a
 summer concert series that would feature a weekly concert during the duration of
 the World Cup. She also shared that the hiring for the Master Plan has gone very
 well, and it includes several people who worked on the Seattle Convention Center.
 The next step is working on the schematic design. Development & Business
 Services Director Wolters emphasized that he agrees that the team that Pope
 assembled is top-notch and will be a great asset in the development of the Master
 Plan. Pope noted that the general excitement about the project is picking up outside
 of Lynnwood, and that many interested parties have started contacting them
 following an article about it in the Puget Sound Business Journal.

 Committee Member Peterson shared that hotel rates and occupancy were down in
 December, and that 2025 was a hard year in general for hotels. Seattle’s market
 specifically was impacted by the reduction in travel from Canada, Europe, and Asia.
 There is some optimism for 2026 based on current numbers, but last year was
 notably down compared to what they expected based off the growth leading up to
 2024.

 Committee Member Kamala shared that their hotel numbers were notably lower in
 Q1 – Q3 of 2025 due to the Boeing strikes, but that Q4 saw the numbers rebound
 once the strikes ended. They also had an influx of CLC Red Cross volunteers stay
 to assist with the floods. Their hotels in Seattle and Bellevue specifically are seeing
 reservations coming in for the FIFA World Cup, though the hotels that are further
 out from Seattle aren’t seeing many reservations related to the World Cup quite yet.

 Committee Member Irwin reported that the mall had a successful Q4 for 2025 with
 holiday sale numbers. There have been several new store openings in the mall that
 went well, they’ve started construction on spaces for a couple of other tenants, plus
 there are some groups that are actively interested in the other vacant spaces.

 Committee Member Percival shared that Lynnwood Chamber will send a beta test
 for the Lynnwood Events and Experiences map to their board and ambassadors
 later in February. In addition, he will be sending a letter to all Lynnwood businesses
 and nonprofits to ask if they would like to be activated for something related to the
 World Cup and, if so, that they would receive free promotion of the related event or
 sale on the Lynnwood Events and Experiences map.

 The committee discussed the challenges of high-volume events in Seattle when it
 comes to Lynnwood City Center Station and the light rail. They have observed
 issues with parking capacity for events on weekdays, select businesses towing cars
 that park on their property, and the light rail itself filling up and leading to long wait-
 times at the stations for riders. Potential solutions are complicated due to existing
 laws and interests of property owners. Wolters suggested connecting with rideshare
 companies to communicate about events that may bring more potential riders to the
 area. He also pointed out that some of their ideas would likely require legislative
 action to be implemented, should they decide to pursue those options.


6. Resolutions and Action Items

 There were no resolutions or actions items for this meeting.


7. Staff Reports
 7.A Tourism Funding Bills

 Tourism Manager Bush brought a few tourism bills to the committee’s attention that
 are currently moving through legislature. House Bill 2325 would create a statewide
 tourism self-supported assessment program to fund tourism promotion in
 Washington. Committee Member Pope added that this bill would help attract and
 fund movies that are filmed in the state. Bush also discussed House Bill 2278,
 which would remove the expiration date for the Tourism Promotion Area (TPA)
 assessment program and would allow the County to continue collecting the current
 per night lodging assessment. The last bill Bush brought up was House Bill 2559,
 which would allow counties and states to impose a new tax on short-term rental
 lodging and would fund affordable housing programs. Development & Business
 Services Director Wolters mentioned that there is another bill that he thought the
 committee should be aware of, which could create an exemption within the City’s
 tax implementation area and eliminate anticipated revenue to fund for planned city
 projects.


 7.B 2025 Annual Report

 Tourism Manager Bush presented a 2025 Tourism Performance Report to the
 committee to use as they begin discussions about the budget for 2027-2028.

 Some highlights that were noted while going over the report include:
 • Overall, Lynnwood’s tourism trends matched Snohomish County’s in 2025.
 • Lynnwood is the top zip code for overnight visitors in Snohomish County.
 • Online marketing effectiveness for Lynnwood tourism was higher than the
 industry average.
 • Canadian operators reported that they cancelled 90% of their 2025 summer
 contracts due to political conditions.
 • The 2025 Lynnwood Dining Month was very successful, and all participating
 restaurants were interested in joining the campaign again. Due to budget
 constraints, it will not likely take place in 2026, but Bush is exploring ways to
 fund the campaign in the future.
 • Marketing on social media, specifically Instagram, saw a substantial increase
 in reach and impressions, which also led to an increase of followers (752%
 on Instagram alone). Partnering with influencers and posting videos was an
 important contributing factor in those increases.
 • AI will impact online marketing methods and effectiveness, particularly with
 website visits driven through online searches as more people lean into the AI
 summaries for quick answers.


8. General Discussion

 8.A Q1 Tourism Meetup
Tourism Manager Bush shared that the next Tourism Meetup will take place on
February 26th, 2026, at 10:00am. It will be a continuation of the previous meetup,
with the goal of learning about the barriers the participants are navigating in their
efforts to book rooms.

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 9:22 A.M.

Next Meeting: The next meeting is scheduled for April 9, 2026