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 TABLE OF CONTENTS OVERVIEW

OVERVIEW............................................................................................................................................... 3 THE ROSWELL INCIDENT

THE ROSWELL INCIDENT
EVENT HISTORY 2022’s UFO Festival marked the 75th anniversary of the Roswell Incident on July 8,
PURPOSE OF EVENT 1947. The Roswell incident is the 1947 recovery of debris from a ranch near Corona,
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY New Mexico by United States Army Air Forces officers from Roswell Army Air
Field. The conspiracy theories claiming that the debris involved a flying saucer and
ECONOMIC IMPACT ESTIMATION................................................................................................... 5 that the truth had been covered up by the United States government continue to
circulate decades later. This leads our city to be a huge destination spot all year
COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS........................................................................................................... 6
round and especially during the annual UFO Festival.
BENEFIT TO THE COMMUNITY
COLLABORATION
EVENT HISTORY
INVESTMENT TO COMMUNITY......................................................................................................... 8
The UFO Festival was initially created in 1995 in order to promote and drive
ADVERTISING INVESTMENT
LOGISTICS EXPENSE tourism to Roswell and boost economic development. Since 2014, the city has
STAFFING INVESTMENT outsourced various levels of planning and production of the festival to outside
VOLUNTEERS companies.

BUDGET....................................................................................................................................................11
BENEFITS FOR FUTURE EVENTS
PURPOSE OF EVENT
PAYROLL ESTIMATE The purpose of holding the UFO Festival is to increase
REVENUE & EXPENSES lodgers’ tax and income for local businesses within the city
of Roswell, as well as increase sustained tourism throughout
LODGERS’ TAX......................................................................................................................................17 the year by making Roswell a familiar vacation destination.

DATA COLLECTION............................................................................................................................ 19
SURVEY DATA
TICKET SALES
OCCUPANCY ESTIMATION
SANITATION ESTIMATION
ANALYTICS

SURVEY FEEDBACK...........................................................................................................................24
COMMENTS & IMPRESSIONS

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 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The purpose of this report is to review the cost and benefit to the City of Roswell
E CO N O M I C I M PAC T E ST IMAT IO N
by looking at expenditures and revenue, as well as the economic impact for the
commmunity created by the UFO Festival.

• The City of Roswell put on 19 out of the 34 city wide events for the UFO
Festival. ECONOMIC IMPACT
• For this year’s festival, we focused on high-quality family activities and The following chart is an estimation of direct and indirect impact on the economy
entertainment. using the economic-impact calculator provided by the New Mexico Tourism
• We collaborated with at least nine organizations and/or businesses within the Department.1 The calculator uses ticket sales, number of attendees, length of
community. event, estimated spending on food and lodging, and other variables to generate an
• The advertising and publicity expenses incurred by the city were an overall economic-impact estimate.
advertising investment for all of the collaborators.
• Some items purchased will be used for future UFO Festivals as well as other
events and some of the expenditures will not need to be purchased again for a
long time.
• The total investment to the city was $212,638.13. The economic-impact estimate
for the UFO Festival weekend was $2,192,491.47.
• The economic impact spent on Food and Beverage was estimated at
$1,148,895.00.1
• The economic impact spent on commercial lodging during the week of UFO
Festival was $767,957.97.
• Gross Receipts Tax for the month of July 2022 was $56,826,218.76 for
Accommodation and Food Services, Arts, Entertainment and Recreation and
the Retail Trade Sector.

Gross Receipts Tax - July 2022

Accommodation and Food Services (USA/CAN/MEX)
Current $10,231,551.04
Other $2,040,554.35
Total $12,272,105.38
Arts, Entertainment and Recreation (USA/CAN/MEX)
Current $444,892.90
Other $15,745.97
Total $460,638.87
Sector 44-45 - Retail Trade (USA/CAN/MEX)
Current $40,204,028.04
Other $3,889,446.47
Total $44,093,474.51
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1 https://www.newmexico.org/industry/news/post/event-economic-impact-calculator-release/ 1 https://www.newmexico.org/industry/news/post/event-economic-impact-calculator-release/
 COLLABORATION
CO M M U N I T Y PA R TN ER SHIPS UFO Festival 2022 was an extensive collaboration between the City of Roswell,
several local organizations, businesses and community members. A tremendous
amount of effort and planning was put into this annual festival. Many events were
organized by MainStreet Roswell, International UFO Museum and Research Center,
BENEFIT TO THE COMMUNITY Roswell Daily Record, Galacticon, Roswell Community Little Theatre, Roswell
Creating and hosting events increases lodgers’ tax and income for local Invaders baseball team, Moon Rock Outfitters and more.
businesses within the City of Roswell. It also puts a spotlight on Roswell as
a vacation destination in order to increase sustained tourism throughout Community meetings were held and
the year. The UFO topic continues to draw interest globally and attracts a attended by representatives from many
substantial amount of people, especially with the recent release of formerly local businesses, organizations and
classified documents related to unidentified aerial phenomena data and community members. There were a
intelligence. It is unknown how long this topic will be popular and bring total of 34 events that happened during
tourism to Roswell; nevertheless, it is certainly benefiting our community. the three-day period in Roswell for the
festival. The City of Roswell put on 19 of
these events and 15 of them were put on
Main objectives of UFO Festival Event:
by other organizations.
• Increase tourism
• Foster the arts
• Increase community involvement
• Increase pride in the community
• Increase revenues for the municipality
and local businesses
• Promote the city’s brand

Our goal this year was to provide

an event that offered interactive
experiences to festival attendees
along with high-quality entertainment
and activities for families and
children. In concurrence, we also put
forth great effort to engage more
of our community to be involved by
having free family-fun activities to
attend that are unique experiences
for Roswell locals and community
members of the surrounding area.
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IN V E ST M EN T TO THE CO M MUN IT Y
ADVERTISING INVESTMENT
The advertising and publicity expenses incurred by the city for the UFO Festival
were not only for city events put on by the City of Roswell, but an overall
advertisement for the festival and the various events happening in town along with
the organizations that put on those events. The goal of advertising was to benefit
the entire City of Roswell and bring visitors to town to visit our local businesses
and our area attractions.
The city spent $99,401.27 in advertising and printing expenses which were applied
to the Special Events account and the Lodgers’ Tax Fund. A grant in the amount
of $10,000 was awarded from the State of New Mexico Tourism Department for
digital advertising. A portion of this expense was for sponsor advertising. However,
the majority of the advertising and publicity expense was for the overall UFO
Festival which included all of the activities being put on by all collaborators, as well
as various city departments.
Additionally, the following area attractions were advertised with these funds:
• Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge
• Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art
• Woof Bowl Dog Park
• Murphy Family Splash Pad
• Miniatures & Curious Collections Museum
• Enchanted Lands Disc Golf Course
• Bottomless Lakes State Park
• Historical Society for Southeast New Mexico
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LOGISTIC EXPENSES
Some of the expenses incurred in the budget for UFO Festival were also
advantageous for other organizations. For example, security guards hired by the
city also patrolled downtown. The Parks Department picked up trash throughout
the weekend of the festival, benefiting the events happening in other areas
of town, including the businesses on Main Street. Trash roll-offs and portable
restrooms were placed in various areas to benefit everyone working, shopping
and visiting, or enjoying entertainment. Fencing was purchased this year that will
be used for other purposes in the future and some electrical work was done at
DeBremond Stadium.
STAFFING INVESTMENT
The cost for staffing is an estimation of time spent doing some sort of work for the
UFO Festival specifically. Many of the hours on the payroll for the UFO Festival
included time spent closing off Main Street for the parade, directing traffic,
providing emergency responders for the parade, as well as patrolling around
the events, emptying trash receptacles throughout town, and providing public
transportation for visitors. Staff members were required to sign in and out when
working and used a code in Executime software to clock in and out. Additionally,
the report provided by the payroll department reports the two weeks prior and the
two weeks after the festival, not necessarily hours spent over the weekend of the
festival. A portion of the hours coded to payroll included work performed during
normal business hours. Salary employees who worked during the festival do not
receive overtime during the festival.
 VOLUNTEERS
Volunteers were provided with UFO Festival volunteer t-shirts after signing in for
BUDGET
their designated assignments. These included setting up tents and signs, helping
attendees, selling merchandise and working the information and ticketing areas.

Making sure all of our volunteers were trained and had easy access to event/area
Team Leads was a priority to provide festival attendees a great experience. Similar
to staffing, we provided food and beverage, cooling outdoor wear, sunscreen,
timely breaks and other amenities to deal with the intense weather conditions.
We had a total of 53 volunteers for the UFO Festival. Using the independent sector
volunteer value of time for New Mexico for 20211 at $24.32 per hour, the value of
volunteer labor was calculated at $8,565.50.
BENEFITS FOR FUTURE EVENTS
Public Affairs purchased some items that are not specific to the UFO Festival, but
can be used for other events such as National Night Out, Night of the Living Zoo,
or other various events that are held throughout the year despite the fact that they
were applied to UFO Festival by default.
PAYROLL ESTIMATE
Human Resources provided a report of employees that coded time for UFO Festi-
val on their timesheets during the pay period before and after the festival. Some of
the hours reported were during normal working hours leading up to and after the
festival and not necessarily during the weekend of the festival.

1 https://independentsector.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Value-of-Volunteer-Time-by-State-2001-2021.pdf
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 REVENUE & EXPENSE Summary of Expenses and Revenue
Total deposited revenue from the UFO Festival was $216,808.60. This Galaxy Fair Expenses Revenue
amount included merchandise sales from the concert, donations, ticket sales, Entertainment $24,239.54
reimbursement for merchandise from other departments, and vendors. A portion Production $6,450.00
of the revenue was applied to FY23 due to the fiscal year ending on June 30. Total $30,689.54

Our expenses would have been higher had it not been for Kids Zone Expenses Revenue
Interactive Experiences $15,667.22
in-kind cost savings of $79,274.00. Public Affairs negotiated sponsorships to try to
Total $15,667.22
keep the cost down. For example, $20,000.00 came from Pecos Valley Production
for the Midland concert. The light show was discounted by approximately UFO Walk of Fame Expenses Revenue
$71,000.00. Material $4,314.77
Hospitality $2,206.15
Revenue also included an additional $68,560.41 that was not included in the Total $6,520.92
Special Events budget. This revenue came from UFO Festival events put on by
other departments. Night Sky/Morning Hike Expenses Revenue
Permits $300.00
Transportation $900.00
Supplies $553.29
Total $1,753.29 $3,218.50

Alien Crawl Expenses Revenue

Transportation $3,400.00
Food and Beverage $10,127.06
Total $13,527.06 $11,639.00

Concert Expenses Revenue

Production $20,635.00
Booking Service $15,000.00
Entertainment $121,681.36
Wi-Fi $3,235.00
Supplies $1,029.41
Total $161,580.77 $69,915.00

Publicity Expenses Revenue

Signage $15,610.01
Advertising $648.36
Total $16,258.37

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 Summary of Expenses and Revenue Summary of Expenses and Revenue
General Expenses - Special Events - Consumable only in 2022 Expenses Revenue Labor Expenses Revenue
Rentals - Equipment $13,020.84 City Administration $308.00
Supplies $164.35 City Clerk Office $371.39
Total $13,185.19 Finance $123.61
Legal $696.36
General Expenses - Special Events - Reusable for Future UFO Expenses Revenue Human Resources $1,637.88
Equipment $1,562.18 Facilities $2,846.41
Total $1,562.18 Police Department $5,943.63
Parks $1,268.31
General Expenses - Special Events - (Not Specific to UFO) Expenses Revenue Zoo $874.79
Equipment $1,562.18 Recreation $102.95
Supplies $1,993.00 Convention Center $1,484.72
Total $3,555.18 Streets $905.51
Utility Billing $765.73
General Expenses - Special Events - (Not Specific to UFO) Expenses Revenue Transit $865.59
Property Improvement $1,843.30 Public Affairs/Visitor Center $28,903.45
Total $1,843.30 Total $47,098.33

Merchandise - Purchased for Other Events Expenses Revenue Revenue - Special Events Expenses Revenue
Rubber Stamps - MainStreet Roswell $125.36 Vendors $12,910.00
Golf Course $1,625.74 Sponsorships/Donations FY22 $23,850.00
Total $1,751.10 Alien Chase Ticket Sales $9,366.00
Merchandise Sales - Concert $6,227.33
Fiscal Year Carry Over Expenses Revenue Golf Reimbursement $960.36
Advertising $419.99 Sponsorships/Donations FY23 $10,000.00
Entertainment $150.00 Other Ticket Sales - FY23 $162.00
Kids Zone $646.25 Total Revenue in Public Affairs Special Events $63,475.69
Meals and Ice $437.67
Supplies $128.42 Revenue - Other Expenses Revenue
Morning Hike Breakfast $218.20 Visitor Center $28,925.45
Total $2,000.53 Museum $21,512.00
Convention Center $14,579.84
Expenses from Lodgers’ Tax Fund Expenses Revenue Zoo $1,898.79
Porta-potties $5,088.44 Golf Course (not including concessions) $1,644.33
Janitorial $8,602.40 Total Revenue from Other Departments $68,560.41
Security $16,040.00
Advertising $82,722.91
Total $112,453.75

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 LODGERS’ TAX
In-Kind - Cost Savings for Festival
Sky Elements - discount $71,000.00
J & S Productions - discount $500.00
Roswell Ready Mix - Light Towers $750.00
Roswell APizza Center (estimation) $1,100.00
NMMI - Generators $1,780.00
Alien Allure (estimation) $3,300.00 LODGERS’ TAX
L&F Distributing $844.00
Lodgers' tax report does not reflect actual occupancy for the month of July as
Volunteer Value $8,565.50
Total In-Kind Revenue Considerations $87,839.50 it shows only monies collected for that reporting time. July occupancy was an
average of 70.4%.
Total Expense for City $429,446.73 Occupancy is inclusive of all hotels in our market. The STR report does not include
Total Revenue for City $216,808.60 our 12 economy hotels.

Total Investment to the City of Roswell $212,638.13

CITY OF ROSWELL
$2.50 CONVENTION CENTER BED FEE COLLECTION REPORT
JULY 2022 reporting/collected in August

ROOM NIGHTS REPORTED BY MONTH:

Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Total
FY20 26,110 27,491 24,378 22,767 25,834 19,924 19,890 19,441 20,280 17,664 8,018 11,373 243,170
FY21 17,959 16,661 20,943 21,041 21,553 16,920 17,946 20,342 17,009 24,490 23,171 24,694 242,729
FY22 28,402 30,239 24,575 21,575 24,634 20,216 19,849 34,166 20,640 27,847 27,495 26,487 306,125
FY23 26,570 27,515 54,085
Available
47,460 49,042 49,042 47,460 49,042 47,460 49,042 49,042 44,296 49,042 47,460 49,042
Room Nights
Occupancy % 56.0% 56.1% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%

CONVENTION CENTER FEES COLLECTED BY MONTH:

Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Total
FY20 65,275 68,728 60,945 56,918 64,585 49,810 49,725 48,603 42,378 38,765 17,300 47,468 $ 610,500
FY21 40,945 41,653 46,342 46,035 48,603 35,318 42,193 44,740 38,885 59,380 58,065 59,975 $ 562,132
FY 22 65,080 78,085 57,453 53,670 64,243 45,085 52,568 62,906 60,999 70,850 72,816 62,375 $ 746,129
FY 23 62,518 65,830 $ 128,348

Actual Room Nights Sold - Four Year Trend Actual Convention Center Bed Fee at $2.50
30,000 Four Year Trend
80,000
25,000
70,000
20,000 60,000
50,000
15,000
40,000
10,000 30,000
20,000
5,000
10,000
0 0
Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun

FY 19 FY 20 FY 21 FY23 FY 19 FY 20 FY 21 FY 22

*February increase reflects late payment received by the city not the actual allocation of tax liability to the appropriate month.

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 CITY OF ROSWELL
DATA COLLECTION
5% LODGERS' TAX COLLECTION REPORT
Month Reported JULY - COLLECTED IN August 2022

ROOM NIGHTS REPORTED BY MONTH:

FY 20
Jul
26,110
Aug
27,491
Sep
24,378
Oct
22,767
Nov
25,834
Dec
19,924
Jan
19,890
Feb
19,441
Mar
20,280
Apr
17,664
May
8,018
Jun
11,373
Total
243,170
DATA COLLECTION
FY 21
FY 22
17,959
28,402
16,661
30,239
20,943
24,575
21,041
21,575
21,553
24,634
16,920
20,216
17,946
19,849
20,342
34,166
17,009
20,640
24,490
27,847
23,171
27,495
24,694
26,487
242,729
306,125
The majority of UFO Festival events are free and visitors do not have to provide
FY 23
Available
26,570 27,515 54,085
data to receive a ticket. Estimating the numbers of visitors that were in town for
47,460 49,042 49,042 47,460 49,042 47,460 49,042 49,042 44,296 49,042 47,460 49,042
Room Nights
Occupancy % 56.0% 56.1% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% the UFO Festival is a difficult task.

LODGERS' TAX COLLECTED BY MONTH: The analysis in this report draws on the following data sources:

FY 2020
Jul
122,326
Aug
135,551
Sep
118,752
Oct
108,720
Nov
119,894
Dec
85,494
Jan
80,122
Feb
83,863
Mar
76,269
Apr
68,604
May
28,270
Jun
79,489 $
Total
1,107,354
• UFO Festival Survey
FY 2021
FY 2022
68,325
118,258
71,823
151,086
77,407
104,159
78,388
93,657
84,925
113,865
60,382
77,700
65,793
84,351
72,239
123,959
62,119
103,688
96,008
130,711
98,302
129,419
100,658
126,099
$
$
936,367
1,356,953
• Ticket Sales Data
FY 2023 123,675 133,648 $ 257,324
• Solid Waste Collection
• Visit Widget Data
Actual Room Nights Sold - Four Year Trend Actual Lodgers' Tax - Four Year Trend
40,000 160,000 • Occupancy Tax
35,000 140,000

30,000 120,000
• Gross Receipts Tax
25,000 100,000
20,000 80,000
15,000

10,000
60,000

40,000 SURVEY DATA

5,000 20,000
0 - In an effort to obtain information about visitor demographics and geographic
Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun

FY 20 FY 21 FY 22 FY 23
FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 FY 2023
segmentation, Public Affairs created a survey for attendees of the festival this year.
*February increase reflects late payment received by the city not the actual allocation of tax liability to the appropriate month.
With this survey we are able to determine ZIP code, overnight stays and average
dollars spent on food and beverage. The majority of the people who completed
surveys were from out of state or other cities within New Mexico. Among the
participants, 24% of them were from Roswell or surrounding cities, including
Dexter and Artesia.

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 Survey data from HoldMyTicket.com

TICKET SALES
In addition to the survey, Public Affairs sold tickets to five out of the 18 events the
city organized. There were a total of 3,630 tickets sold. 1,157 of those sales were
from other cities in New Mexico. 1,486 were from Roswell and surrounding areas.
987 were from out of the state or country.

The following charts show the geographic segmentation of the attendees that
we have been able to obtain ZIP codes from. The majority of the people who
purchased tickets were from Roswell or surrounding areas. It is important to note
the majority of ticket sales were for the Midland concert and Alien Chase. All
events organized by Public Affairs were at full capacity, or ‘sold out,' with the
exception of a morning Alien Crawl event.

Survey data from SurveyMonkey Estimated Occupancy

OCCUPANCY ESTIMATION
The average number of nights spent in Roswell during the UFO Festival was 2.75
nights according to the survey data. We used the percentage of concert attendees
who were from out of state or country for this number, at 27%. At 27% for an
average of 2.75%, estimated revenue dollars spent on commercial lodging would
be $767,957.97
Looking at occupancy rates at several hotels during that weekend, compared
to two weeks prior to the festival indicates that occupancy rates were up 13%
higher than a weekend a month earlier. In 2021 there was roughly a 4% increase in
occupancy during the same time.

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 SANITATION ESTIMATION ANALYTICS
The Environmental Protection Agency publishes a Municipal Solid Waste Facts and Public Affairs collaborated with Visit Widget to launch a new application for
Figures Report1 that measures the success of materials management programs. The Android and Apple iOS called SeeRoswell in June of 2022. This app helps visitors
latest publication, updated in 2018, reported that the amount of trash generated navigate around town and easily find local businesses and attractions. The four
per person is 4.9 lbs. per day.2 weeks leading up to the UFO Festival had an average of 33 users per day. The
week of the UFO Festival saw a 236% increase in users from the previous week.
During the weeks leading up to the UFO Festival, June 17 - June 23 and June 24
– June 30, the Solid Waste Department collected 1.79 million and 2.56 million
pounds of trash, respectively. Using the estimates from the EPA, the amount of
trash collected during the two weeks before UFO Festival would imply that the
population in the city was roughly 52,000 the first week and 74,000 the second.
During the week of Festival, July 1 – July 7, the Solid Waste Department collected
3.19 million pounds of trash, correlating to an estimate of 93,000 people.

1 https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/national-overview-facts-and-figures-materials

2 https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2021-01/documents/2018_ff_fact_sheet_dec_2020_fnl_508.pdf

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 SURV E Y F E E D B AC K

COMMENTS & IMPRESSIONS

Public feedback is essential to growing and engaging our community in the future
to better serve everyone who loves the UFO Festival. The SeeRoswell app received
124,000 impressions during our event. On our survey, we asked several questions
for logistics and geographical information, but we didn’t forget to ask one of the
most important questions out there in the universe:

What do you consider unique about this event?

The well coordinated efforts between commercial event planners and city
representation and local businesses. You all put on a pretty good show.
Been coming here for years...
Lori L. Glendale, AZ

I am a Roswell local and felt that this year’s UFO Festival was better advertised
and featured more events for different audiences than in years past.
Cody N., Roswell

That it’s about UFOs. That is at Roswell. The fact that there are SO many
things going on (museum events, city events, newspaper events)
Robin C. Littleton, CO

Very family friendly, something for every member of the family. Night
events. Absolutely fabulous fire twirlers and drone show. Wow
Sarah H. Memphis, TN

Wow! We have been gone three years, and I am BLOWN away! You hit
this festival out of the universe. Great job, Roswell! We will be back. Just
keep building like you have!
Patty N. Bixby, OK

The city, state, and event itself. We’ve been to other UFO festivals, but this
was our first time to Roswell! Heck, this is what really put Roswell on the
map, right? David M. North, Bend, OR
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