South Dakota Office of Tourism
Visitor Profiling
Situation:
When L&S won the contract in 2003, the tourism industry as a whole was on the decline. As a result of global conflict and rising fuel costs, people were choosing not to travel, and tourism in South Dakota needed a boost. Legislators, local convention and visitors bureaus, hotel managers and attraction owners were asking for results. The South Dakota Office of Tourism needed to make sure taxpayer dollars were spent strategically – on the right audiences, at the right time and with the right message – to grow visitors and visitor spending in the state.
Solution:
Visitor research was not a new concept to our savvy client – they had been attracting visitors to the state for decades. The solution was looking not only at what consumers said in focus groups and intercept surveys, but smart database mining helped the Office of Tourism segment visitors into audiences based on demographics, travel interests and spending habits. Targeting the “right” visitor with the “right” offer is the cornerstone of the South Dakota Office of Tourism’s successful sales and marketing efforts.
Results:
By targeting the “best visitor” for the state, the overall visitor profile dramatically changed in just twenty-one months.
- Sixty percent increase in average household income of visitors from $45,000 to $72,000;
- Doubling of the household propensity to travel at least once per quarter;
- Twenty percent increase in the contact’s propensity to spend at least $900 per trip.
After the initial analysis in 2006, the marketing team made a conscious decision to limit media dollars spent in markets that were further away and instead increased dollars for media in markets immediately surrounding the state. In addition to increasing the volume of inquiries from the surrounding targeted region, the results show that the marketing penetration index more than doubled in the top 10 markets from 2.585 to 5.060.
In addition to the dramatic database inquiry results, statewide economic indicators show exciting growth as well. Visitor spending in South Dakota reached a record $941 million dollars in 2007, representing an 8.8% growth rate over 2006 and exceeding the Travel Industry Association (TIA) forecasted national growth.
