With gubernatorial races in 36 states and three territories this fall, state tourism boards “increasingly face pressure to justify higher spending, or in some cases even their existence,” reports Skift.
State general fund spending for enacted FY 2018 budgets is up only 2.3 percent from FY 2017 — the slowest growth rate since fiscal 2010—and that has a direct effect on state tourism budgets.
CenStates members share some information they learned at the June conference:
We have long known that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the wave of the future but the future is now. The session about chatbots for websites was intriguing. Basically, there is a bot that can answer the Q & A questions that one normally posts on a website but this is like having an automated chat rep. VERY cool!
Dee Ann McKinney
Research Director, Missouri Division of Tourism
It is critical to identify the metrics that are linked to increased visitation and spending and focus on those. It is also critical to identify your goals and make sure that the metrics you are tracking lead to those goals. For example, if your goal is to use your website to hand off people to your partners, you don’t care about time on the website – in fact, you want it to be short. But if you are trying to increase the length of time in the destination, you want people to stay on your site and find more things to do. Clearly identifying your goals and the right measures is the first step to success. One of the challenges in marketing right now is the overload of metrics. There are lots of numbers that can be tracked, but many of them lead you in the wrong direction.
Denise Miller
Executive Vice President, SMARInsights
Be strategic with Google searches. Google searches pull personal information from the user and the search terms, so every Google Search is different for every person and every device they use. Google must trust your website to present it to searches, so build your TRA: Trust, Reputation, and Authority. Build your TRA with compelling content, recognition as the influencer and acknowledgment as the authority. Bottom line, we have to connect with the traveler and be trusted by Google.
LuAnn Reinders
Research and Insights Manager, Iowa Tourism Office
The CenStates chapter of the Travel and Tourism Research Association (TTRA) was awarded the Chapter Achievement Award at the 2018 international conference in Miami, Florida on June 28. The chapter was cited for their exceptional work to remain relevant in a constantly changing world. They initiated a strategic plan which includes conducting original research specifically for the central states, education opportunities tailored to the needs of members and expanding chapter reach through board expansion and conference locations. Congratulations!
Airlines Reporting Corp. reported today that travelers flying during the summer months can expect to pay slightly less than last year. This drop mirrors what ARC sees as a larger trend in average ticket prices, posted monthly on the company’s website. Travel sold to the top 10 destinations by U.S. travel agencies is up from 2017, showing continued strong demand for air tickets in the U.S. Like 2016 and 2017, ticket sales to Cancun continue to be the top seller this summer.
Other summer hot spots are on the rise for U.S. air travelers this summer. Ten percent more travelers will fly to Punta Cana as compared to the same period last year while Honolulu will see a 14 percent increase. Air travel to Orlando and Seattle increased eight percent year over year. New York and Los Angeles will also see a four percent increase in air travel, while air travel to Las Vegas is down eight percent although it still ranks in the top ten.
Survey Reveals That Americans Prefer Road Trips to All Other Forms of Travel, That Summer Is Their Favorite Season For Hitting the Road, and That 60 percent Do Not Travel Internationally
Summer is here, and, according to new data from Ebates most Americans will be taking the opportunity to hit the highway.
The Ebates Summer Survey of more than 1,000 U.S. adults, conducted online by Propeller Insights on behalf of Ebates in June 2018, revealed how, where and for how much Americans will be spending their summer vacations.
Travel to and within the U.S. grew 3.6 percent year-over-year in April, according to the U.S. Travel Association’s latest Travel Trends Index (TTI) – marking the industry’s 100th straight month of overall expansion. Though the raw numbers are in positive territory, the U.S. continues to trail other global travel heavyweights in capturing share of the booming international travel market.
The most noteworthy component of the April TTI was domestic business travel, which grew for a fourth consecutive month—the first four-month win streak for that segment since January-April 2015. Forward-looking bookings and searches for business travel appear to be on an upswing as well, leading to a strong business Leading Travel Index (LTI)—the forecasting portion of TTI.
