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How to Create a Winning Research Program

Greetings, Travel and Tourism Colleagues:

Have you ever tried starting a research program for your destination/CVB and run into questions on where to start? Or wondered how to build upon an already successful research program? It can be challenging to navigate these questions alone, but luckily – there are experts willing to share their experience, challenges and successes.

CenStates TTRA is conducting research on what travel and tourism professionals have found most successful in their own research practices. Share your feedback with us on what where to start, resources to use, and more in our quick survey.

Share Your Feedback

Those who participate may enter to win a $50 gift card. Click the link above to complete the survey.

Once you share your tips/tricks and what’s worked best for you – stay tuned and you’ll hear what others have to say. Preliminary results will debut at the CenStates TTRA Conference in September. A full report of the findings will be shared with CenStates members. Not a TTRA member? Click here to join.

And don’t forget – we’re just two months away from the CenStates conference in September. If you haven’t registered yet – do so here.

See you in Wichita, KS in September!

CenStates Travel Spotlight – June 2019

JUNE 2019 | TRAVEL SPOTLIGHT

Dan Quandt | Senior Vice President | Amarillo Convention and Visitor Council

Sometimes, all you need is a sign. Dan Quandt’s first experience in advocacy came as the founding director of the Grand Forks, North Dakota CVB. A perplexing street with two names had an interstate sign saying one thing and street signs saying another, which was a big problem as the town’s only mall was located on that street. Dan told the city council to zig or zag, eventually getting them to settle on one street name. Since that day he’s never looked back, except to smile at the new exit signs.

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CenStates Spotlight On: Tourism Advocacy in Oklahoma

MAY 2019 | TRAVEL SPOTLIGHT
Kim Caplinger | Director of Public Policy & Research,
Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department

How do you emphasize the importance of tourism in the face of multiple budget cuts? Don’t give up. As Oklahoma Tourism’s Director of Public Policy & Research, Kim Caplinger educates elected officials with data and insights. But her job is more than presenting numbers. It’s about using them to tell a story.

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CenStates TTRA Outlines Vision for 2019-2021

The CenStates board of director, under the guidance of Chair Brenda Myers, has developed a three-year Vision Plan for the chapter to empower its members to produce travel and development research to enable flexibility and responsiveness. The areas of focus are: leadership, membership, education, communications, and research. The award-winning CenStates chapter looks forward to a fulfilling and productive new year…for you and with you!

Read the Vision Plan HERE.

How Travel Media Usage Has Changed Over the Last Decade

Written by: Chris Adams, Director of Research and Online Marketing
 
Travelers are using media from more sources and across more points in their travel experiences than ever before. We have coined the term, the “Hyper-Informed Traveler”, to reflect a highly complex and fragmented media landscape.  For more on this, check out my blog post, “The Rise of the Hyper-Informed Traveler”. 
 
Working with our research partner Destinations Analysts, who have tracked US leisure traveler behavior, interests and media use over the last 11+ years, we took a long term look at how media use has changed over the last decade, which is summarized in our new research white paper, The Hyper-Informed Traveler.
 
This new resource highlights how the rapid penetration of smartphones (around 6/10 of all US travelers now use them in planning and travel) has spurred tremendous growth in user-generated content and social media use in travel over the last decade; up 5x and 7x respectively over that period. 

It also showcases how print usage in US travel is far from being in decline and has held firm and even grown slightly over the last decade.  Still around half of US travelers still use print at some point in their trip planning or travels each year. Print is showing continued strength in travel but certainly the role of print has shifted towards a far greater emphasis on inspiration and motivation. For more on the role of print – see our research summary from partners such as Destination Analysts and Longwoods in our white paper, The Value of Print.

Not surprisingly, a look at different generations of US travelers shows a far higher mobile, UGC and social usage among younger, Gen Y travelers. However still just under half of all Baby Boomers use traveler reviews and UGC in trip planning and almost one-third use social media content posted by friends/family. 

This research highlights how content and media planning needs to respond to a highly complex, multimedia, fragmented marketplace. US Travelers are accessing more information from more places than ever before. Considering how to deliver your message across multiple channels and media types is key as is the ability to generate “cut through”. Measurement of results – though still highly imperfect, is essential to understand which content, creative, media and channels are working – and what are not. 

Check out the companion blog “The Rise of the Hyper Informed Traveler” for added context and detail on these recommendations. 

Resources: 

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