GIS in the Tourism Industry: Increasing

Visitation Through Customer Prospecting

Presented at the 2004 ESRI Business GeoInfo Summit

June 29, 2004

Chicago, IL

Matt Kures
GIS State Specialist
University of Wisconsin - Extension
Center for Community Economic
Development

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 Agenda
Part I - Introduction
! GIS as an Economic Development Tool
! Tourism Customer Profiling and Prospecting

Part II - Profiling Existing Customers

! Analyzing Geographic Origins
! Analyzing Neighborhood Demographics
! Analyzing Customer Lifestyles

Part III - Prospecting for New Customers

! Identifying Prospecting Criteria
! Putting the Data to Work

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GIS and UW-Extension’s Center for Community
Economic Development (CCED)

Educational Mission - We are not consultants

Some examples of how we are using GIS in community

and regional economic development

! Industrial Cluster Analysis/Industrial Targeting

! Business District Market Analysis
! Policy Issues (demographic mapping and analysis)
! Labor Market Analysis
! Custom Application Development
! Tourism Market Analysis
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 Tourism Customer Profiling and Prospecting
Program at UW-Extension
! Typically work with organizations rather than a single
business or entity (Chambers of Commerce, CVBs, etc.)

! These organizations often lack GIS technical expertise

and have limited budgets

Want to know:
1. Who are customers in terms of their
demographics?
2. Where do they live
Can all be
3. When do they come?
answered
4. What are their preferences? using GIS
5. How can we find more of them?
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 Range of Projects and Customer Data Sources

1. We want addresses

2. Ideally, we want seasonal data

Some Examples:

! Convention and Visitor Bureau Inquiries – La Crosse, WI

! Registrations at a Tourist Attraction - State Historical

Society of Wisconsin

! Player’s Club/Member Cards – Casinos

! Hotel Registrations – Door County Chamber of Commerce

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 Case Study - Door County Chamber of
Commerce
! Door County, WI – More coastline than
any other county in the U.S.

! Regional destination with high occupancy

rates in summer. Goal was to increase the
visitation rate in shoulder seasons and off-
seasons

! Sample of 26 properties in the County

(over 42,000 reservation records)

! Database included information on lead

time, number of nights, dollars spent, etc.

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Profiling Existing Customers

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 Where do Customers Originate? -
Developing a Geographic Profile
Analyzing Geographic Origin - by Travel Time, by Season

Drive All
Time Spring Summer Fall Winter
Seasons

0-2 hours 16.6% 22.8% 12.2% 13.2% 28.8%

2-4 hours 56.6% 59.1% 54.3% 56.9% 59.9%

4-6 hours 15.8% 11.0% 18.4% 19.2% 7.7%

6-8 hours 4.5% 3.6% 5.6% 5.0% 1.3%

>8 hours 6.6% 3.5% 9.4% 5.8% 2.3%

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 Developing a Geographic Profile
Analyzing Geographic Origin by MSA, by Season

MSA All
Spring Summer Fall Winter
(drive time) Seasons
Chicago, IL
28.7% 23.9% 31.1% 31.4% 21.2%
(4.2 hours)
Milwaukee, WI
19.1% 23.5% 16.1% 16.8% 26.8%
(2.5 hours)
Madison, WI
5.9% 6.2% 5.8% 5.7% 6.1%
(3.2 hours)
Appleton, WI
5.6% 8.3% 4.3% 4.3% 9.2%
(1.5 hours)
Green Bay, WI
5.3% 7.8% 3.8% 3.5% 10.0%
(0.8 hours)
Minneapolis, MN
4.3% 3.3% 5.2% 5.2% 1.3%
(5.5 hours)
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 Who are our Customers? –
Developing a Demographic Profile

" Typically examine 50-60 demographic variables (age

distribution, income, educational attainment, race,
occupation, etc.)

" Examine consumer segmentation data (ACORN data in

the past)

Two Important Notes:

" Profiling not the specific customer, but rather the
neighborhoods where they live (Census Block Groups)

" Want to know what makes these customers different from

the typical household in a given study area
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 Who are our Customers? –
Developing a Demographic Profile
Analyzing Neighborhood Demographics
Demographic 6-State
Spring Summer Fall Winter Total
Category Area

Average
2.6 2.6 2.6 2.6 2.6 2.5
Household Size

Median Age 36.3 36.7 36.7 36.2 36.5 36.0

Average Family
$64,171 $72,018 $66,845 $65,149 $68,630 $47,351
Income ($)
Bachelor/Grad
18.5% 21.0% 18.9% 18.8% 19.8% 12.0%
Degree

Exec or Prof
31.3% 34.2% 31.9% 31.7% 32.8% 25.4%
Occupation

Home owners 72.1% 75.5% 73.9% 72.3% 74.2% 68.1%

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 Who are our Customers? - Developing a
Demographic Profile
Analyzing Consumer Segments, by Season
Lifestyle All
Winter Spring Summer Fall
Category Seasons

ACORN 1F 12.2% 12.8% 12.5% 12.1% 12.0%

ACORN 1C 8.7% 8.3% 8.7% 9.0% 8.5%

ACORN 7A 7.6% 9.3% 8.4% 6.6% 7.9%

ACORN 2E 6.7% 7.2% 7.4% 6.0% 7.2%

ACORN 1D 6.1% 4.7% 5.1% 7.1% 5.6%

ACORN 2A 5.5% 6.0% 5.3% 5.5% 5.2%

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 What are our Customers’ Preferences? –
Using Lifestyle Segmentation Data

Ideal for identifying consumer preferences and

spending propensity

" Matching community events to consumer types

" Identifying media preferences

" Cross-promotional activities (i.e. hotel and restaurant

joint marketing activities)

" What types of items should we have in our gift shop (or
other retail establishments)?
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Prospecting for Potential Visitors

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 Basic Steps in Customer Prospecting

1. Identify Target Group (Geographic Region and

Demographics)

2. Perform Queries (Spatial and Non-Spatial)

3. Report Target Geographies

4. Perform Conversion Studies – Need a tracking

mechanism (GIS is an option)

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 Customer Prospecting
What specific demographic criteria make a customer different
from the general population?

1. Logistical Regression
Customer (yes/no) = β0 + β1 median age + β3 median hhld
income + β4 educational attainment + βn

Median Household Income - Percent of Census Block Groups

(Comparison of Door County Customers to Study Area Households)
16.0%

14.0% Percent of Customers

Percent of All Households

12.0%
Percent of Block Groups

2. Conditional Means or 10.0%

Distributions of
8.0%

6.0%

Demographic Variables 4.0%

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Ways to Implement Profiling/Prospecting
Information

! Benchmarking – Is our market changing?

! Direct mail and other targeted advertising

campaigns

! Comprehensive/Individual reports

! Educational programs for regional business

owners

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 For More Information

University of Wisconsin - Extension

Center for Community Economic Development (CCED)

610 Langdon St.

Madison, WI 53703

matthew.kures@uwex.edu
(608) 265-8258
www.uwex.edu/ces/cced

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