Tuesday Tactics: Mid-Summer Visitor Sentiment
Providing ideas and insight that can inform agency and partner strategies for improvement of park, recreation and hospitality operations and assets
Leveraging Visitor Sentiment Information for Management Decisions
As agencies approach the mid-point of summer, it is important to continue to update operational and revenue forecasts. To accomplish this, it is critical that agencies track visitor’s travel sentiment. CHMGS is scanning consumer sentiment research on a weekly basis to better understand:
Propensity to travel
Preference for type of travel
Distance willing to travel
Overnight accommodations desired
Participation Activities
Booking window
Average length of trip
CHMGS monitors the following sites on a weekly basis: U.S. Travel Association, IPOSOS, BVA BDRC, Longwoods International, MMGY Global , U.S. National Parks Feeder Market Travel Trends
Here are some highlights we are seeing as of Mid-June:
Longwoods International: An eight percent reduction in travelers planning to change their upcoming travel plans due to COVID (e.g., from 77% in the middle of May to 69% by the middle of June). This means stronger confidence in vacation plans.
MMGY Travel Intelligence: As of the beginning of June, travelers are more than twice as likely to travel by personal car (67%) vs. air (32%) during the next six months. This could mean new visitors/customers who are choosing your sites over other destinations.
MMGY Travel Intelligence: As of the beginning of June, the appeal of visits to state and national parks as a location for vacation activities remains high (48%) as compared to beaches (42%) and amusement parks (18%). This means public lands will continue to accommodate high levels of visitor demand.
U.S. Travel Association/ Rove Data: Mobile data is indicating that for national parks, 50 percent of visitors are traveling from over 200 miles and approximately 60 percent of visitors are “tourist” vs. 40 percent who are considered “local.” This means that the opportunity for midweek, vs. just weekend travel could be higher.
How should you be using this data?
Are you evaluating your reservation windows and creating flexibility to ensure that you can shift if things change?
Are you re-forecasting your revenue with the understanding that there may be a shift in when your guests are coming?
Are you evaluating whether your programmed activities should shift to take advantage of the day trip market?
Data should inform decisions, but only if you are allowing yourself the time to review it and adapt your strategies to adjust.
