$928 billion Total Direct Visitor Spending
5 Important Visitor Segments
the power of tourism:travel and tourism marketing essentialsA summary of critical travel stats, trends and best practices every tourism marketer should have in their tool kit
International Tourism
Direct Visitor Spending
$179 billion10%
(average growth 2009-2015)
TOP 5 INTERNATIONAL
MARKETS TO USA BY: Size:
Canada MexicoUnited KingdomJapanBrazil
Growth:
ChinaIndia TaiwanKoreaAustralia/NZ
Couples Includes older empty nesters and
younger couples
Family “Family” means all sorts of family
groupings in 2016
Business Traveler Rebounding with a stronger economy,
great repeat business
Small Leisure Groups From sports groups to reunions the
size is often unrecognized
Meetings Delegates Meetings/events come in all sizes
and types. Connect with event organizers and your CVB.
US travelers are becoming more diverse – ethnically and by age and income. Closely define the characteristics of the visitors you want to market to and understand the mix of
your current customers. Do they match?
Miles Partnership markets destinations and hospitality businesses by working with state tourism offices, convention and visitors bureaus, hotels and other organizations in the tourism industry to create forward-thinking digital and print content-marketing solutions
Share of Leisure Spending
20% Trains, Planes
& Buses
18% Cars
18% Lodging
10% Activities & Attractions
10% Retail
Shopping24%
Food & Dining
Version 1.0 2017
Type of Travel
Domestic Tourism
Direct Visitor Spending
$749 billion 3%
(2014-2015)
65% Leisure
20% Business
Travel
15% Meetings & Events
(see back page for research sources)
the hyper-informed travelerThe 2016 US traveler is more informed and uses more media and sources of information (40+) than ever before in the history of travel.That’s why Miles funds independent research bi-annually to help our clients make the most of their marketing dollars. Sign up for our email to stay informed.
40% 58%Social MediaOffer free wi-fi to encourage sharing
41% 63%MobileBuild a responsive site
28% 36%TabletOnly 9% use apps
21% 19%Use Official Visitor Guides: City, Regional, or State Vacation Publications
31% 36%DMO WebsiteUses 38+ sites
41% 60%Reviews & UGC
Manage your reputation
49% 54%All Print PublicationsHighest since 2007!
Understand your Audience; become a Tourism-Marketing Expert - Visit our website to find new research and white papers at MilesPartnership.com!
Get our 2016/17 Quarterly State of the American Traveler Research covering trends in mobile, content, technology and generational usage.
STATE OF THE AMERICAN TRAVELER Research Highlights: Media Usage comparing 2013 to 2016
State of the American Traveler Research
Destination Analysts, Inc. | January 2015
page 1
Americans’ Travel Expectations Remain Steadily PositiveAmerica’s love affair with leisure travel remains strong. Our most recent travel sentiment tracking study shows leisure travel expectations are continuing the pattern of stability seen in recent years. The State ofthe American TravelerTM results for January show that optimism about upcoming leisure travels has grown slightly since last summer. The proportion of leisure travelers expecting to travel more (continued on page 2)
JAN 12 JUL 12 JAN 13 JUL 13 JAN 14
JAN 12 JUL 12 JAN 13 JUL 13 JAN 14
JUL 14 JAN 15
LESS
SAME
MORE
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
JAN 12 JUL 12 JAN 13 JUL 13 JAN 14
JUL 14 JAN 15
LESS
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MORE
4.6 4.64.3 4.8 4.8
JUL 14
4.7
JAN 15
4.3
Travel Volume Stable
Strong Travel Expectations
Spending Expectations Stable
32.7
%
27.5
% 34.2
%
30.2
%
32.3
%
29.2
%
32.5
%
26.9
%
33.4
%
31.1
%
32.5
%
31.5
%
55.1
%12
.2%
55.9
%16
.6%
53.8
%11
.9%
57.9
%11
.9%
56.9
%10
.8%
60.2
%10
.6%
31.1
%59
.0%
9.9%
53.2
%14
.3%
53.7
%19
.4%
51.7
%14
.8%
54.4
%14
.5%
53.8
%13
.7%
55.3
%13
.2%
32.1
%56
.7%
11.2
%
60
50
40
30
20
10
60
50
40
30
20
10
JAN 12 JUL 12 JAN 13 JUL 13 JAN 14
JAN 12 JUL 12 JAN 13 JUL 13 JAN 14
JUL 14 JAN 15
LESS
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MORE
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
JAN 12 JUL 12 JAN 13 JUL 13 JAN 14
JUL 14 JAN 15
LESS
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MORE
4.6 4.64.3 4.8 4.8
JUL 14
4.7
JAN 15
4.3
Travel Volume Stable
Strong Travel Expectations
Spending Expectations Stable
32.7
%
27.5
% 34.2
%
30.2
%
32.3
%
29.2
%
32.5
%
26.9
%
33.4
%
31.1
%
32.5
%
31.5
%
55.1
%12
.2%
55.9
%16
.6%
53.8
%11
.9%
57.9
%11
.9%
56.9
%10
.8%
60.2
%10
.6%
31.1
%59
.0%
9.9%
53.2
%14
.3%
53.7
%19
.4%
51.7
%14
.8%
54.4
%14
.5%
53.8
%13
.7%
55.3
%13
.2%
32.1
%56
.7%
11.2
%
60
50
40
30
20
10
60
50
40
30
20
10
Americans planning to increase leisure travel spending in the next 12 months
SNAP SHOT
32%
Q: In the next 12 months, do you expect to travel more or less for leisure than you did in the most recent 12 month period?
Q: In the next 12 months, do you expect to spend more or less for leisure travel than you did in the most recent 12 month period?
Sponsored By
Leisure Travel BasicsWhile we took an average of 4.3 leisure trips last year, our travels are varied. Highlights of how Americans traveled in the past twelve months follow.
44% of all trips were day trips, with no overnight stay. Nearly half of travelers (47.3%) only took overnight trips.
DayTrips
25% of all trips included air travel. However, more than half (53%) of Ameri-can travelers did not fly for leisure trips during the year.
PlaneTrips
72% of all leisure trips were by car. Car continues to be king in the American travel landscape, with 85% of travelers taking at least one road trip annually.
CarTrips
23% of American travelers ventured abroad for leisure reasons last year, averaging 2.1 trips to foreign destinations.
International Trips
15% of Americans took a cruise (one night or more aboard). Many of these travelers take more than one cruise a year. The average cruiser took two such trips.
CruiseTrips
13% of Americans took a leisure trip by train last year. Train travel is popular with this group, who averaged 2.4 rail trips during the year.
Leisure Trips
THE STATE OF THE AMERICAN TRAVELER Volume 17, January 2015
Conducted by Destination Analysts www.destinationanalysts.com
WHITEPAPER SNAPSHOT:
Miles creates an array of free tourism-marketing whitepapers, all geared toward helping you to create and track effective tourism-marketing campaigns. (Download the top essential whitepapers at: www.milespartnership.com)
Content that travels
Creating Landing
pages that convert
Creating effective on-line
advertising
Data Driven
Destinations
100% Advertising
12 Essential Google
Analytics Reports
Destination Analysts, Inc. | July 2015
page 1
American Travel Expectations Soar
Expectations for near-term leisure travel are soaring, and may have reached
an all-time high. In our most recent The State of the American TravelerTM
survey, more than a third (34.3%) of Americans say they expect to increase
the number of leisure trips they will take in the upcoming year (compared
to last year). This is up from 31.1 percent last January and significantly
above levels seen in previous summer waves of the survey. (continued on page 2)
JUL 12 JAN 13 JUL 13 JAN 14
JUL 12 JAN 13 JUL 13 JAN 14
JUL 14 JAN 15
LESS
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1
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JAN 12 JUL 12 JAN 13 JUL 13 JAN 14
JUL 14 JAN 15
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MORE
4.6 4.64.3
4.8 4.8
JUL 14
4.7
JAN 15
4.3
Travel Volume Stable
Summer travel expectations high
Spending expectations soar
27.5
%
34.2
%
30.2
%
32.3
%
29.2
%
26.9
%
33.4
%
31.1
%
32.5
%
31.5
%
55.9
%
16.6
%
53.8
%
11.9
%
57.9
%
11.9
%
56.9
%
10.8
%
60.2
%
10.6
%
31.1
%59
.0%
9.9%
JUL 15
34.3
%56
.7%
9.0%
53.7
%
19.4
% 51.7
%
14.8
%
54.4
%
14.5
%
53.8
%
13.7
%
55.3
%
13.2
%
32.1
%56
.7%
11.2
%
JUL 15
35.0
%53
.8%
11.2
%
60
50
40
30
20
10
60
50
40
30
20
10
JUL 12 JAN 13 JUL 13 JAN 14
JUL 12 JAN 13 JUL 13 JAN 14
JUL 14 JAN 15
LESS
SAME
MORE
1
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3
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5
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7
8
JAN 12 JUL 12 JAN 13 JUL 13 JAN 14
JUL 14 JAN 15
LESS
SAME
MORE
4.6 4.64.3
4.8 4.8
JUL 14
4.7
JAN 15
4.3
Travel Volume Stable
Summer travel expectations high
Spending expectations soar
27.5
%
34.2
%
30.2
%
32.3
%
29.2
%
26.9
%
33.4
%
31.1
%
32.5
%
31.5
%
55.9
%
16.6
%
53.8
%
11.9
%
57.9
%
11.9
%
56.9
%
10.8
%
60.2
%
10.6
%
31.1
%59
.0%
9.9%
JUL 15
34.3
%56
.7%
9.0%
53.7
%
19.4
% 51.7
%
14.8
%
54.4
%
14.5
%
53.8
%
13.7
%
55.3
%
13.2
%
32.1
%56
.7%
11.2
%
JUL 15
35.0
%53
.8%
11.2
%
60
50
40
30
20
10
60
50
40
30
20
10
Americans planning to increase leisure travel spending in the next 12 months
SNAP SHOT
35%
Q: In the next 12 months, do you expect to travel more
or less for leisure than you did in the most recent 12
month period?
Q: In the next 12 months, do you expect to spend more or
less for leisure travel than you did in the most recent
12 month period?
Sponsored By
Leisure Travel BasicsAmericans took an average of 4.2 leisure trips last year.
Here are some highlights of how they traveled.
47% of all trips were day trips, with no overnight
stay. Yet nearly half of travelers (48%) only took
overnight trips.
28% of all trips included air travel. However, more
than half (50%) of American travelers did not fly for leisure trips during
the year.
80% of all leisure trips wereby car. Car continues to be
king in the American travellandscape, with 86% of
travelers taking at leastone road trip annually.23% of American travelers traveled abroad for leisure reasons last year, averaging 2.0 trips to
foreign destinations.
15% of Americans say they could budget $5,000 or
more for leisure travel this year. The average traveler said
they could budget as much as $3,216 for leisure travel
annually.
26% of Americans took five or more leisure trips in the
past year. Sadly, about the same proportion (24%) only
took one trip.
47%Day
Trips 28%PlaneTrips 80%
CarTrips
23%Intl. Trips 15%
Budgetover 5K 26%Five orMore Trips
THE STATE OF THE AMERICAN TRAVELER July 2015 | Volume 18
MULTI-MEDIA: With such a complex planning landscape, integrated, multi-media advertising is critical.
still DREAMS, PLANS, THEN BOOKS
DreamingBold imagery, video & experiential content
BookingStrong call-to-actions, value
offers, easy access to booking
SharingEncourage visitors to
share their experiences, use user-generated-
content (UGC)
TRAVEL PLANNING LIFECYCLE
With such complex planning landscape, integrated, multi-media advertising is critical.
PlanningPlanning content: Maps, itineraries,
reviews
Did You KNOW?» Mobile:
Mobile users are 58% more likely to use print.
» Print:Print usage is the highest since 2007.
» Millennials:Are more likely than any other age group to use both DMO websites and magazines during trip-planning.
Source: State of the American Traveler - July 2015
ExperiencingTarget visitors in market via
print & mobile
smart advertising tool kitPlan and execute a smart advertising program that generates results by ensuring you include these six best practices:
1 Have a S.M.A.R.T. Plan. Develop a quick, simple campaign brief that includes all theelements below of smart advertising. A campaign brief can be short and simple but make sure it is Specific, Measurable, Attainable and has clear Resources (money & staff) and Timelines assigned (S.M.A.R.T).
2 Define Your Target Audience. Identify the specific travelers and their interests thatyou want to target. Don’t try to be all things to all visitors. Make sure you clearly define who you want to reach.
3 Develop Clear and Compelling Creative. Your advertising should betargeted to specific visitors – with creative; images, keywords and a call to action that will directly appeal to their interests. Good advertisingt needs to grab Attention, raise Interest, develop Desire and have a clear call to Action (A.I.D.A).
Sources of Research: Destination Analysts (State of the American Traveler 2006 - 2016), US Travel Association (Impact of Travel on State Economies 2014, Domestic Travel Market Report 2014, International Top 20 Report 2008 – 2015), Brand USA and PhocusWright (International Market Profiles 2015)
MORE: For a full list of research and other resources visit www.MilesPartnership.com
4 Utilize Integrated Media. Develop a media plan that reaches travelers across thefull range of digital and print media that they use in their trip planning. Some media options and advertising will be more about branding and awareness, others about specific promotions and calls to action. Focus on multimedia solutions.
5 Measure What Matters. Measure a range of success events or “Signals of Intent toTravel” – not just bookings. Most travelers influenced by your advertising won’t book on the Official Destination site or even your site but they will give other “Signals of Intent to Travel”. Make sure you are tracking adverting referrals against a range of other online goals in your analytics; for example, viewing pricing and availability, checking out deals, watching a video or utilizing the click to call function on their phone.
6 Review and Refine. Measure, monitor and manage – change your advertising to focuson what works and to change what doesn’t. Assess the performance of your advertising on a regular basis, looking “beyond the click” at key measurements like bounce rate, time on site and Signals of Intent to Travel. Reconnect with your advertising rep to update your advertising creative, placement and type.