Big data refers to the endless amount of information tracked and analyzed across professional sectors today. It’s no different in the hospitality industry, though collecting the data has gotten much easier and more accurate, thanks to hospitality technological tools that do just that. So today we'll take a look at how these analytics can inform more effective destination marketing.
Here's How to Use Analytics for Destination Marketing
1. Compile destination reports
Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs), known traditionally as Convention and Visitor Bureaus (CVBs), have always been an advocate for mass data collection. They request information from individual hotel properties and venues and compile them to create destination reports showing the number of visitors to a city, average spend, and length of stay.
2. Inform city planning
As the central source for planning, the importance of this data has started to impact more than just tourism industries. City planning can now incorporate visitor data to determine if retail or entertainment venues will be placed in an area with easy traffic accessibility at a price point congruent with its neighborhood.
Hotel developers can look to a DMO for statistics that can support the construction of a new hotel in a specific market. A DMO is now an active participant in the growth and development of its community beyond just hotels and convention centers because they hold the key to information that can reinforce decisions made for that region.
3. Reach the right planner prospects when they're sourcing
From a sales perspective, data is also used to help capture the right business at the right time. With digital history, prospecting efforts can be focused on reaching out to customers that are in their buying cycle, with a budget that fits the region, on dates their venues are available.
Tools such as Cvent, sales CRMs, and social media networks such as LinkedIn provide resources that allow searching and sorting simple and efficient for sales and marketing professionals. Gone are the days of cold calling. Rely on your community’s combined resources to make sales based on research, history, and reliable data.
Up next, learn more about conversational selling for CVBs.
Discover the DMO data solution
Written by Jessica Rienecker, CTA, CTP, CMM, HMCC.
All information provided by Visit Anaheim.
