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Case Studies, Travel USA Visitor Profile Research

Explore Georgia – Leveraging Travel USA® for Enhanced Tourism Strategy and Education

Explore Georgia aims to enhance Georgia’s position as a leading tourism destination.

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Client Overview:
Explore Georgia, the tourism division of the Georgia Department of Economic Development, inspires travel to and within the state through marketing programs developed and executed in partnership with the state’s travel industry, and is committed to strengthening the state’s tourism industry. Through research-driven strategies, education, and support for destination marketing organizations (DMOs) statewide, Explore Georgia aims to enhance Georgia’s position as a leading tourism destination.

Challenge:
Explore Georgia needed comprehensive, reliable visitor insights to refine their marketing strategies and to effectively communicate the value of tourism to stakeholders. They sought state and regional-level data to guide targeted marketing efforts, align with the expectations of their DMOs, and support education at major industry events.

Solution:
Since 2019, Explore Georgia has subscribed to Longwoods International’s Travel USA® syndicated study, which provides in-depth visitor profiles covering both overnight and day-trip domestic travelers to Georgia, including regional breakdowns. The data covers key aspects such as visitor volume, expenditures, trip purposes, seasonality, origin markets, activities, and demographics. These reports provide the detailed insights Explore Georgia needs to align marketing strategies with actual visitor behaviors and trends from national and regional markets.

Implementation and Impact:

  1. Strategic Marketing Targeting:
    • Travel USA® reports support Explore Georgia’s ability to refine their tourism marketing campaigns by ensuring they target states with high travel volumes to the state. By analyzing visitor data from key origin markets, Explore Georgia can confirm that their outreach efforts are aligned with actual travel trends, maximizing the effectiveness of their marketing resources.
  2. Support for Georgia Tourism Partners:
    • Explore Georgia demonstrates a commitment to transparency and collaboration by making the Travel USA® visitor profiles available through an online portal for Georgia Tourism Partners (including DMOs, CVBs, Chambers of Commerce, Travel Associations, and many others). This allows local tourism organizations to access reliable, actionable data, fostering consistency and enabling informed decision-making across the state.
  3. Education at Industry Events:
    • The Travel USA® data plays a crucial role in Explore Georgia’s annual presentations at the Georgia Governor’s Tourism Conference and other industry events. By sharing concrete data from Longwoods International, Explore Georgia enhances the credibility of their education and partnership efforts, effectively demonstrating the positive economic impact of tourism and highlighting key travel trends to stakeholders.
  4. Benchmark for Data Accuracy:
    • The credibility and depth of insight provided by Longwoods International’s methodology strengthens Explore Georgia’s broader portfolio of data sources. Longwoods’ reliable and comprehensive research serves as a benchmark for Explore Georgia, ensuring their strategies are backed by validated insights and supporting their ability to make informed, data-driven decisions.

Conclusion:
Explore Georgia’s partnership with Longwoods International for the Travel USA® study highlights the value of comprehensive, data-driven insights in shaping tourism strategies and advancing industry initiatives. The detailed visitor profiles allow Explore Georgia to target marketing efforts based on real travel patterns, support local DMOs with actionable data, and enhance their role as a trusted voice in Georgia’s tourism-driven economic development. By sharing this research with tourism partners, Explore Georgia is actively advancing its goal of making Georgia the No. 1 state for the business of tourism, while enhancing marketing and communication efforts throughout the state.

With the support of this data, Explore Georgia continues to invite visitors to explore the state’s unique natural wonders—from dark-sky swamps and mineral springs to mountain vistas and coastal marshes—and discover its vibrant city neighborhoods and charming small towns.

“Longwoods International has provided Explore Georgia with the data necessary to make informed decisions that have helped us continuously measure our progress. Longwoods’ Travel USA® report provides extensive state and regional-level data for domestic overnight and day trips to and within Georgia. These insights provide us with a deeper understanding of the Georgia traveler, while highlighting key metrics such as volume and market share for domestic travel to and within our state.”

Ashley Barfield

PHD, Director, Marketing Research – Georgia Dept. of Economic Development