Come back home for the first time
A recent study revealed that people who come to West Virginia rate it higher in the areas of excitement, family activities, couples activities and must-see destinations than those who have never visited.
Posted: Wednesday, December 24, 2014 6:00 am
Montgomery Herald
A recent study shows that people who have visited West Virginia rank it higher in key tourism categories than potential visitors, and West Virginia Division of Tourism officials plan to use the information to draw more tourists to the state.
Division of Tourism Coordinator Joe Black said Friday that his office conducted the Image and Advertising Accountability Study to determine how potential visitors compare West Virginia to surrounding competitor states, excluding Kentucky and including North Carolina.
Black’s team also wanted to know the return spent on state dollars used to fund advertising from January to June 2014.
Black said the study showed that every dollar spent on advertising generated $7 in revenue for the state.
The $1.87 million spent in advertising drew in 1.5 million visitors, Black added.
He said that if potential visitors believe a state is exciting, has must-see destinations and offers family activities and couples activities, they’re more likely to visit.
The study revealed that people who come to West Virginia rate it higher in the areas of excitement, family activities, couples activities and must-see destinations than those who have never visited.
“We asked out-of-state travelers vs. never visited to rate (West Virginia in those categories),” said Black. “Every single category had a ‘lift,’ and a lot of the lifts were substantial.
“It’s perception versus reality.”
The message to WVDT marketing officials, said Black, is that they must tailor the next campaign ad to accurately display West Virginia’s exciting, romantic and family-friendly places.
“It’s now trying to translate all of these things into, ‘OK, I saw the ad, and that makes me want to visit,'” he explained. “It’s time for a shake-up.
“We looked at the campaign for January through June, but we’ve been running a similar campaign for many years.”
The study showed that West Virginia led surrounding states with its reputation as a sports and recreation mecca, despite recent cuts to matching grants for advertising by the WVDT and a significant drop in whitewater tourists from 2000 to 2014.
“In whitewater rafting, we were far and away higher than our competitor states,” said Black.
He added that sports and recreation was ranked lower on a motivator for visiting a state than “excitement” and “must-see places.”
“We’re going to try to put the ‘excitement’ (factor) in there and show you can bring your children, your spouse, your significant other, that kind of thing … and connect that back with our outdoor recreation, which we know is there and doing well, and meld the two together,” he said.
Southern West Virginia is home to The Greenbrier, a world-class resort in White Sulphur Springs. Budget Travel magazine ranked Fayetteville in Fayette County among “The Top 10 Coolest Small Towns in America” in 2006, and Best River Magazine ranked it “Best River Town 2013.”
The Greenbrier County town of Lewisburg made Budget Travel Magazine’s list of “Top 10 Coolest Small Towns in America” in 2011.
— E-mail: jfarrish@register-herald.com
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Wednesday, December 24, 2014 6:00 am.
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