Wisconsin's Fall Visitors

The fall portion of the Department of Tourism's latest four-season study of Wisconsin visitors was recently conducted in the Sheboygan County/Manitowoc/Two Rivers area (the Sheboygan Area), Vilas/Oneida, Iowa/Green and Sawyer/Washburn/Bayfield counties. The following data was compiled from a sample of over 1,300 surveys. This study focuses on the demographics of our visitors, the type of getaways they take, and where they look for travel information.

Demographics

The majority of surveyed travelers came from the Midwest. Sixty-one percent were Wisconsin residents, while 16 percent came from Illinois, 9 percent were Minnesota residents, 3 percent from Michigan and 2 percent from Iowa. When broken down more specifically by prospective marketing areas, most came from the Milwaukee (17 percent), Madison (16 percent), Chicago (13 percent) and Green Bay (12 percent) markets. The Twin Cities and Wausau areas (nine and eight percent, respectively) were also well represented.

Respondents were fairly evenly split between males (45 percent) and females (55 percent). Baby-Boomers (ages 35-54) were the dominant age group, followed by Empty Nesters (55-64 years) and Seniors (65+). Seven out of ten households did not have kids under the age of 18 living at home. The majority of fall visitors had an education beyond high school (73 percent), and more than half had had household incomes greater than $50,000. Ninety-five percent of the respondents were Caucasian, three percent were African-American and one percent were Latino.

Marketing Implications

• Promotional materials should target adult family and friends groups. Eighty-one percent of the groups surveyed were comprised of family groups traveling without children, while seven out of ten households reported having no kids under 18 living at home.

• Many Wisconsin visitors are looking for relaxing vacations. The predominant ages of the fall visitors were Baby-Boomers, Empty Nesters and Seniors, groups that place an emphasis on relaxing vacations (Generation X and Empty Nest/Aging Baby Boomer Focus Groups). Fall visitors rated relaxing with a spouse or significant other as one of their top activities behind their visit.

Trip Characteristics

Typically, fall visitors were on leisure trips. Half of the groups were traveling in a twosome, usually with a spouse or significant other, with friends groups accounting for another 23 percent. Most of the travel groups (81 percent) did not include kids under the age of 18. Overall, 71 percent of the fall visitors were on an overnight trip from home, primarily staying in hotels, motels, with family and friends, or in resorts. These overnight visitors stayed an average of two and a half nights. Travel groups spent an average of $352 on their trip.

Short-term planning was the norm for fall visitors. Sixty-three percent planned their October or November trip between August and October of 2002. An additional 13 percent planned their fall excursion during the month of July.

Fall visitors were asked to list all of the trip activities they planned on participating in while in the area. The top five activities, by frequency of mentions, were shopping, festival/event, dining, visiting family and friends, and fall color viewing.

Among the activities noted as "most important," festivals and events was most frequently cited followed by visiting family and friends, shopping, and visiting a museum or exhibit. The fifth most important activity noted was split between three activities; fishing/ice fishing, viewing fall color and relaxing with spouse or significant other.

The Wisconsin vacation experience fared very well when fall visitors were asked to rate their overall impression. With 10 being the highest rating, visitors ranked their Wisconsin experience 8.7. Area amenities that received ratings higher than 8.3 included scenery, opportunity to relax, service at museums, festivals, attractions, lodging, restaurants and retail, overnight lodging, food, and ease of locating attractions and information centers.

When respondents were asked to describe their Wisconsin vacation experience with a word or phrase, the top ten by order of mentions were "relaxing," "friendly," "fun," "beautiful scenery," "would like to stay longer," "refreshing," "exciting," "close to home," "would like to return soon" and "a good value for the cost."

Marketing Implications 

• Wisconsin's fall travelers tend to be short-term planners. Plan your advertising schedule accordingly to ensure your invitation is in front of the customer at the right time.

• Develop all-inclusive packages, including reduced admission to festivals and events, lodging discounts and dining coupons. Because baby-boomers report that relaxation is important to them, taking the "work" out of planning their vacation might be an incentive for new visitors to experience the area - and perhaps stay an extra night.

• Ensure that relaxation is a focal point in your promotional literature. When asked to describe their Wisconsin vacation, "relaxing," "would like to stay longer," and "would like to return soon" were cited frequently. When rating the quality of their experience, visitors rated the opportunity to relax an average of 8.6 on a 10-point scale.

Motivation for Travel

Most visitors to the Sheboygan Area, Vilas/Oneida Counties and Iowa/Green Counties cited festivals and events as their primary motivation for traveling, while respondents in Sawyer County area mentioned family and friends most often. Other reasons for traveling during the fall season were fall color viewing, smaller crowds, attractions and personal special events (i.e. wedding).

Marketing Implications

• Promote the full variety of activities available in your area. Wisconsin's fall tourists had many reasons for making the trip, and enjoyed participating in a variety of activities. Promotional materials should highlight a variety of recreational activities, shopping and dining.

Information Sources

Visitors were asked which source(s) of information they used when planning their vacation. The top responses were recommendations from family and friends, local Internet sites, magazine articles, State Internet site, newspaper ads, and newspaper articles. In addition, when asked which informational source was the most useful in their planning, word-of-mouth recommendations were again at the top of the list. Word-of-mouth was followed in importance by local Internet sites, State Internet site, newspaper articles, other Internet sites, and newspaper ads.

Marketing Implications 

• Even with the popularity of the Internet, word-of-mouth is as important as ever. Word-of-mouth was not the most often used informational source for travel information on an area, but it was rated as the most important. Providing good customer service is a critical component and will reinforce the positive experiences customers have. In addition, consider giving current customers discounted coupons to pass on to friends and relatives. 

• Drive potential visitors to your Web site, and make sure it's up-to-date. With the popularity of the Internet as a source of travel information, it is important that all promotional materials direct customers to your Web site. Keeping your site updated with exciting visuals and incentives will give people a reason to visit it often. You can find out more about using photography on the Web in the October/November 2002 edition of the Marketour. 

• Consider e-mail newsletters as a marketing tool. Look for ways to entice visitors to provide you with their e-mail address. This is an effective and cost efficient way to provide customers with up-to-date information. The use of e-mail is an excellent one-to-one marketing strategy when executed properly, and the Department of Tourism's Co-op e-mail program can help get you started.

• Use the Web to develop partnerships. A partnership opportunity might exist with local businesses to collectively promote your area's amenities and services by posting discount coupons on the Web. Make the coupons redeemable on the next trip.

Advertising

In an effort to ensure that advertising is reaching the target markets, fall visitors were queried on how the state should advertise to attract more visitors like themselves. Newspapers, Internet, magazines, network TV, cable TV, and radio ads were frequently mentioned.

Marketing Implications 

• Consider cable. Fall visitors cited cable TV among the top six forms of advertising to attract more visitors like themselves. Looking at the profiles of these respective marketing areas (Lifestyle Market Analyst 2002, Standard Rate and Data Service), between 59 percent and 67 percent of all households in these market areas subscribe to cable TV. Consideration might be given, if funds are available, to the possibility of using cable TV as a means of advertising.

For information on obtaining this or other Department of Tourism research documents, please see our Research page.