Could 2023 have been a better year for tourism than 2019?
Understanding the volume and type of tourists coming into a community, city, or region has always been a difficult endeavor to measure because how do you count, analyze them, and differentiate a local vs a tourist? The answer for us, CCT, is to use mobility data through geofencing – a virtual geographic boundary around a particular area. Similar to surveying attendees at a large festival, we are able to collect a sample of mobile devices within the selected area and can extrapolate those numbers for an estimated weighted count (based on StatsCanada data). In addition to those calculations, we are also able to connect the sample devices that ‘ping-ed’ to their household locations to: 1) discover if they travelled less than 40km, indicating that they are a local, or further than 40km, identifying them as a tourist; and 2) understand their Prizm® profile, demographics and psychographics.
Now that I have explained the mobility data methodology, the even better news is that the geofencing mobility data for 2023 is in. Though we only started looking at the 2023 data, so far, it appears that visitation in 2023 has recovered from the last three years and is on par with 2019 numbers, with some areas showing higher visitation numbers than before!! As we continue looking at the numbers and segments from 2023, we will be posting our findings through our B2B Newsletter and website.
How did your business or community do in 2023? Was it comparable to 2019, worse, or better? Tom, our Research and Development Manager, would love to hear your answer to these questions. And if you don’t know the answers, Tom can definitely help you in answering those questions by geofencing your business, community, downtown, or municipality. Geofence data will identify the % of locals vs tourists, a ranking of which cities (and FSAs) came to your business/area (enabling you to better target market them), and a deep dive into your customer’s demographics and psychographics (E.g., Prizm profiles, media habits, hobbies/interests, social values…).
Let’s start 2024 with the right data and tools to help your business/community/BIA/municipality grow the visitor economy within the region.
Learn more about our Geofencing Research Tool.
