Friday I attended Maine’s Tourism outlook conference 2007 put on by Centro the tourism research arm of the University of Maine. The day did not deliver much of value in terms of new information. They are predicting some growth in the national economy which they feel will provide tourism in the state with flat growth in the coming season.
They are using Turnpike traffic as a benchmark and I walked away with these gems.
If it snows this winter turnpike traffic will be up
If we have good weather next summer turnpike traffic will be up
Nothing about who is more likely to travel next summer and what they might be interested in doing while here or how we might better use the data.
Because I have recently read The Long Tail by Chris Anderson for a definition here is the definition on Wickipedia
I realize that tourism in Maine as a niche market a long tail of small businesses if you will and we are thinking of it as a hit market where some big player will be wildly successful and employ a ton of workers. Instead of trying to assist the bulk of the businesses that are in the tail and would be most helped having customers in find them they are thinking of how we can make Maine into a hit that will somehow dominate the market.
One very Interesting statistic is that Maine lags the rest of the nation in travelers using the internet to learn about visiting here. Down from five years ago when we were at the national norm. The state has spent a significant amount on web marketing and almost every business has as well. Somehow we are all missing the boat on using the web.
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