Effectiveness of intra-destination television advertising of tourist attractions and facilities

Journal of Destination Marketing & Management 2 (2013) 155–164

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Research Paper

Effectiveness of intra-destination television advertising of tourist attractions and facilities Daniel M. Spencer n School of Travel Industry Management, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2560 Campus Road, George Hall 216, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA

art ic l e i nf o

a b s t r a c t

Article history: Received 13 June 2012 Accepted 29 May 2013 Available online 1 July 2013

Many destinations contain television channels that primarily exist to advertise tourist attractions and facilities to the destinations’ visitors. However, no empirical research has been published on the effectiveness of such advertising. To help fill this information void, this article reports results from visitor intercept surveys designed to evaluate a tourist-oriented cable TV channel in the Black Hills of South Dakota, USA. The results were consistent with theoretical expectations. Respondents who watched the channel, compared to those who did not, decided to take a trip that involved visiting the Black Hills significantly fewer days prior to their departures, were more likely to have stated that the Hills or a place therein was the main destination of these trips, and spent more money in the Hills on their trips. During the 30-day study period, about 10.4% of visitor parties had heard of the channel, 5.3% had watched it, and 2.0% were influenced “a great deal” to visit one or more featured attractions or facilities. Estimated audience size was 15,000 visitors and estimated advertising returns on investment for two prominent commercial attractions were $9.20 and $14.00. Suggestions for further research are advanced. & 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Television advertising Audience size Advertising effectiveness Advertising return on investment Destination marketing Tourism

1. Introduction Many of the decisions related to lodging, dining, shopping, entertainment, and outdoor recreation that tourists make in destinations are not planned prior to tourists’ departures (Crotts & Reid, 1993; Hyde & Lawson, 2003; March & Woodside, 2005). Consequently, tourist attractions and facilities often advertise to tourists in and near the destinations in which they are located. Such advertising typically takes the form of billboards; touristoriented directional signs (Dornbusch & Kawczynska, 1992); information kiosks (Kingsley & Fesenmaier, 1995); posters, brochures, rack cards, and visitor guides, often displayed in or disseminated through visitor information and booking centers (Gunn & Var, 2002); and intra-destination television programs (Colton, 1970; Ortega & Rodriquez, 2007). The collective success of tourist attractions and facilities in such advertising contributes to the success of the destinations in which they are located because the ensuing patronage of such entities increases tourist length of stay and expenditures in the destination. Recognizing this, many destination marketing organizations construct and staff the visitor information and booking centers at which tourist attractions and facilities often advertise through the means listed above (Pitegoff & Smith, 2003). Thus, maximizing

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tourist length of stay and expenditures is a basic function of the visitor industries in destinations (Swarbrooke, 1999) and a logical means by which such industries can fully benefit from the massive investments they make in attracting tourists to their areas in the first place. Such efforts can be termed “internal advertising,” in contradistinction to the “external advertising” designed to compel people to visit the destination. Some promotional vehicles, such as brochures, visitor guides, and websites, can function as both external and internal advertising. Of the various forms of internal advertising, intra-destination TV advertising is the most sensory rich. Its persuasive potential derives from the unique ability of TV advertising to engage the senses, attract attention, provide entertainment, generate excitement, demonstrate products and services in use, reach consumers one on one, and employ humor (Shimp, 2010). Since the attractions and facilities in destinations often cannot be inspected prior to tourists patronizing them, the ability of intra-destination TV advertising to demonstrate products and services in use, with vividness and realness (Wilmshurst & Mackay, 1999), is especially important. The persuasive potential of intra-destination TV advertising is further supported by its apparent popularity among tourists. In a study of tourists in Spain, Ortega and Rodriquez (2007, p. 148) found that “information in a 10/15-minute film on the hotel room TV” was positively evaluated by 74.0% of international visitors and 81.7% of domestic visitors. Unlike external TV advertising, intra-destination TV advertising is directed to travelers rather than people in their homes.

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In addition, its primary function as advertising, rather than entertainment, as well as its orientation to in-destination rather than at-home audiences, distinguishes it from TV travel shows. Its primary function as advertising also distinguishes it from interactive systems that enable hotel guests to use the TVs in their rooms to make housekeeping requests, book local tours, browse the Internet, place room service orders, make dining reservations, etc. As evidenced by the various examples cited in the next section, intra-destination TV advertising is widely employed in many regions of the world. Yet the effectiveness of such advertising has not been the focus of a single refereed journal article. This is unfortunate because attraction, facility, and destination marketers clearly need information on the effectiveness of all available types of advertising in order to intelligently allocate advertising budgets across such types, especially in these times of fiscal constraints, increasing competition, and heightened challenges related to crisis management and sustainability. The oftrepeated adage originally attributed to British industrialist Viscount Leverhulme, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted, and the trouble is I don't know which half” (Ogilvy, 1963, p. 59) highlights the continuing need to place such decisions on an objective basis. The purpose of this article is to contribute to the development of a knowledge base on the effectiveness of intra-destination TV advertising, drawing upon data collected in tourist intercept surveys designed to evaluate an intra-destination, tourist-oriented general cable TV channel in the Black Hills of South Dakota, USA. At the time of the study in 2005, 15 attractions and one in-hotel, upscale restaurant were featured on the channel in continuously looping half-hour segments. The study was funded by the operator of the channel, who only wanted results on the effectiveness of the channel in stimulating visitation to the entities featured thereon to help him market the channel to existing and potential advertisers. Consequently, the results are necessarily focused on advertising effectiveness at the entity level; exploring destination-level issues, such as the extent to which the advertising extended visitors’ lengths of stay, increased their expenditures, encouraged repeat visitation, and/or stimulated recommendations to friends and relatives, was beyond the scope of the inquiry. Study results were reported to the client in late 2005. The underlying data have obviously aged in the interim and readers should interpret the results presented below within the context of the time period in which the data were collected. Notwithstanding this limitation, the data are still useful because so little research on intra-destination TV advertising has been conducted that all available data on it have a role to play in developing a better understanding of this subject. The results reported below can serve to generate insights and stimulate questions to guide further research in this area of inquiry and provide baseline information in establishing trends and constants with respect to the use and effectiveness of this mode of advertising. In particular, these results can provide a baseline for determining the extent to which the currently more widespread use of mobile information and communication technologies by tourists in destinations may have increased or decreased the effectiveness of intra-destination TV advertising. Intra-destination TV channels vary widely in their content and mode of delivery. To more fully describe the nature of intradestination TV advertising and to ensure that the results of this study are unambiguously ascribed to a particular type of intradestination TV channel rather than to such channels in general, a typology of intra-destination TV channels is provided in the next section. This is followed by a review of relevant literature to place the study in the context of both theoretical and applied research in this area. Given the highly applied nature of

the study, the information needs of the client, rather than the theoretical literature reviewed below, guided its design. Such literature is nevertheless reviewed because it provides useful perspectives for interpreting results and making suggestions for further research. Following the literature review, the study region and research methods are described. Next, results are reported on the estimated size of the channel's audience, the characteristics of visitors who watched the channel, the extent to which the channel compelled visits to the entities advertised thereon, and the estimated advertising return on investment (AROI) for two major commercial attractions featured thereon. In the final section conclusions are drawn and suggestions for further research are advanced.

2. A typology of intra-destination TV channels Intra-destination TV channels can be most basically categorized as those that disseminate content in a continuous loop and those that do not. The latter intersperse paid advertising spots with programming spots, some of which might be local news. For example, The Tourism TV Channel (www.tourismtvchannel.com) targets visitors to Phuket Island, Thailand with 24-h Englishlanguage programming on Thai lifestyle, culture, and places of interest, as well as local news, interspersed with tourist-oriented advertising, broadcast through the Island's main cable TV companies. The Destination Network (www.destinationnetwork.com/ index.htm) is a collection of similar TV channels operating in southeastern USA. The channels that disseminate continuously looping content are disseminated through hotel TV systems and/or general cable TV networks or webcasting. Those that disseminate content through hotels involve fixed, prerecorded, continuously cycling 1- to 4-min advertisements that are much longer than external TV advertising spots. The operators of such channels usually generate revenues entirely from advertisers and the hotels incur no costs for serving as a host. Cooperation from hoteliers is usually secured by convincing them that the channel will reduce guest inquiries about nearby attractions and that their properties’ amenities can be showcased in the continuous content. The technology typically consists of a server that is plugged directly into the hotels’ existing television systems. Advertising is updated through a central facility via the Internet. Tourist TV (www.inside-shanghai.com), which broadcasts in hotels in Hong Kong, Macau, and Shanghai English- and Mandarinlanguage programming featuring the attractions, dining, shopping, nightlife, events, and transportation in these cities on a closed loop basis, 48 times a day, is an example of this type of channel. Additional examples include the Singapore Tourism Channel (www.singaporetourismchannel.com), Visitors TV Network (www.tourvideo.com/), Destination Connection TV (dctv.ws/index.php), Hawaii Visitor Television (hawaiivisitortelevision.com), and The Indy Visitors Channel (indyvisitorschannel.com/home). The Bahamas Tourism Channel (www.BahamasTourismChannel.com), webcast to over 9000 hotel rooms in Nassau and Paradise Island, cruise ships at Festival Place, and Nassau Airport, is an example of intra-destination TV channels that disseminate continuously looping advertising through general cable TV networks or webcasting. Additional examples of this type of channel exist in St. Kitts and Nevis (www.stkittsvisitorchannel. com); the Dominican Republic (www.drtouristtv.com/index.php); Maui, Hawaii (www.paradisetelevision.com/); and the Big Island of Hawaii (bigislandtv.com). The Tourist Channel (www.touristchannel.tv) is an example of an intra-destination TV channel with dual modes of dissemination. It delivers non-stop, full-motion TV commercials about recreation

D.M. Spencer / Journal of Destination Marketing & Management 2 (2013) 155–164

opportunities in central Florida to visitors via both hotel TV systems and a general cable TV network. Many intra-destination TV channels have companion websites that provide some or all of the same TV content via videos embedded in their websites (e.g., Tourist TV, Visitors TV Network, St. Kitts & Nevis Visitor Channel, Dominican Republic Tourist TV, Big Island Television, The Bahamas Tourism Channel) or on YouTube (e.g., The Tourist Channel). Thus, it would appear that the now-widespread use of the Internet by tourists in destinations (Cena et al., 2006; Wang, Park, & Fesenmaier, 2012), often facilitated by laptops, tablets, and smartphones, has enhanced, but not replaced, intra-destination TV.

3. Literature review 3.1. Theoretical perspectives Advertising effectiveness is grounded theoretically in the field of consumer research, two basic concepts of which are “involvement” and “elaboration.” The former means the level of importance, relevance, or arousal that a person has toward an object or service or purchase situation (Hoyer & MacInnis, 2008; Zaichkowsky, 1985); the latter refers to the process of associating new information with knowledge already stored in memory (Greenwald & Leavitt, 1984; Hoyer & MacInnis, 2008). The “Elaboration Likelihood Model” of information processing and persuasion (Petty & Brinol, 2012; Petty & Cacioppo, 1981) is frequently applied in consumer research to describe, understand, and predict consumers’ attitudinal responses to advertising. In the context of advertising, the model posits that a “central route” and a “peripheral route” to persuasion exist (Petty & Brinol, 2012; Petty & Cacioppo, 1981,1983). In the central route, attitudes are formed and changed by careful scrutiny of an advertisement to determine the merits of the arguments; in the peripheral route, attitudes are formed and changed without active thinking about the object and its attributes, but by associating the object with preexisting ideas and superficial qualities, such as the perceived credibility and attractiveness of the source, the quality of message presentation, or the slogan that contains the message. Persuasion will occur via the central route when elaboration likelihood is high, i.e., when a person is motivated and able to process information about the attitude object. Persuasion will occur via the peripheral route when elaboration likelihood is low, i.e., when a person is unmotivated and/or unable to process information about the attitude object. Advertising functions to create awareness and interest in a product and impel an information search about it as an initial step in the process of making a purchase decision (Mueller, 2011; Murray, 1991). Information searches are conducted to lessen uncertainty and the risk of disappointment (Hoyer & MacInnis, 2008; Jackson, White, & Schmierer, 1996; Roehl & Fesenmaier, 1992), especially in situations of high perceived risk, high prices, many product alternatives, high product importance, and/or little experience with a product (Capella & Greco, 1987; Hoyer & MacInnis, 2008). In the case of vacation decisions, the more unfamiliar the destination, the more time and effort will be spent on pre-purchase information search (Fodness & Murray, 1999). The search will be terminated when knowledge is perceived to be sufficient and/or the costs of searching exceed the benefits (Vogt & Fesenmaier, 1998). Mobile technologies are increasingly important for travelers en route to and at unfamiliar destinations (Dwyer & Forsyth, 2006; Wang et al., 2012), in part due to the ability of such technologies to transmit video imagery of destinations to travelers. Television advertising differs fundamentally from persuasive communications conveyed through other channels since verbal

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information is spoken or presented in multiple sensory modes and therefore can influence consumers who are not actively seeking exposure to the advertisement’s message (Edell & Keller, 1989; Shimp, 2010). Print advertisements, on the other hand, are less likely to influence uninvolved or passive audience members because reading such advertisements is a relatively demanding cognitive task (Buchholz & Smith, 1991; Greenwald & Leavitt, 1984). In the case of both print and web advertisements, readers set the pace and are actively involved in processing the information conveyed. From these perspectives, the relatively lengthy advertisements broadcast on continuous loop intra-destination TV channels permit conveyance of more factual information and testimonials than can be presented in traditional 30-s TV spots. They therefore may provoke greater elaboration of the information presented than would otherwise be the case, in addition to affective responses to the sights, sounds, motion, and color inherent to the medium. Also, such advertisements are viewed by persons who have spent time and money traveling to the destination in which the advertisements are viewed and thus have a vested interest in learning more about recreation and service opportunities in the destination to make the most of their stay there, especially if pre-departure information search was limited. This suggests that involvement may be higher than in the case of traditional TV advertisements. Finally, the continuous cycling of such advertisements in the case of some channels permits repeated viewing of the same program segment (s) and thus reinforcement of the messages conveyed, as well as viewing by one member of a travel party who may encourage other members to watch it later or to patronize featured entities. 3.2. Effectiveness of tourism advertising The effectiveness of external tourism advertising has been documented through econometric modeling (e.g., Butterfield, Deal, & Kubursi, 1998; Kim, Hwang, & Fesenmaier, 2005; Messmer & Johnson, 1993; Silberman & Klock, 1986), field experiments (e.g., Mok, 1990; Schoenbachler, di Benedetto, Gordon, & Kaminski, 1995), inquiry conversion studies (e.g., Ballman, Burke, Blank, & Korte, 1984; Cai, 1998), and advertising tracking studies (e.g., Hutchinson-Reid, 1989; McWilliams & Crompton, 1997). Inquiry conversion studies are applied to advertising campaigns with a direct response component, in which a major goal is to generate inquiries (Siegel & Ziff-Levine, 1990). They estimate the proportion of advertising-induced inquirers that subsequently visited the destination. Advertising tracking studies are applied when the advertising objectives include building awareness or positive imagery for a destination and information is desired on the impact of advertising on awareness, image, and visitation within the entire targeted population rather than just those who made advertising-induced inquiries (Siegel & Ziff-Levine, 1990). According to Siegel and Ziff-Levine (1990, p. 54), the advertising tracking model is the “… standard paradigm for evaluating advertising across a wide range of industries.” The investigation reported below was an advertising tracking study. However, unlike many other such studies that have been conducted in the tourism field, it assessed the impact of advertising on specific entities within a destination rather than on the destination itself and was cross-sectional, rather than longitudinal, in design. External advertising through both traditional and web-based media has been found to increase awareness of, and change attitudes toward, a destination, cause visitation to a destination, and result in tourist expenditures and positive AROIs (e.g., Butterfield et al., 1998; Tierney, 2000) (Table 1). Such advertising also has been found to impel requests for additional information and the information received has been found to be effective in heightening tourist visitation and associated expenditures (e.g.,

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Table 1 Estimated tourism AROIs reported in peer-reviewed journal articles. Source of estimate External advertising Woodside and Reid (1974) Woodside and Motes (1980) Ballman et al. (1984) Mok (1990) McWilliams and Crompton (1997) Butterfield et al. (1998) Pratt et al. (2010) Internal advertising Pitegoff and Smith (2003) Tyrrell and Johnston (2003) a

Nature of study

Estimated AROI(s)

Evaluation of advertising in three magazines by the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Evaluation of advertising in 41 newspapers and magazines by the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Evaluation of a newspaper, radio, and magazine campaign in six upper-Midwest metropolitan areas designed to boost tourism in Minnesota’s “Border Country.” Evaluation of a magazine campaign in 13 eastern and Midwestern U.S. cities conducted by the Hawaii Visitors Bureau Evaluation of a TV and magazine campaign in eight U.S. cities targeted by the Texas Tourism Division

$32.78

Evaluation of the Ontario Ministry of Tourism and Recreation’s 1987-88 “Ontario Incredible” campaign

$11.80 for image ads; $56.53 for direct-response ads $3.12 $10–$56 $38.80

Evaluation of 18 domestic campaigns conducted by destination marketing organizations in the East Midlands region of the United Kingdom

$22.70 in Ontario; -$53.50 in Quebec; $20.90 in the U.S. Average of £9.98 with a range of £0.5 to £36.6a

Study of the return on investment associated with welcome centers in Florida.

$0.11

Study of the effectiveness of a welcome center in Rhode Island.

$35

In Pratt et al. (2010) AROI was defined as total expenditure generated divided by campaign cost.

McLemore & Mitchell, 2001; Messmer & Johnson, 1993; Pratt, McCabe, Cortes-Jimenez, & Blake, 2010; Woodside & Motes, 1980; Woodside & Reid, 1974). Internal advertising has also been found to be generally effective, possibly due to the aforementioned vested interest that travelers have in making the most of their visits to destinations. In particular, welcome centers have been found to increase length of stay in destinations and influence travelers’ tourism product choices (Fesenmaier & Vogt, 1993; Tierney, 1993), and evaluations of the effectiveness of such facilities have yielded positive AROIs (Pitegoff & Smith, 2003; Tyrrell & Johnston, 2003) (Table 1). Studies specifically focused on the effectiveness of brochures and guidebooks as internal advertising vehicles have in most cases yielded positive results. Zhou (1997) found that 78% of respondents to a survey of persons who requested a brochure on Frankenmuth, Michigan from the local chamber of commerce consulted it during their visits to the town and such respondents had better-than-expected trip experiences and were more likely to recommend a visit to the town to others. Andereck (2005) found that a brochure advertising Glendale, Arizona increased survey respondents’ interest in visiting the town and that evaluation of the brochure was related to actual visitation. Stewart and Barr (2005) found that 70% of hospitality-related firms near Pennsylvania rail-trails reported listing their property in a guidebook describing such trails at some point in the past. Among such firms, 67% reported that their listing had at least some positive effect on business revenues. On the other hand, a brochure about charter boat fishing distributed to tourists along the Oregon coast increased awareness of the activity but not participation in it (Bass, Manfredo, Lee, & Allen, 1989). The effectiveness of intra-destination TV advertising has been evaluated only in an unpublished Master's thesis by Colton (1970). In this study, tourists staying in six motels in Vernal, Utah, USA were surveyed about a 16-min TV program featuring six nearby attractions that was broadcast at 9:00 p.m. on a local cable channel. To inform tourists about the broadcast, a card advertising the program was placed in most of the guestrooms in cooperating motels. Thirteen percent of the tourists sampled on days on which the program was televised watched the broadcast. Among tourists who visited all of the attractions they originally planned to visit in the area, 72.7% who viewed the program made one or more

unplanned visits to attractions featured on the program, compared to only 34.7% of non-viewers, a statistically significant difference. The AROI reported as an indicator of advertising effectiveness in many of the studies cited above focuses on the short-term impact of advertising and does not account for the effects of advertising in forming images that may contribute to visitation in the longer term (Belch & Belch, 1990; Bojanic, 1991; Stewart, 1989). AROI is nevertheless a useful indicator of advertising effectiveness provided it is understood that its short-term focus may underestimate the overall impact of the advertising. Accordingly, AROIs are reported herein for two commercial attractions advertised on the channel studied. As explained below, assessing the long-term impact of the channel's advertising was not an objective of the study's client and therefore beyond the scope of the study.

4. The study region and TV advertising of its tourist attractions and facilities The Black Hills feature pine-covered hills punctuated by dramatic granite outcroppings; Mt. Rushmore, bearing the iconic sculpted images of four American Presidents; the historic mining and gambling town of Deadwood, where “Wild Bill Hickok” was murdered; various other cultural and natural attractions; and abundant outdoor recreation opportunities on public lands (Black Hills, Badlands and Lakes Association, 2012). The study region was defined as the five South Dakota counties that contained some portion of the Hills, namely Custer, Fall River, Lawrence, Meade, and Pennington. The region is engulfed by the sparsely populated northern Great Plains. The closest metropolitan areas are Denver, about a 5-h drive away, and Minneapolis, about an 11-h drive away. Because of the harsh climate and small population base of the surrounding region, tourism in the Hills is highly seasonal, with most visitation occurring between Memorial Day in late May and Labor Day in early September. In August 2005, for example, the number of recreation visits to Mt. Rushmore National Memorial (MRNM) was 2.86 times higher than the annual average number of recreation visits to this attraction (National Park Service, 2012). At the time of the study, only one intra-destination TV channel featuring Black Hills tourist attractions and facilities existed. This channel is the focus of this inquiry. To protect the identity of the

D.M. Spencer / Journal of Destination Marketing & Management 2 (2013) 155–164

firm operating it, the channel is hereinafter termed “the intradestination TV channel,” rather than by its formal name. The more heavily visited entities paid $6000 per year for 2-min segments that continuously aired every half hour. Other entities paid $800 per year for 30-s segments that continuously aired every half hour. Entities that advertised on the channel could recover some or all of their costs by selling discount cards that entitled purchasers to reduced admittance to eight of the attractions featured. The discount cards were priced at $20 each and offered purchasers potential savings of over $150. At the time of the survey, the channel was advertised on the front covers of two intra-destination magazines distributed to visitors.

5. Objectives 1. Identify the characteristics of visitors who watched the intradestination TV channel. 2. Estimate the size of the audience for the channel among Black Hills tourists. 3. Estimate the extent to which the channel influenced nonresident visitation to entities featured thereon, including AROI for two such entities. 4. Draw upon theoretical and applied research in this area of inquiry to interpret results and make suggestions for further research.

6. Methods On 15 July 2005, the channel operator asked the author to conduct a study later that same summer to estimate the size of its audience among Black Hills tourists, the degree to which it influenced tourist patronage of entities featured on it, and the AROI these entities received. His goal was to obtain objective information from a university source that he could reference when faced with questions from prospective advertisers about the reach and effectiveness of the channel. He was unwilling to wait until the following summer to conduct the study and offered an operating budget of $5000. Time was unavailable to insert messages directly into advertising content for evaluation purposes (e.g., “Call this number for information on how to obtain a discount,” “Mention this ad and get 10% off the price of an admission”) and then tally the number of responses. Moreover, Perdue and Pitegoff's (1990) suggestion to shut down such channels on random dates and monitor the resulting changes, if any, in attendance at featured entities, was also infeasible because the operators of these entities had already purchased a year's worth of continuously cycling segments featuring their offerings. Indeed, such continuous cycling was one of the channel's most potent selling points. Given the infeasibility of these options, the only available design was to evaluate the channel's advertising using the survey method. The author agreed to do so with the understanding that under the circumstances it would be possible to estimate audience size for only the remaining portion of the Black Hills’ peak season and that AROI would be estimated for only two prominent commercial attractions featured on the channel. 6.1. Survey design and administration According to the client, the channel's advertising was oriented to “free and independent travelers” (FITs) who made their own decisions about what to do with their time when they traveled, as opposed to group travelers on motorcoach and other types of preplanned, tightly scheduled tours who did not make their own such decisions. Therefore, the survey population was defined as

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nonresident FIT visitor parties in the Black Hills headed by adults age 18 or older. All estimates of awareness and utilization of the channel were made such that they pertained to FIT parties or individuals only. Since nearly all FIT visitor parties traveled by private vehicle and needed to purchase gasoline to do so, randomly surveying visitor parties intercepted at gasoline service stations in the Hills was considered the best available means of obtaining a representative sample of the study population. Members of this population were contacted at gasoline service stations near Rapid City and in the towns of Custer, Hill City, Hot Springs, Keystone, and Lead. These locations were selected to maximize geographic representation of each of the major tourist nodes in the study region. Surveying occurred on each day between 29 July and 5 September 2005, with the exception of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally period (officially 8–14 August) and the two days preceding it, during which inbound motorcycle traffic to the region was anticipated to be particularly heavy, based on past observations of this annual event. Surveying was halted during this 6–14 August period because it was known from experience that the Hills would be inundated with hundreds of thousands of motorcyclists, causing dangerous conditions for surveying at gasoline service stations, as well as crowding at travel facilities and highly inflated prices repulsive to other types of travelers. Moreover, the channel's advertising was mostly oriented to family vacationers rather than to Rally attendees. Thus, the phrase, “survey period” hereinafter means the days during which data collection occurred, namely, 29 July through 5 August and 15 August through 5 September 2005. Surveyors excluded from the survey occupants of vehicles that were registered to residents of the Black Hills by examining the numeric codes on South Dakota license plates that corresponded to the counties in which the vehicles were registered. In the case of vehicles with Black Hills county codes that appeared to be rental cars, surveyors queried the operators to determine if they were nonresidents, and, if so, invited them to be survey respondents. Travelers who agreed to participate in the study were given a selfadministered questionnaire in a self-addressed, stamped envelope and asked to complete and return the questionnaire after leaving the Black Hills. Each questionnaire packet included a cover letter with an original signature, a questionnaire, a map portraying the Black Hills as defined above, and, as incentives, a souvenir pencil, a souvenir post card, and information about how respondents could enter their names into a drawing for a $200 cash giveaway. Given the limited project budget and time frame, it was known at the outset that the sample size would be insufficient to accurately estimate AROI for each attraction featured on the channel. Therefore, intercept surveys were conducted on the premises of two prominent, family-oriented commercial attractions featured on the channel, during the same survey period for, and using the same questionnaire employed by, the gasoline service station survey. The data resulting from these surveys were used solely to estimate AROI for these two attractions. To obtain the cooperation of the attraction operators, they were promised information on the effectiveness of their advertising on the channel as well as results from questions on their customers’ satisfaction with their visits and the extent to which other forms of advertising, such as billboards and intra-destination magazines, had stimulated patronage. The space consumed by these questions precluded the inclusion of questions designed to explore the theoretical issues discussed above. To protect the identities of the two attractions, they are referenced below as “Attraction 1” and “Attraction 2”. Five hundred seventeen valid, completed questionnaires of the 1241 distributed at gasoline service stations were returned, yielding a response rate of 41.7% for the gasoline service station survey. Two hundred thirty-eight valid, completed questionnaires of the 374 distributed at Attraction 1 were returned, yielding a response

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rate of 63.6%. Two hundred thirty-eight valid, completed questionnaires of the 384 distributed at Attraction 2 were returned, yielding a response rate of 62.0%. Data from each survey were analyzed separately using IBM SPSS Statistics Version 20. 6.2. Instrumentation The questionnaire solicited visitors’ zip code of principal residence; demographic and socioeconomic characteristics; party size and composition; the number of days that elapsed between the decision to take a trip that involved visiting the Black Hills and the date of departure; whether the Hills or a place in the Hills was the “main destination” of the trip; length of stay in the Hills; number of nights spent in a hotel, motel, or lodge in the Hills; and expenditures in the Hills over the course of their entire trip, for each of 11 spending categories (e.g., “restaurants and bars,” “groceries and take out food,” “camping fees and charges”). The questionnaire also solicited information about respondents’ awareness of the intra-destination TV channel, whether they watched it, and the extent to which viewing the channel compelled them to visit any of the featured entities. Respondents who had heard of the channel were asked which segments featuring a given entity they had viewed. Those who indicated that they had watched a given segment were asked to indicate if the segment had influenced them “not at all,” “very little,” “to some extent,” or “a great deal” to visit the entity featured. Respondents were also asked whether they visited any of the entities featured on the channel regardless of their awareness of, or exposure to, the channel.

7. Results 7.1. Characteristics of TV channel viewers Some characteristics of gasoline service station survey respondents who watched the channel, compared to those who did not, are shown in Table 2. T-tests were conducted for dependent variables measured on a metric scale; the chi square test was

conducted for dependent variables measured on a nominal scale. Because of imbalances in group sizes, the data were also analyzed using the Mann–Whitney test. Similar results emerged from both sets of analyses (Table 2). Those who watched the channel, compared to those who did not, decided to take a trip that involved visiting the Black Hills significantly fewer days prior to their departures and were more likely to have stated that the Hills or a place therein was the main destination of these trips. This suggests that tourists’ viewing of the channel may have served as a last-minute source of information for those who had not thoroughly planned their visits to the Hills, and/or may have been motivated by a desire to learn more about local recreation and service opportunities as a result of having a vested interest in making the most of their visits. Those who watched the channel on average spent more nights in a hotel, motel, or lodge compared to those who did not, as expected, since the channel was, of course, largely available to travelers in the guestrooms of lodging facilities. By confirming logical expectations, these results serve to validate the responses to the question about whether the channel had been viewed. Those who watched the channel, compared to their counterparts, spent more money in the Hills per party per trip, per party per day, and per person per day. To some unknown extent, viewing the program and patronizing one or more of the featured entities may have contributed to the higher expenditures of channel viewers. However, many other factors could have done so also, most obviously the longer lengths of stay in lodging facilities noted above, which in turn may have been related to the channel viewers’ greater proclivities to consider the Hills or a place therein to be the main destination of their trips. Sample size limitations precluded a comparison of the characteristics of those who stated that one or more segments of the channel influenced them to visit featured entity(-ies) versus those who did not. 7.2. Reach and influence of TV channel The size of the tourist audience for the channel was estimated through the procedures detailed in Table 3. These procedures

Table 2 Characteristics of travel parties that watched versus did not watch intra-destination TV channel while in the Black Hills on their trips. Watched intradestination TV channel while in the Black Hills on this trip

T-Tests and contingency table analyses

Yes

No

Test statistic

n¼ 471 114.81

n ¼25 50.0

n¼ 446 118.44

n¼ 472 72.0

n ¼23 91.3

n¼ 446 1.83

Expenditures in Black Hills per party per trip (avg.)

Variable

All in analysis

Mann–Whitney tests

Significance

z

Significance

t ¼−3.90

0.000

−3.16

0.002

n¼ 449 71.0

X2 ¼4.46

0.035

−2.11

0.035

n ¼23 2.96

n¼ 423 1.77

t ¼2.74

0.006

−2.84

0.004

n¼ 470 $918.36

n ¼24 $1314.82

n¼ 446 $897.03

t ¼2.40

0.017

−2.62

0.009

Expenditures in Black Hills per party per day (avg.)

n¼ 436 $197.33

n ¼22 $275.16

n¼ 414 $193.20

t ¼2.42

0.016

−2.94

0.003

Expenditures in Black Hills per person per day (avg.)

n¼ 428 $63.08

n ¼22 $84.43

n¼ 406 $61.92

t ¼2.07

0.039

−2.22

0.026

Number of days before left home decided to take a trip that involved visiting the Black Hills (avg.) Black Hills or a place in Black Hills was main destination of trip (% yes) Number of nights spent in a hotel, motel, or lodge in the Black Hills on this trip (avg.)

Note: These results are based on data collected in the gasoline service station survey only.

D.M. Spencer / Journal of Destination Marketing & Management 2 (2013) 155–164

161

Table 3 Estimation of size of intra-destination TV channel’s audience during the survey period. Step 1. Estimate the number of FIT recreation visits to MRNM during the survey period 1a. Multiplying NPS daily counts of total visits during surveyed days in July, August, and September 2005 by the proportions of total visits that were recreation visits during July (0.74), August (0.73), and September (0.88) yielded estimates of the number of recreation visits during each day of the survey period 1b. Multiplying the estimated number of recreation visits for each surveyed day by the proportion of recreation visits that were FIT recreation visits during July (0.947), August (0.958), and September (0.896) yielded estimates of the number of FIT recreation visits during each day of the survey period 1c. Summing the estimates from Step 1b over days yielded an estimate of 352,228 FIT recreation visits during the survey period Step 2. Convert the number of FIT recreation visits to MRNM during the survey period to the number of FIT recreation visitors to MRNM during this period 2. 352,228 FIT recreation visits to MRNM during the survey period, divided by an average of 1.33 visits to MRNM per FIT recreation trip from the MRNM visitor survey, yielded 264,833 FIT recreation visitors to MRNM during the survey period Step 3. Compute the number of nonresident FIT visitors that visited MRNM during the survey period 3a. According to the MRNM visitor survey, 0.53% of FIT recreation visitors resided in the Black Hills. Therefore, about 0.0053  264,833 or 1404 resident FIT recreation visitors visited MRNM during the survey period 3b. The latter value, subtracted from the total 264,833 FIT recreation visitors to MRNM, yielded 263,429 nonresident FIT recreation visitors to the Memorial during the survey period Step 4. Convert the number of nonresident FIT recreation visitors who visited MRNM during the survey period to the number of nonresident FIT recreation visitor parties that visited MRNM during this period 4. The 263,429 nonresident FIT recreation visitors to the Memorial during the survey period, divided by 3.64 nonresident FIT recreation visitors per party from the MRNM visitor survey, yielded 72,371 nonresident FIT recreation visitor parties that visited the Memorial during this period Step 5. Combine result of Step 4 with results from the gasoline service station survey to estimate the size of the intra-destination TV channel’s audience during the survey period 5a. The rate of visitation to MRNM among Black Hills visitor parties contacted in the gasoline service station survey was 87.18%. Therefore, an estimated 72,371/0.8718, or 83,013 FIT visitor parties visited the Black Hills during the survey period 5b. Since an estimated 5.26% of the visitor parties contacted in the gasoline service station survey watched the intra-destination TV channel, 0.0526  83,013 or 4366 FIT visitor parties that visited the Black Hills during the survey period watched the channel 5c. The average size of visitor parties contacted in the gasoline service station survey that reported that they watched the channel was 3.56 persons. Therefore, assuming that if at least one member of a given visitor party watched the channel essentially all members of such parties watched it because of the confined space of accommodations guestrooms, about 4366  3.56 or 15,543 FIT visitors to the Black Hills watched the channel during the survey period

Heard of intra-destination TV channel (10.4% of parties)

29,235

Watched intra-destination TV channel (5.3% of parties)

15,543

12,058 parties)

10,847

or more featured attractions (3.7% of parties)

6,027

attractions (2.0% of parties) Note: Results are based on data from the gasoline service station survey only. 0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

35,000

Estimated Number of FIT Visitors Fig. 1. Awareness, use, and influence of intra-destination TV channel during survey period.

included combining parameters estimated from the gasoline service station survey with National Park Service (NPS) counts of visits to MRNM (National Park Service, 2012) and results from secondary analyses of data from an intercept/mail-back survey of 646 MRNM visitors during 11–17 July 2007 (Papadogiannaki, Holmes, Vander Stoep, & Hollenhorst, 2008), hereinafter termed “the MRNM visitor survey”. The accuracy of NPS visit counts was enhanced by the fact that vehicles can access MRNM via only a

single entrance road leading to a staffed, controlled-access parking garage at which visitors must pay a fee, or show an annual pass, to enter. The MRNM visitor survey had a response rate of 66.1%. An estimated 83,013 FIT visitor parties visited the Black Hills during the survey period (Table 3). Of these, an estimated 4366 FIT visitor parties comprised of about 15,543 nonresident FIT visitors watched the channel during the survey period. This audience of nonresident FIT visitors, is, of course, a subset of the channel’s total

162

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audience comprised of Black Hills residents and group tour visitors as well as nonresident FIT visitors. The percentages of respondents to the gasoline service station survey that had heard of, watched, and been influenced in various degrees to visit one or more entities featured on the channel, are shown in Fig. 1. These percentages were multiplied by the abovederived value of 83,013 FIT travel parties that visited the Hills during the survey period, and then by the relevant average party sizes computed from the same survey, to yield the estimates shown of the number of persons in each category. An estimated 10.4% of the sample (which translated to an estimated 29,235 FIT visitors) reported that they had heard of the channel. Since some lodging facilities in the Hills do not equip their guestrooms with TVs, this value, of course, is lower than would otherwise be the case. This helps to explain the fact that awareness among respondents who patronized a popular chainaffiliated motel in Hill City was much higher (25.9%). An estimated 5.3% of the sample (or an estimated 15,543 FIT visitors) reported that they had watched the channel “while in the Black Hills on this trip” (Table 3). This percentage is lower than the 13.5% of Utah travelers in Colton’s (1970) sample that reported viewing a TV program advertising nearby attractions, despite the fact that the Black Hills channel was broadcast continuously whereas the Utah program was broadcast only at 9:00 p.m. on selected days. To some extent the difference may be due to less effective promotion in the case of the Black Hills channel and/or the much greater number of channels available to TV viewers in 2005 versus 1969, when Colton’s study was conducted. An estimated 4.1% of the sample (about 12,000 FIT visitors) were influenced “very little,” “to some extent,” or “a great deal” to visit one or more featured entities (Fig. 1). An estimated 3.7% of the sample (about 11,000 FIT visitors) were influenced “to some extent” or “a great deal” to visit one or more featured entities, and an estimated 2.0% of the sample (about 6000 FIT visitors) were influenced “a great deal” to visit one or more featured entities (Fig. 1). 7.3. Estimated effect of TV channel advertising on visitation to selected attractions Sample sizes for the intercept surveys conducted at Attractions 1 and 2 were sufficient to glean some additional insights into the effectiveness of the channel. Eight percent of respondents contacted at Attraction 1 reported that they saw the segment featuring this attraction. Of these respondents, 5.3% reported that the segment influenced them to visit the attraction “not at all,” 10.5%

reported that it influenced them “very little,” 57.9% reported that it influenced them “to some extent,” and 26.3% reported that it influenced them “a great deal.” Twelve percent of respondents contacted at Attraction 2 reported that they saw the segment featuring this attraction. Of these respondents, 28.6% reported that the segment influenced them to visit the attraction “not at all,” 9.5% reported that it influenced them “very little,” 14.3% reported that it influenced them “to some extent,” and 47.6% reported that it influenced them “a great deal.” AROIs pertaining to the survey period were estimated for these attractions as follows. Information on admission prices, FIT attendance during the survey period, and number of days of operation during 2005 were obtained from the attraction managers. FIT attendance at a given attraction during the survey period was divided by average party size from the survey at that attraction to estimate the number of FIT visitor parties that visited that site during the survey period. These values were then multiplied by the proportion of a given on-site sample that stated the channel segment featuring the attraction influenced them “a great deal” to visit it, to estimate the number of FIT visitor parties compelled to visit a given attraction during the survey period. These estimates were then multiplied by average per party admission during the survey period to estimate admission revenue generated by advertising on the channel during the survey period. The channel segments featuring the attractions were produced prior to 2005, so the only channel-related costs incurred by the attractions in 2005 pertained to paying for broadcast time. The attractions’ operating seasons represented the periods during which the attraction managers could earn revenues with which to recoup their advertising costs. Therefore, such costs for the survey period were estimated by dividing the annual cost of $6000 by the number of days a given attraction was open in 2005 to derive the average daily cost of advertising on the channel, and then multiplying this value by the number of days in the survey period (i.e., 30) to derive advertising cost during the survey period. This cost was then subtracted from estimated admission revenue generated to estimate advertising-generated profit during the survey period. This profit was then divided by advertising costs during the survey period to estimate AROI during the survey period. The mathematical details and results of this process are reported in Table 4. These results revealed that about $9.20 in admission revenue were generated for every dollar spent on advertising on the channel in the case of Attraction 1 and about $14.00 in admission revenue were generated for every dollar spent

Table 4 Estimated AROI for two prominent commercial attractions that advertised on the intra-destination TV channel during the survey period. Attraction featured on intradestination TV channel

No. FIT visitors that visited attraction during survey period

A

Attraction 1 52,329 Attraction 2 39,249 a b

Avg. FIT party size from respective on-site surveys

No. FIT visitor parties that visited attraction during survey period

B

C ¼ A/B

3.56 3.91

14,699 10,038

Proportion of on-site sample that stated segment featuring attraction influenced them “a great deal” to visit it D

No. FIT parties compelled to visit attraction during survey period

0.022a 0.044b

323 442

E ¼C  D

Avg. per party admission during survey period

Admission revenue generated by advertising on channel during survey period

Annual cost of advertising on channel

F

G ¼E  F

H

$28.71 $28.54

$9273 $12,615

$6000 $6000

The 95% confidence interval for this proportion ranged from 0.008 to 0.047. The 95% confidence interval for this proportion ranged from 0.023 to 0.077.

No. days open in 2005

I

198 214

Avg. daily cost of advertising on channel

Advertising cost during survey period

Profit during survey period

AROI during survey period

J ¼ H/I

K ¼ J  30

L ¼ G−K

M ¼L/K

$30.30 $28.04

$909 $841

$8364 $9.20 $11,774 $14.00

D.M. Spencer / Journal of Destination Marketing & Management 2 (2013) 155–164

on advertising on the channel in the case of Attraction 2. These results are conservative because they do not account for the possible effects of: (1) the attractions recovering some or all of their costs by selling the discount cards described above, (2) spending in the attractions’ gift shops, (3) advertising that influenced respondents less than “a great deal” but sufficiently to tip the balance of thought to the point at which a visit was impelled, (4) possible visits that may have occurred after the survey period due to exposure to channel advertising during the survey period, (5) FIT viewers who did not visit a given attraction but recommended it to someone else who did visit it, (6) Black Hills residents viewing the channel, learning about the attractions advertised, and taking nonresidents to them and/or recommending that they visit them, and (7) motorcoach visitors viewing the channel, learning about the attractions portrayed, and then visiting the attractions on subsequent FIT trips and/or recommending the attractions to others, who in turn visited them. Notwithstanding the conservativeness of the AROI estimates derived here, a test was conducted to determine the effects of halving the parameter that might have inflated results, namely the proportion of a given on-site sample that stated a segment featuring the attraction influenced them “a great deal” to visit it. Under these conditions AROIs of $4.12 for Attraction 1 and $6.50 for Attraction 2 emerged. These results increase the confidence with which it can be concluded that positive AROIs occurred for at least these two attractions. However, it of course does not necessarily follow that other channel advertisers experienced similar AROIs.

8. Conclusions and suggestions for further research This inquiry found that tourists who watched the channel studied, compared to those who did not, decided to take a trip that involved visiting the Black Hills significantly fewer days prior to their departures, were more likely to have stated that the Hills or a place therein was the main destination of these trips, and spent more money in the Hills on their trips. During the 30-day study period, about 10.4% of visitor parties had heard of the channel, 5.3% had watched it, and 2.0% were influenced “a great deal” to visit one or more featured attractions or facilities. Estimated audience size was 15,000 visitors and estimated advertising returns on investment for two prominent commercial attractions were $9.20 and $14.00. These positive impacts corroborate those of Colton (1970) and are consistent with theoretical expectations and the findings of most of the evaluations of tourism advertising summarized in the literature review. Although these are encouraging outcomes for those who operate or advertise on such channels, further research on this phenomenon is necessary to fully understand it, hopefully under more favorable circumstances. Since the generalizability of this study is, of course, limited by its focus on a single destination, further research across a range of other settings would contribute significantly to a more complete understanding of this phenomenon. Settings that contain, in addition to an intra-destination TV channel, a unit of the U.S. National Park System whose visitors have been recently surveyed by the University of Idaho’s Park Studies Unit (www.psu.uidaho.edu), would facilitate estimation of audience size using methods like those described in Table 3. To date, such visitor surveys have been conducted in 140 units of the U.S. National Park System. If the operators of intra-destination TV channels can be persuaded to permit it, the non-survey evaluation approaches mentioned above, i.e., tallying responses to appeals embedded in content and/or shutting down the channel on random dates and monitoring the resulting changes, if any, in attendance at featured entities, would be useful supplements to, or substitutes for, the

163

survey method employed in this study. Such approaches would avoid the possible response, non-response, and/or sampling errors associated with survey-based evaluations. However, the possible confounding effects of variations in weather conditions and/or changes in competitors’ offerings and/or advertising within or outside the destination would need to be controlled. A combination of approaches such that their respective strengths are exploited may be the most advantageous. Ideally, future research should go beyond further documentation of the effectiveness of this method of advertising to explore both theoretical and applied questions related to how and why such advertising has the impacts it does. From a theoretical perspective, for example, to what extent does such advertising result in changes not only in sales but in attitudes, beliefs, and interest levels about featured entities? To what extent does the continuous cycling of advertising segments on certain types of intra-destination TV channels serve to remind viewers about featured entities? To what extent do viewers of intra-destination TV advertising, compared to viewers of customary TV spots, have greater involvement and elaboration as a result of having vested interests in making the most of their stays in a destination? To what extent is the influence of such advertising a function of predeparture exposure to advertising of the same entities featured on intra-destination TV channels, with subsequent viewing on the channel serving to reinforce what was seen earlier? On the other hand, to what extent is the influence of intra-destination TV advertising a function of limited pre-departure planning, which in turn may be a function of the pervasive time poverty in our society (de Graaf, 2003; Harvey & Mukhopadhyay, 2007)? To what extent is the effectiveness of such advertising enhanced by the fact that it reaches travelers largely when they are in hotel guestrooms, which are usually smaller spaces with fewer distractions than home environments? To what extent does the televised featuring of attractions and facilities suggest to travelers that such entities are of high quality? From an applied perspective, to what extent are the effects of intra-destination TV advertising lagged in influencing future pleasure trip decisions and/or stimulating recommendations that compel visits by others? To what extent is the effectiveness of such advertising a function of how well intra-destination TV channels are promoted, and what are the best ways of doing so? To what extent would combining intra-destination TV advertising with inguestroom brochures individually or collectively advertising the same entities portrayed in the TV advertising be more effective than either vehicle alone? Would this exploit the stimulation of TV and the greater elaboration likelihood of print media? Which of the various types of intra-destination TV advertising is the most effective? Does the flexibility afforded by wireless access to the Internet in destinations render web-based intra-destination TV more effective than advertising disseminated through hotel TV systems, even though connecting to the Internet requires of visitors more skill and effort, as well as access to a computer or smartphone? To what extent does intra-destination TV advertising extend visitors’ length of stay, increase their expenditures, encourage repeat visitation, and/or stimulate recommendations to friends and relatives? Clearly, much remains to be discovered about the significance and consequences of intra-destination television advertising. It is hoped that the findings reported here will in some measure stimulate and facilitate this work.

Acknowledgement Manuscript preparation was supported by a grant from the Faculty Research Committee, Black Hills State University.

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