By Rachel Sacco | Thoughts on Innovation
Nearly 11.7 million visitors explored Scottsdale throughout 2024, but our warm sunshine, diverse landscape and special events alone didn’t bring those millions here. Some of those travelers came to Scottsdale for conferences.
Others booked trips at the recommendation of travel advisors. And many visited after seeing newspaper articles, magazine advertisements and television commercials about the destination.
Building and maintaining a thriving tourism industry requires branding, advertising, convention sales, public relations and more. Behind those efforts is Experience Scottsdale, the destination marketing organization working year-round to ensure our city tops the list for travelers planning their vacations and for corporations booking their conferences.
Millions of dollars are dedicated to keeping tourism one of Scottsdale’s most vital industries. Yet tourism is a fiercely competitive industry, and there are hundreds of other destinations also vying for the world’s attention.
Our visitors tend to be more affluent, and they can truly afford to go anywhere they choose in the world. Experience Scottsdale is competing with destinations like Orlando, Palm Springs, San Diego and beyond — destinations with budgets that outpace our own two- or even three-fold. So how do we ensure that our programs and promotions are cost-efficient and effective?
It comes down to research and expertise. All of Experience Scottsdale’s programs and promotions are handled in-house by experts in their respective fields, whether marketing, communications, tourism trade or convention sales. We have access to a wealth of research to guide our decisions, ensuring that every dollar counts.
For example, our sales team develops its strategies with input gathered from a customer advisory board, which includes meetings professionals representing high-value market segments for the destination, including financial, insurance, medical, high tech and retail. The insights from this group have proved invaluable, leading to additional exposure for the destination at key industry trade shows. Through these efforts, Experience Scottsdale has reached hundreds of additional clients.
On the marketing side, our extensive demographic and psychographic data identify who our visitors are, where they’re coming from, and what they’re seeking in their travels. When it comes to our ideal travelers, Experience Scottsdale knows their ages, interests, household incomes, and more, and we direct our advertising to those specific audiences, whether in magazines, on streaming television or podcast platforms.
Our ideal wellness traveler, for example, is between the ages of 35 and 55 and has a household income over $150,000. They respond to messaging that ensures an escape from the everyday and a healthy reset. This insight led to advertising as part of an event series that brought Scottsdale’s wellness offerings directly to affluent, wellness-focused New Yorkers ahead of their fall and winter vacations.
These are just some examples of the ways in which research and insights are at the foundation of our efforts. While we pride ourselves on our cost efficient and effective promotions, our destination and many others in Arizona are at risk of falling behind our competitors.
Statewide destination marketing organizations are seeking new revenue streams to ensure sustainable and competitive funding that will keep Scottsdale, Phoenix, Mesa, Tucson and beyond in the spotlight. Until then, Experience Scottsdale will continue to do what we do best as we leverage our expertise and insights to keep Scottsdale’s tourism industry strong.
Editor’s Note: Rachel Sacco is the president and CEO of Experience Scottsdale.
