Contact:          Betsy Baumgart

                        Montana Promotion Division

                                                                                    (406) 444-2654

  For Immediate Release          

 

TRAVEL MONTANA WEBSITE TURNS ‘WINDOW SHOPPING’ WEB VISITORS INTO MONTANA VISITORS

 

Spent Over $39 Million In 2001

 

Helena, MT – February 22, 2002— The Department of Commerce Travel Montana website, visitmt.com turned ‘window shopping’ web visitors into more than 18,000 trips to the state in 2001 according to a recent Internet Conversion Research Report. The report concludes that these visitors spent over $39 million in the state.

 

The Report found that for each $1 spent on marketing, $28 was returned to the state. In 2001, the Travel Montana marketing program spent approximately $1.4 million on its web, print and television advertising campaigns, all of which featured the visitmt.com web address.  

 

“The goal of this Internet research was to measure the effectiveness of visitmt.com in generating visitation to Montana”, said Betsy Baumgart, Administrator, the Montana Promotion Division.  “Because of the popularity of the web, Travel Montana has focused much of its promotional effort on directing people to our website. This study quantifies what we have suspected all along -- our website is a useful research tool and our marketing strategy is paying off for Montana.”

 

Strategic Marketing & Research, Inc. (SMARI) of Indianapolis, Indiana, surveyed 701 visitmt.com users. The research was compiled from April through December 2001.

 

The study found that of those surveyed who visited Montana, about 10% of the respondents stated they were directly influenced by the website to visit the state.   Likewise, nearly half of the 701 surveyed selected Montana as their primary vacation destination.

 

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The average length of stay in the state was seven nights. These visitors spent over $300 per day per group (a travel group is 2.9 people). This translates to an average of  $2,135 total spending per trip. 

 

Other research findings showed:

 

  • Users of the Travel Montana website are relatively sophisticated Internet users with web access at both home and work.  They also tend to more likely be married, be better educated and have higher incomes than the national average.

 

  • More than nine in ten visitors (93%) were “very satisfied” with their trip to Montana.

 

  • Four themes emerge when people think about Montana:  history, outdoors/nature, getting away from it all (relaxation/escape) and adventure.

 

  • Of the users of the Travel Montana website who had already decided to visit the state prior to logging on to the site, over half said the website reinforced their decision.

 

  • The website and follow-up printed materials also helped convince people to extend their stay in Montana.

 

  • Nearly three-quarters of the respondents (73%) indicated some level of interest in following the Lewis & Clark trail.

 

In calculating the economic impacts to the state, SMARI only used the 10% figure of visitors who were directly influenced by the website to visit the state.

 

These numbers do not include visitors who decided to visit Montana before using the website, but were ultimately influenced by the Travel Montana website to extend their stay.  If this had been included, the overall economic impacts of visitor travel to the state as a result of visiting the website would be much greater.

 

The full conversion study is available on Travel Montana’s Intranet site at www.travelmontana.state.mt.us/research

 

Travel Montana’s advertising budget is about $2.5 million; this is approximately one-third of the entire state tourism budget, which is $7 million.  When compared to other state tourism budgets Montana ranks 31st. 

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****News Editors and Directors: This press release is available for your use on Travel Montana’s Website: <travelmontana.state.mt.us> “News & Updates” Press Release Section****