Market year round.
That was the core message from Eric McDowell, who addressed the second Anchorage Convention & Visitors Bureau membership convention Jan. 22 at the Egan Center in Anchorage.
McDowell is a partner at the Juneau-based McDowell Group, a leading authority on Alaska tourism, including booking patterns, spending and demographics.
"Tourism businesses need to be marketing year round because of late deciders and shoulder value seasons," he said. "You need to stay in the market year round to catch the early and late planners. Be infinitely curious about who your market is."
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He gave an overview of three key markets: the air visitor market, the cruise visitor market and the Anchorage winter air visitor market.
From research on Anchorage air visitors in 2003, he said the average stay in Alaska is 12 nights, with five nights in Anchorage.
About 48 percent of those 503,000 visitors were first-timers to the state.
What did they do here?
Mostly shop.
Statistics show 44 percent shop, making it the No. 1 activity, followed by visiting family and friends (40 percent), hiking and nature walks (35 percent) and taking a day cruise (33 percent).
About half of those visitors are from the western United States. Their average income was $68,000, and they were 58 percent male and 56 percent college educated.
About two-thirds used the Internet to book travel.
"But don't ignore the one-third that aren't using it at all," McDowell said.
Air visitors are likely to buy package tour deals, too, he said.
Looking at the cruise market, he said marketing strategies for those visitors are different, because they come from all over the U.S., with 30 percent from the Midwest, 25 percent from the South and 24 percent from the West.
Many women enjoy cruise travel, and McDowell said business owners should "look at every word in your brochure to make sure you appeal to both genders."
What do cruise visitors do?
The No. 1 activity is sightseeing, at 41 percent. Next come fishing (24 percent), flight-seeing (12 percent) and wildlife viewing (11 percent).
The winter visitor total was about 443,000 people, with half from in-state. About 53 percent were on business trips, with the average income $73,800 and the average stay in Anchorage of 5.5 nights. About 32 percent came from Washington, 10 percent from California and 6 percent from Oregon.
Top winter activities include skiing and the Iditarod.
McDowell concluded with four challenges for Anchorage tourism business operators.
Try to make Anchorage more of a destination, not just a pass through.
Make your products easy to find and buy. "You need to be able to sell on the Internet," McDowell said.
Pay attention to value seasons. "You have a winter season, especially with your fellow Alaskans," he said.
Consider research as an investment, not an expense.
