Skift Take
When convention and visitor bureaus produce extensive research papers and trend reports, they're showing their commitment to embrace Millennial consumers.
Mature travel destinations are challenged with keeping their traditional visitors happy, while evolving at the same time to remain relevant for the next generation of leisure and business travelers.
Toward that end, convention and visitor bureaus in places as diverse as Beverly Hills, California; Catalonia, Spain; and London, England have been publishing more rigorous research than typical around their signature visitor experiences in an attempt to expand their iconic brands into a shifting luxury marketplace.
The goal among the above destinations is not simply to reaffirm their ability to deliver travel and hospitality product for which they're already universally respected, but rather to show how they're trying to maintain their leadership positions in their respective markets.
"One of the wonderful things about being a mature brand is that everybody knows you, so you don't have to waste a lot of time explaining what your offerings are," said Julie Wagner, CEO of the Beverly Hills Conference & Visitors Bureau. "But one of the challenges with a mature product is that people have a lot of preconceived notions. So while we continue to appeal to our current demographic, aspirational demographics don't always understand what we do here is geared toward all different walks of life and all different generations."
"Aspirational demographics" means Millennials. Like other traditional luxury destinations, Beverly Hills is fighting the perception that it caters mostly to old rich people.
It's a question of relevancy for tourism bureaus. Solid research helps them codify how a they're establishing travel trends today specific to their widest potential consumer base.
It also helps plot internal strategy against their competitive set; it works as a sales and content marketing tool to drive increased exposure; and it educates the bureaus' destination partners on the future of the consumer behavior in general throughout the region.
"Research like ours certainly builds affinity wi
