In Aspen, Colorado, the destination management organization faced a challenge. Anti-tourism sentiment was building in the community, and DMO leaders were pondering the best next steps.
Thanks to a first-of-its-kind tool called PlaceBalance, the DMO could look at community data to inform its decisions. A resident survey in this world-class ski town suggested tolerance for visitors in winter and summer but not in shoulder seasons.
Clarity of Place reviewed destination performance data and assessments of other economic and demographic trends facing Aspen. The data and insights gained from PlaceBalance supported the DMO in its efforts to support the local economy and the wishes of locals. (See our Aspen case study for more details.)
So what is PlaceBalance? This new tool, available only from Clarity of Place, turns data into community insights.
What Does PlaceBalance Do?
PlaceBalance brings together data and expert advice to guide DMOs, through these capabilities:
- Taps Relevant Data: PlaceBalance pulls and reviews the destination’s marketing and performance data sets, local market data, plus other industry data sets that Clarity of Place curates.
- Helps You Visualize Results: Through charts and other visuals, PlaceBalance shows how your tourism economy and community needs interact.
- Shows Tourism’s Role in Your Community: Clarity of Place interprets the data to help you understand how tourism “fits” in your community.
- Helps You Set Priorities for Your DMO: Then, together with the Clarity of Place team, you can outline key priorities that help you manage your destination to serve visitors, tourism stakeholders, and the broader community.
What Kinds of Data Does PlaceBalance Use?
PlaceBalance will help destinations make sense of various data sets impacting your community and its visitor economy:
- Capacity (Lodging supply, venue space and seats, and overall ability of the destination to handle use)
- Market Performance (Lodging business performance, attendance at key venues, traffic counts, etc.)
- Resident Sentiment (From surveys and in-market research)
- Stakeholder Sentiment (From surveys and in-market research)
- Tourism Industry Data (Visitor profiles, geolocation patterns, travel spending, and image studies)
PlaceBalance helps collect and organize this data, and the Clarity of Place tourism experts analyze and interpret the data. As a destination, you receive recommendations on priorities and next steps to meet the needs of your visitors, tourism stakeholders, and community.
What Kinds of Challenges Can PlaceBalance Help Solve?
PlaceBalance is a versatile and adaptable tool. It can help destinations address a variety of challenges, from managing crowding to choosing the right investments to stay competitive. PlaceBalance has helped destinations to do the following:
- Determine visitor volume vs. community capacity.
- Understand the true level of visitors vs. locals.
- Identify need periods and plan seasonal strategy shifts.
- Pinpoint the number of day trippers vs. overnight visitors, through cell phone geolocation data.
- Determine strategic development needs.
- Highlight priorities around a destination master plan.
- Set investment priorities.
To learn more about PlaceBalance and schedule a demonstration, please contact us. At Clarity of Place, we look forward to telling you more about this groundbreaking tool to turn data into community insights.
