Visitor Information Centers

A couple months ago, I was hanging online with 25 DMO pros discussing the future, post-VID viability of Visitor Information Centers. One of the participants indicated that her Board was of the mind to sell theirs and use the money to jump start their recovery marketing. I had presided over a similar conversation during a Strategic Planning Workshop just a week before. Once a de rigueur fixture of virtually every DMO, is the VIC becoming an endangered species?

As one of my favorite professors in B-School liked to respond to our questions, “that depends.” And, to get to the answer, we need to first go back to the philosophy of the location of Visitor Centers.

One train of thought used to be to place the VIC on the Interstate (or a high traffic highway) to snare travelers and send them downtown. The other was to place the VIC downtown so that travelers would have to drive to the center of town to learn about all there was to do and see. Looking back, the latter was expecting a lot from a visitor. First, they had to know there was such a VIC they wanted to visit and then they had to be willing to drive 10 minutes to get there. But, it was a different time. We all didn’t have the Visitors Guide in our pocket via our mobile devices. And, we didn’t have Yelp and TripAdvisor.

There were some DMOs that used their VICs more “strategically.” Because what DMOs do is so misunderstood by politicians that influence organizational investment, one of our clients moved their interstate exit VIC downtown, directly across from the County building so electeds would see their storefront awning every day. They saw far less customers…but their most important “client” knew they were “on the case.” Today, post-COVID, that DMO doesn’t even have a physical office, preferring to work remotely.

Other DMOs, realizing that attempting to lure visitors to a specific physical space was increasingly problematic, went mobile, transitioning AirStreams and old Food Trucks into portable VICs that could go where the people were. Visit Eau Claire WI did that after shuttering their physical location over a decade ago…and before going back to a physical location a few years ago (you can hear the story on one of our early DMOU podcasts).

Throughout it all, Visitor Center traffic was still declining for many DMOs…but research consistently indicated that those consumers that availed themselves of a VIC tended to spend more and stay longer in a destination. In 2019, Destination Analysts found that almost a third of travelers reported visiting a Visitors Center. But, was the increased spending worth the continued cost, especially as volunteers became scarcer and DMOs were faced with hiring paid staff to welcome visitors?

Maybe our newest DMOU podcast (featuring two of the DMO pros from Travel Oregon) will help drive further research into the matter. Welcome Center Manager Allison George and Research Analyst Ladan Ghahramani shared their recent findings from surveying visitors to their State Welcome Centers, finding a remarkable 68% increase in spending over those that didn't stop in. And that doesn’t even take into consideration the personal touch that so often creates memories that last a lifetime.

This Spring, we worked with a DMO that had failed to keep accurate visitor counts at their Center which, in turn, was causing the Board to rethink whether their VIC had an ROI. But listening to the anecdotal stories from the Welcome Center Manager about how many people she was able to flip to stay the night to take in more than the primary reason for their visit? Priceless.

So…here’s our take on DMO (not interstate State) Visitor Information Centers. It’s only somewhat supported by research…but it’s what we are sensing as we travel this continent (remembering that many of the examples are pre-Plague):

1) The VIC on the edge of town is a fading breed. Travelers on highways and interstates are increasingly reticent to stop and get out of their cars (unless the Center is adjacent to a significant consumer magnet…like a Buc-ees in the South). The high traffic count VICs are increasingly located in walkable downtowns.

2) Think bigger than just a “Visitors Center.” What other interests in your town need a stepping off point for visitors (or future investors) to your community? Should the facility also be the first stop for site inspections with your community’s Economic Development team? What about where prospective students and their parents begin their tour of the college campus? The successful Center of the future needs to be about more than the leisure visitor.

3) Make your Center a revenue center. Taking care not to directly compete with business partners, Visitor Centers provide a wonderful opportunity to showcase (and sell) products by local independent makers, culinary and tasting stars. They also are a perfect venue for unique destination swag, especially at holiday gift giving time. And, it goes beyond merchandise. Visit Omaha’s VIC once doubled as a hip downtown coffee shop.

4) Consider making your Center a performance venue. Visit Knoxville’s Center welcomed musicians six days a week and simulcasted the Noon concerts on a local radio station. Previous performing artists include Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, The Avett Brothers, Marty Stuart, Tommy Emmanuel, Joan Osborne, Chris Stapleton, St. Paul & The Broken Bones and many more! Tying in with WDVX was the key, as performers played for airtime and a professionally produced digital copy of their performance (which then, they could monetize).

5) And, if you’re going to invest in a Visitor Center, don’t (as Matthew McConaughey’s father once instructed him) “half-ass it.” 75-year old bluehairs offer the sweetest welcomes in the world…but often aren’t tuned into what visitors are searching for. We were once doing a Destination Assessment for a client DMO. It was a Wednesday afternoon and we asked the cute as a button septuagenarian volunteer if their was any live music that night. “I’m sorry, dear,” she frowned. “Nothing really happens here on weeknights.” Uh-huh…Bob Seger was playing the arena that evening…and tickets were still available. Make sure someone who knows it all is always on site to assist the volunteers.

This is far from a one-size-fits-all world…and we see that as DMOs are re-creating their operations on the fly, with no regard to what other DMOs are doing. And, that’s a good thing, as every DMO should mould itself to the unique needs of their community. So, it just may be that a VIC isn’t right for your destination.

But, the concept is deserving of more than a knee-jerk reaction by those that believe VICs to be passé. Research doesn’t support that notion. Nor does common sense.

But, like Allison and Ladan said on DMOU...you must do your research first, in order to make that call.