It’s finally summertime, which means we’re headed into the busiest season of the year for many outdoor attractions. As people begin to think about where to go over the next few months, now is a great opportunity to learn what they’re looking for and how their preferences might have changed. Here are 6 reasons to survey tourist attraction visitors just as the season starts heating up.

1. You receive honest feedback. The information collected when you survey tourist attraction visitors can provide valuable, current insight into the issues that are important to them. You can design your survey with a goal in mind, ask about specific exhibits or events, or just inquire about the general visitor experience. No matter what, you’re sure to hear some honest answers.
2. Your visitors know you care. People like to share their opinions – the good, the bad, and the ugly. And they like to know that they’re being heard. A survey assures visitors that their opinions matter to you and that you’re enthusiastic to listen and take their thoughts into account. Be careful to take action when and where possible to make sure visitors know you’re sincere.
3. You paint a clear picture of who your visitors are. Do you wonder exactly who is coming to visit your attraction? Not only can a survey provide feedback about your destination, it’s also an opportunity to collect demographic data about your visitors so you can better understand your audience and market to them more effectively. It may even reveal an opportunity to tap into a new market you hadn’t thought of before. Bonus Tip: A survey is also a great chance to collect email addresses and build your online following.
4. Your team gets a morale boost and/or motivating critiques. Who doesn’t love hearing that they’re doing an awesome job? Sharing positive visitor feedback with your entire team is great for morale. On the flip side, hearing some constructive criticism can be the motivation needed to get your team into gear with specific, visitor-driven goals to work toward. And speaking of goals…
5. You can create actionable goals. Feedback from your visitors can help you can set real goals that will lead to impactful change within your organization. If visitors complained about long admission lines, consider improving your online ticket sales and set a goal to increase revenue by X% this year. Were many of your respondents from outside your target market? Reach them this summer with targeted social media ads. Armed with the knowledge of what your visitors are looking for, you can turn your survey into fuel to grow your attraction’s bottom line this summer.
6. You can track your growth. Yes, a single survey is great and can absolutely help to create change. However, by conducting a series of surveys over a period of time, you’re able to measure any improvements you’ve implemented because of the initial results and make more substantial changes. Bonus Tip: Make sure to ask visitors the same set of questions in each survey in order to accurately track your growth.

Creating that first survey can be a daunting task, but once armed with your visitors’ insights, you can begin to create real, actionable change for your attraction. Need some help getting started? Give us a shout!