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Tourism survey looks to draw visitors

FAIRMONT – The local tourism office is taking the theme seriously for National Travel and Tourism Week which culminates today. “Travel Now and Then” calls for the tourism industry to consider travel successes from the past while promoting growth for the future.

Visit Fairmont, which formerly was called the Convention and Visitors Bureau, has partnered with the Fairmont Area Chamber of Commerce and the Fairmont Economic Development Authority to finance a survey to identify who and why people visit Fairmont. Under the guidance of the University of Minnesota Tourism Center, pollsters have been hired to complete brief surveys of visitors who live 50 miles or more from Fairmont. The groups opted for a two-season profile including the summer, which runs from June 1 to Aug. 31, and fall, which runs from Sept. 1 through Nov. 30.

“Looking at it from a Chamber and economic development standpoint, it’s good to information to have for current businesses looking to expand or grow, looking for new business development, investors, key stakeholders and site selectors,” said Stephanie Busiahn, executive director of Visit Fairmont. “For us, we’ll utilize the information to streamline our marketing, to figure out who is coming, why they’re coming, how long they are staying, and to help us attract more of them.”

Although Fairmont is not a vacation spot like the Black Hills, the city does draw thousands of visitors each year.

“We don’t necessarily have a huge leisure travel market. We’re not a destination. We’re not the place that you come for your week-long vacation, but we’ve got one of the best hospitality exits along the Interstate. You can get everything,” Busiahn said, identifying restaurants, gas stations, retail and even medical services that are available right off exit 102. “I would say we see 80,000 plus on an annual basis in our six hotels so there’s 80,000 people in Fairmont each year that don’t live here.”

By paying a 3 percent lodging tax, these guests provide the financing for Visit Fairmont. The tourism agency is bound by state statute to use this money for marketing and promotion only.

“We can’t buy soccer nets,” Busiahn said. “Instead we can work with the soccer association to promote their tournaments and increase growth which will increase their revenue which will allow them more dollars to purchase the nets, but we can’t write a check to them to buy nets. The money has to be used to market and promote.”

One of the survey questions asks visitors what they knew about Fairmont before stopping. Were they aware of our lakes, parks, trail system, medical facilities, disc golf courses, aquatic park or many other amenities?

“We hear from residents who might have connected with visitors having dinner at the same restaurant. They often hear from them that they were in Fairmont for two days and had no idea there were lakes,” Busiahn said.

“We want to draw people in because we know what a fantastic community this is. That’s why we live here. If we can get people off the Interstate and into town to experience our lakes, our great restaurants or our phenomenal parks, there’s a greater chance that they’ll stay longer or come back for a return visit.”

This could lead to people moving to the area to open a business, she said, citing a Florida study that showed 70 to 80 percent of new businesses in that state were started by people who had visited there on vacation.

This prompts Busiahn to recite her favorite quote: “It all starts with a visit. If you build a place where people want to visit, you will build a place where people want to live. If you build a place where people want to live, you will build a place where people want to work. If you build a place where people want to work, you will build a place where business has to be. If you build a place where business has to be, you will build a place where people want to visit.”

She added that nobody is going to start a business or move to Fairmont without first visiting the area.

Busiahn has been toying with the idea of doing a survey for a while. She’s had conversations with a colleague in Grand Rapids, a community that did a visitors survey 10 years ago and marketed to snowmobile enthusiasts who were prominently featured in the survey. When the snowmobile traffic waned, the city did another survey which indicated a large influx of all-terrain vehicle owners visiting the area.

“That completely shifted their marketing campaign and who they were marketing to. It’s been incredibly successful for them,” Busiahn said.

About 300 to 400 questionnaires will be completed during each of the two survey seasons, and the University of Minnesota of Minnesota Tourism Center will compile and organize the information gathered. Visit Fairmont should receive the information by the end of March.

The process carries a $25,000 price tag which Busiahn called “pretty minimal” when compared to the longevity of the results and the potential benefits for the three entities provided financing.

“If you look at one business expansion because of this information, it’s paid for,” she said. “If you look at an additional event because of the information we gather, it will pull people into town and provide an economic stimulus. We’re a marketing organization so this will definitely be a huge component as we tailor our marketing campaign for 2019 and beyond. We’re really, really excited about the information we’re going to get from this.”

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