How Hawai‘i Tourism Authority measures travel sentiment with YouGov
Business challenge
Hawai‘i Tourism Authority (HTA) needed comprehensive data on consumer sentiment, both before and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Solution
Constant intelligence to inform and enhance HTA’s marketing strategies.
Business outcomes
Valuable insights into targeted travel audiences to help continuously shape and inform marketing strategy and better support key stakeholders.
Business challenge
Responsible for supplying Hawai‘i’s world-renowned travel industry with timely and reliable information, HTA seeks to constantly provide its many key stakeholders with the best and most accurate consumer insights available.
Critical information is needed for hoteliers, airlines, restaurants, merchants, and individual contractors, as well as many other professionals reliant on Hawai‘i tourism, and is a heightened priority during unpredictable periods of fluctuation and change such as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although HTA ultimately aims to bring visitors to the Hawaiian Islands, the organization simultaneously understands the importance of resident sentiment, and the need to attract mindful travelers. Therefore, insights on this key audience segment are vital.
Solution
HTA engaged YouGov Profiles and YouGov BrandIndex to provide constant consumer intelligence reports, alongside additional bespoke custom research projects.
To measure public sentiment, HTA uses YouGov BrandIndex – our brand and campaign tracking tool that daily measures against 16key metrics, specifically Buzz (positive and negative sentiment expressed around a brand or destination), Recommendation, Word-Of-Mouth, Consideration, and Purchase Intent, tracking both prospective and past visitors.
Using bespoke sector metrics for destination marketers from YouGov DestinationIndex, HTA can evaluate these valuable consumer insights across its six main islands – Kaua‘i, O‘ahu, Moloka‘i, Lāna‘i, Maui, and the island of Hawai‘i, comparing their destinations against each other and benchmarking against various other international competitor destinations around the world.
Finally, HTA is able to generate regular reports on its target audience of sustainably-minded and higher-income travelers from the United States, Canada, and Japan who would otherwise consider international flights, by layering in consumer research from YouGov Profiles – our solution for granular audience intelligence and targeting – and YouGov Global Travel Profiles, our industry-specific audience analysis tool.
Business outcomes
YouGov has worked closely with HTA to create automated reporting dashboards which connect to the organization’s key performance metrics and provide access to all necessary stakeholders. This constant stream of up-to-date information has proven especially valuable during the ongoing COVID-19 emergency, which has disrupted patterns in global travel and changed consumer demand.
HTA has partnered with YouGov for more than 3 years and continues to rely on our connected data solutions to provide reliable insights during a period of unprecedented change within the tourism industry.