Are you a tourism operator or partner within Kawarthas Northumberland wanting to learn more about the visitors who are coming to your location? Would knowing visitor interests, where they come from, how they travel, and how they can be reached help inform crucial decisions that would help increase your revenue?
The new Visitor Research Program from Regional Tourism Organization 8 (RTO8) offers affordable and trusted tourism data to business owners and operators, municipalities, Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs), and other tourism partners in the City of Peterborough, Peterborough County, the City of Kawartha Lakes, and Northumberland County.
These meaningful insights can support decision making about marketing strategies, program development, and investment, while also providing valuable statistics to strengthen funding and grant applications.
Get a deeper understanding of your visitors
“We’re seeing more and more people wanting to know who the visitor is, where they are coming from, and how they can reach them,” says RTO8 Executive Director Brenda Wood. “When you’re applying for funding, especially if you’re looking at provincial or federal funding, they’re looking for hard numbers. That’s been coming to the forefront in the last couple of years, so there is a need for this research.”
The research reports are provided through Environics Analytics, a leader for mobile data and analytics in Canada. The research is based on data collected from individuals detected within the defined geofence areas who are 15 years of age and over with location services enabled on their mobile device.
Reports start at $350 and can be customized and tailored to unique needs, such as filtering for specific timeframes, locations, and audiences (including locals and visitors).
“The main thing for us is that the operators understand and can easily interpret the information, so they can put it to good use and help increase visitation into their business,” Wood says. “This means revenue for the region, which means economic impact. All of that information is there to help them achieve that.”
Case study: Lang Pioneer Village Museum
Elizabeth King, Museum Operations Manager at Lang Pioneer Village Museum in Keene in Peterborough County, participated in the program because her team was interested in better understanding visitor behaviour to find strategies to increase revenue.
She was particularly interested in learning about seasonal trends, day-of-the-week fluctuations, and spikes during specific events held at the Museum.
“It also helps us understand the types of visitors that are coming so that we can tailor our event themes, workshops, and programs to both people who already love us and return often, and some new offerings to capture those who maybe haven’t found a fit here yet,” King explains. “We want to make operational decisions that are data-driven and evidence-based. Reports like these give some weight to our ideas and plans.”
Lang Pioneer Village Museum looked at the 2024 and 2025 day trip data for the height of the busy summer season. The reports revealed informative visitor data like age and other demographics, social media use, activity preferences, sortation areas from where visitors originated, and more. King says this will help them better plan for operational decisions like hours, pricing, programming, and marketing.
“Money is tight, so municipalities and businesses need data so they know where to invest their budget,” Wood says. “Being able to identify their visitors and how they to reach them, including on social media, can help them invest those dollars wisely. It helps a lot, because it means they’re not throwing money out there hoping to find someone who’s interested. This is very specifically targeted.”
The data is presented in easy-to-read infographics, and each service includes a one-on-one knowledge transfer session. Clients can invite their board, staff, and other partners to participate as RTO8 guides them in understanding and interpreting the infographics and data.
“Sometimes looking at data and stats can be overwhelming,” says King. “While the report forms made looking at and understanding this data very easy, it was the additional level of having staff at RTO8 talk it through with us and answer questions that made this extra great in my opinion. It allowed us to go a bit deeper and learn some additional ways we could make this data work for our site from the tourism experts.”
Distance Travel Report
Through the program, clients can access the Distance Travel Report to better distinguish between attendance from local visitors in comparison to visitors residing more than 40 kilometres away.
The report provides key metrics on total visitors and unique visitors, while providing a breakdown of each audience visiting on both the weekends and during the week.
“People always think weekends are busier but, in some of the reports we’ve been running, that’s not always the case — some people like to travel during the week,” Wood points out.
“Businesses who are closed three days a week but open on the weekends might decide to reconsider their hours based on this data and on how many locals are coming and how many visitors are coming.”
PDF: Sample Distance Travel Report
Sample Distance Travel Report
Visitor Profiling Report
The Visitor Profiling Report provides a psychographic perspective of those daytime visitors.
The report provides a clearer profile of visitors using demographic data – age, family status, income, and employment – as well as lifestyle, media, and travel behaviour data. It also outlines the top cities where visitors originate, while providing insight on the social media channels those visitors use.
This information is collected through mobile devices and through the Environics PRIZM Segmentation, which categorizes visitors into one of 67 lifestyle segments based on shared values, attitudes, interests, life stage, and behaviours.
“It’s helpful to know their social media trends,” Wood says. “Maybe a business isn’t spending that much on Facebook, but if they find out their visitors are using Facebook a lot, it will help them to know where to put their marketing dollars.”
PDF: Sample Visitor Profiling Report
Sample Visitor Profiling Report
Municipal Overnight Visitation Report
Clients can also see insights on overnight visitors who come from 40 kilometres or further to a municipality.
The data offers key metrics such as trip length and frequency, cities of origin, and seasonal breakdown by capturing data across accommodation types including hotels, motels, B&Bs, short-term rentals, and stays at private residences with friends or family.
Clients can view insights from across Canada and the United States.
PDF: Sample Municipal Overnight Visitation Report
Sample Municipal Overnight Visitation Report
Upcoming virtual information sessions
In June, RTO8 is hosting 30-minute virtual information sessions to provide tourism partners with a practical overview of the Visitor Research Program.
The sessions will help participants explore the reporting tools and insights available and will offer them the opportunity to ask questions.
The sessions are being held on Tuesday June 2 at 9 a.m., Tuesday, June 9 at 10 a.m., and Tuesday, June 16 at 1 p.m.
Reach out to RTO8 for more information
As for Lang Pioneer Village Museum, King says working with both Wood and Hillary Flood, RTO8’s Manager of Research and Special Projects, was a “delight.”
She encourages all tourism operators and partners interested in gaining valuable insights about their visitors to reach out to RTO8 to learn more about the program.
“They take the time to understand what works best for you and your business in a way that feels comfortable and aligned,” King says.
“Like all of us in the tourism sector, RTO8 is committed to seeing this region succeed, and we’re incredibly fortunate to have them working so hard to bring opportunities like this forward.”
For more information on the Visitor Research Program, visit rto8.com/visitor-research-program/.
This branded editorial was created in partnership with Regional Tourism Organization 8 (RTO8). If your organization or business is interested in a branded editorial, contact us.
