Effectiveness of intra-destination television advertising of tourist attractions and facilities

Many destinations contain television channels that primarily exist to advertise tourist attractions and facilities to the destinations’ visitors. However, no empirical research has been published on the effectiveness of such advertising. To help fill this information void, this article reports results from visitor intercept surveys designed to evaluate a tourist-oriented cable TV channel in the Black Hills of South Dakota, USA. The results were consistent with theoretical expectations. Respondents who watched the channel, compared to those who did not, decided to take a trip that involved visiting the Black Hills significantly fewer days prior to their departures, were more likely to have stated that the Hills or a place therein was the main destination of these trips, and spent more money in the Hills on their trips. During the 30-day study period, about 10.4% of visitor parties had heard of the channel, 5.3% had watched it, and 2.0% were influenced “a great deal” to visit one or more featured attractions or facilities. Estimated audience size was 15,000 visitors and estimated advertising returns on investment for two prominent commercial attractions were $9.20 and $14.00. Suggestions for further research are advanced.