Ways to Attract New Tourists to the United States

Although winter isn’t necessarily the best tourist season in the majority of the United States, there are still some locations that should expect more and more people to visit within the next few months.

Naturally, most of these states will be located next to the ocean. Places like Florida and California are an obvious choice, but there are others like Nevada and even Texas that could expect more visitors.

Despite the fact that every state has its own blossoming season for tourists, data shows that the number of people visiting the country is going down slightly. However, that’s not something that can’t be fixed, especially considering the resources that most U.S. tourist agencies have nowadays.

In order to find new ways to attract tourists, U.S. tourism agencies first need to identify the issues. What is causing a small decline in tourist numbers? Is it just a shift that will fix itself within the next few years? Let’s find out.

Identifying tracking methods

First things first, we need to identify how the U.S. tracks its incoming tourists. This is usually done during the boarding pass if it’s via plane and at a checkpoint, if it’s via land. There are other boarding passes near major ports in various towns if tourists are coming via ship as well.

The point is that most of the tracking systems are concentrated in government checkpoints. Workers simply view the visa type of the person and track whether it’s a tourist visa or something else.

The issue here is that some people come with working visas or student visas, thus are not identified as potential tourists. Considering how many foreign students and workers are in the United States, this is an unaddressed database that takes away from the greater picture.

Furthermore, there’s the internal travel industry. What this means is that a person in Delaware may take a vacation in Florida, Texas, California or various other Southern or tropical states and it wouldn’t necessarily be identified as tourism.

Oh, and let’s not forget Hawaii as well, which is one of the most popular destinations for American tourists.

Overall, combining all of this information, we get the idea that maybe the situation is not necessarily what the data tells us. It’s completely possible that tourists aren’t decreasing, but in fact increasing over the years and taking a different approach.

Budget-friendly vacations

The best way to attract new visitors would be to create more budget-friendly trips. For example, data shows that more and more Americans, as well as foreigners, are focusing on the price of their vacation, rather than the destination.

For example, if Florida is a much better destination than Texas when it comes to entertainment and overall value, people would still opt for Texas, because it’s a bit on the cheaper side.

Therefore, tourist-heavy states like Florida, California and Nevada should focus on making budget-friendly packages. Things like a couple’s package or a small family’s package, which are affordable, could be a big draw.

This would not only encourage more people to visit from other states but from abroad as well. We all know how important it is for funds to circulate inside an economy, but it’s also important that new funds come in as well.

Switch the focus

Another study found that urban tourism is declining, as people are starting to focus more and more on nature. So, for example, if New York had a million tourists and Yellowstone National Park had just 100,000, it would be likely for the two to be equal nowadays.

Most U.S. tourism destinations are urban, unfortunately. Things like sunny beaches and casino-filled cities like Las Vegas aren’t necessarily flexible destinations. The tastes of tourists change, so tourism agencies need to adapt.

Luckily, there are multiple companies that are starting to focus on this niche. For example, people started to switch from offline casinos in Vegas to online casinos VIP in their very own bedrooms, thus prompting several businesses to change up their niche.

In order to combat this, several tourist agencies offered a trip to the wilds with some entertainment games in a park or various other locations. People were getting tired of hectic districts and loud noises, which is why they opted for online gaming rather than going to the venue directly. Agencies saw this and offered a peaceful alternative by taking these people to the wilds.

This can be done in pretty much every tourism sector. Things like cultural sightseeing and even beaches can be redistributed to be a lot more relaxing and calming. Many agencies are already doing this and it’s just a matter of time before it becomes the mainstream.

The bottom line

The bottom line is very simple. The only thing the U.S. tourism industry needs to do is identify the tastes of its tourists. Although this may have been done in the past, it’s important to understand that tastes change over time.

A new generation of tourists are starting to hit the market, and it’s essential that large or small companies have what they are looking for. But, when taking a look at it from this perspective, it seems like the most secure states in these terms tend to be in the South or Northwest.

Affordability, flexibility and accessibility are what will help the U.S. attract millions more to tourism destinations.