Why Scottsdale?

Want a limited picture of the Scottsdale, AZ tourism market? Examine the customer data from a single hotel or resort.

Want a more rounded view? Combine input from several properties, overlay consumer information from a data compiler and then crunch the numbers. In 2006, the Scottsdale Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) did just that, convincing 14 lodging industry members to share their transaction records.

From that, the CVB figured out how to better use its annual $2 million marketing budget.

The stakes are huge. Scottsdale draws 7.5 million vacationers a year, and that they spend more than $3 billion in the area.

Not all of this is directly attributable to the CVB. But the analysis has helped the organization incorporate geographic, channel and seasonal considerations into its outreach, according to Lauren Simons, the CVB’s vice president of marketing.

For example, the bureau was able to determine that consumers from the primary