The Pagosa Springs Area Tourism Board held a meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 19, at which Tourism Director Jennifer Green shared a presentation with data on Pagosa’s top visitor markets.
“This is really just a precursor to our marketing plan,” she said, explaining the data gathered is used to determine what markets Pagosa is hitting and when, which influences things like social media advertisements and other ad campaigns.
“The one change in our annual visitors is Utah popped up as one of the top states this year,” Green said.
She explained Utah has been targeted before, but it never showed up as a significant crowd in the Pagosa market.
Green added that Utah experienced heavy wildfires over the summer and that may have contributed to the increase in visitor numbers from Utah.
“Our states are pretty consistent where we pull from,” Green said, adding Arkansas now shows up as a top state for visitors in the spring time.
Green also mentioned there are some states that do not register as a top visitor state for certain months, noting that not a significant number of visitors from Oklahoma appear in the months of November or April.
She explained that doesn’t mean there aren’t any Oklahoma visitors during those times, but that the volume is not enough to register as a top state.
Board member Shane Lucero asked what the number of visitors needed for a state to register as a top visitor state is.
Green explained that it is not an exact number, but that it is generally “a couple thousand,” noting that Pagosa has seen upward of 22,000 visitors from Texas in one month.
Green also mentioned that California is “a market we could pull more from,” noting California visitors do not show up in significant numbers in January, March, April or May.
Lucero commented that he was surprised to not see Oklahoma as a top state during November, considering that falls within hunting season.
Green explained that there is a 30-day “lag” in her reports and that the November monthly data is from 2023, noting it is possible that Oklahoma could’ve registered as a top visitor state this year.
According to Green’s report, there were only four top visitor states in 2023 for the months of June through August, which include Colorado as No. 1, New Mexico as No. 2, Texas as No. 3 and Arizona as No. 4.
Green notes that, in 2024, Pagosa had 10 states register as a top visitor state for those same months. Those states, in order, were Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Oklahoma, California, Utah, Kansas, Missouri and Louisiana.
Green added that she has data from visitors across all 50 states.
She also explained that data is gathered from cellphone information and that a third-party company, Placer, has been contracted to perform the work.
She mentioned that Placer can ping cellphones in the middle of the night and that it must be within the county for more than 12 hours to be considered a visitor.
Green went on to highlight specific cities and metro areas that continuously register as a top visitor market for Pagosa Springs, noting it does not necessarily align with the top states.
“Albuquerque is by far our top market,” she said, noting that those visitors may not stay as long compared to markets like Dallas-Fort Worth.
Green also noted that Espanola, N.M., showed up as a top market for the first time, and that it is geographically far enough away from Santa Fe, N.M., to be considered its own metro area.
“We’re seeing people all over the U.S.,” Green said, adding that the only state that did not receive visitor guides this year was Vermont.
She also explained that credit card data is used in correlation with data from Placer to get an idea of how much money certain markets are spending in Pagosa Country.
“I think it’s always interesting to see who’s showing up,” Green said, adding that it is one thing to target a specific market with advertisements, but to see them showing up in Pagosa is a good affirmation that the marketing is actually working.
Board member Gary Williams inquired about how the tourism board gets data on international visitors.
Green explained that “anecdotally” it feels like there is a decent number of international visitors from those coming into the visitor center for information.
She also mentioned that a local business recently signed a contract with an international receptive tour operator, noting most international visitors still use tour operating services.
“That’s certainly going to increase the numbers,” she said.
Green indicated that Pagosa does not have a lot of international visitors during the winter, as most internationals are wanting to plan a road trip across the states and find places to stop and explore.
She used the example of an international visitor wanting to take a six-week road trip from Las Vegas, Nev., to Denver and looking for places to stop along the way.
Additionally, Green noted that Pagosa sees a significant number of visitors from New Zealand in the summer time due to the use of the Continental Divide Trail (CDT).
Lucero added that he has hosted multiple New Zealand visitors who were hiking the CDT.
Green also indicated that Pagosa does not see a whole lot of French visitors and that when they do visit, they are the more “adventurous” French traveler.
She mentioned that Pagosa is seeing an increase in visitors from the United Kingdom due to a marketing partnership with Alamosa.
She explained that the tourism effort has focused more so on German visitors, but that the area is “definitely seeing a lot more UK as well.”
Green explained that international visitation data is more complicated to compile because the applications used to track data can be turned off by international visitors due to international privacy laws.
Green also noted that international visitation never accounts for more than “a couple percent” of the overall visitors to Pagosa Country, but that they will stay longer and likely spend more money while in the market.
Green’s visitor audience presentation can be viewed in its entirety online under the Nov. 19 area tourism board’s meeting agenda at www.pagosasprings.co.us.
Green indicated that the tourism marketing plan should be ready for the board to review at its December meeting.
clayton@pagosasun.com
