Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Tourism Analytics topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
CVB reports preliminary PlaceBuilder AI metrics showing strong countywide engagement
Summary
Corey of the Kosciusko County Convention and Visitors Bureau reported pilot results from PlaceBuilder AI, including point-of-interest geofencing and passport programs that the bureau says produced high visit totals in 2024.
Corey, representing the Kosciusko County Convention and Visitors Bureau, briefed the commission on a new analytics program the bureau is piloting with PlaceBuilder AI, reporting preliminary 2024 figures the bureau said suggest heavy countywide visitation.
Corey told commissioners the system logged nearly 12,000,000 visits which the bureau translates to more than 1,200,000 unique visitors in 2024 using the bureau's chosen threshold for what constitutes a visit. The CVB noted the metric is adjustable (for example, the bureau can define a visit as 90 minutes or two hours) and explained the numbers reflect countywide point-of-interest geofencing, not raw website traffic.
Corey described how the bureau uses seasonal "passports" to encourage visits (haunted and holiday-light passports were cited) and how the PlaceBuilder system can filter by community, attraction or event and produce heat maps of visitor activity. The CVB is working with local GIS staff (Bill at the GIS office was named) to set up community- and property-level points of interest; that allows organizations to receive more specific reporting for their events and attractions.
Corey said the county-sponsored PlaceBuilder pilot was made possible in part by a one-time commission sponsorship for the software. The CVB will continue refining definitions for a "visitor" (for example excluding tracking of children under 13 for privacy reasons) and offered to provide a short executive-summary report to the commission at each meeting.
Corey also reported staffing changes: the CVB's marketing communications manager left in November; the bureau has hired a replacement who "starts on the 27th" (start date given by Corey at the meeting). The bureau said a new visitor guide is scheduled to print in the next week or two and will be available in February.
Why it matters: the bureau's new data tools are intended to give the county and its partners better information on where visitors go, how long they stay and which events drive visitation; that information is presented as a way to target promotions and to justify grant-supported events and advertising.
The CVB emphasized the preliminary nature of the numbers and the ability to change the visit-duration threshold; commissioners asked follow-up questions about methodology and reporting so each community or attraction can receive its own metrics.
