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Solvang tourism partners report strong Q4 metrics; Thomas Dambo troll draws national interest
Summary
Marketing partners and the visitor center told the council Jan. 27 that website sessions, page views and social engagement rose sharply in Q4; city and partners also previewed the Thomas Dambo troll exhibit and reported new visitor-count metrics showing high seasonal peaks.
Solvang’s tourism marketing partners and visitor center reported strong fourth-quarter results and a busy holiday season during the Jan. 27 City Council meeting, citing year-over-year gains in website traffic, social engagement and visitor-center visits — and previewing the new Thomas Dambo troll exhibit slated for February.
Marketing highlights: John, the lead from TJA (the city’s marketing partner), told council members the city’s website sessions were up about 41% year over year and page views totaled roughly 850,000 (a 29% increase). He said lodging referrals from the Solvang website rose by “over 242%,” and the Yulefest landing page drew about 253,000 page views (up 33% from the previous year). John summarized a range of digital metrics — low cost-per-click on paid ads, a monthly e‑blast open rate near 43% and large social impressions from Facebook campaigns — and described the “know before you go” downloads and printable maps as high-performing visitor tools.
Visitor-center and local numbers: Sue, the visitor-center manager, reported 104,203 in-person visitor-center contacts for calendar year 2024 versus 98,447 in 2023; December remained the busiest month, with 16,476 visits in 2024 compared with 16,434 in 2023. Sue also described a small relief bag program the visitor center assembled for people displaced by recent fires.
AI-based counter and countywide visitation: City staff member Joe told the council the city recently subscribed to an AI-enhanced visitor-counting product that uses anonymized cell-phone data. For the Yulefest period (roughly Thanksgiving through the first weekend in January) the service estimated about 750,000 visitors; for the full 2024 calendar year staff cited an aggregate count of about 5,000,000 visitors to Solvang, with the caveat that the product’s method excludes residents and very short pass-through stops and counts repeat overnight visitors. “For the calendar year of 2024, we had 5,000,000 visitors in Solvang,” Joe said, while noting the methodology and uniqueness caveats the city is still vetting.
Thomas Dambo troll and earned media: Marketing and museum partners said the Thomas Dambo installation will have a public preview beginning Feb. 1 and a formal start Feb. 2; a presenter also described the exhibit as permanent. Marketing staff said the installation has driven earned media and influencer interest: social and influencer posts about the troll reached hundreds of thousands of accounts across platforms, and the partners reported increased journalist outreach and editorial coverage tied to the installation.
Other notes: Liana and the social-media team summarized record social metrics — Solvang’s Instagram growth rate outperformed regional peers and several posts drew hundreds of thousands of impressions and shares. Partners said they are coordinating content with Visit California and the Bay Area News Group and plan continued campaigns tied to the troll, Yulefest and off-season lodging specials.
Caveats and next steps: Staff and marketing partners urged caution when interpreting large visitor estimates produced by cell‑phone methods; they said the product excludes short pass-throughs and counts overnight visitors multiple times. Partners also emphasized the planned visitor‑survey and community engagement work that will accompany parks, tourism and marketing initiatives.
No action was required; council members thanked staff and partners for the presentation and for work supporting businesses and the visitor economy.
