Historical landmarks are commonly marked by visitor centers. Many tourists take these visitor centers for granted. However, due to tightening budgets, it can be difficult to upkeep and staff them appropriately. Traffic counting could be the solution that you may be looking for in regards to reporting and tracking historical trends.
Often visitor centers are 501(c)(3) or nonprofit organizations. Nonprofit organizations, in some ways, need to be run like for-profit businesses to be successful. Placing people counters at the center’s entrances and exits, as well in the separate sections of the visitor center, will reveal information that will allow you to make better business decisions about the visitor center.
1. Accurately track visitors per hour, day, week, or month to identify and compare trends
With a traffic counting solution installed, you will be able to accurately track the center’s visitors per hour, day, week and month. With this data, you will be able to identify trends that occur throughout the year as well as peak times throughout the day.
2. Ensure that your facility is always appropriately staffed
Keeping the center’s peak times in mind, you will be able to efficiently keep the center adequately staffed. Whether you need more maintenance staff, educational staff, or food service staff, you won’t come up short handed when the center gets swamped unexpectedly.
3. Track which parts of your center are the most popular
With the information recorded through traffic counting solutions, you can determine which parts of the visitor center receive the most foot traffic. Placing people counters not just at entrances and exits, but also within the different exhibits of your visitor center, will give you separate readings for each section of your center.
You will be able to determine what makes the more popular sections draw more people. You can use that information to make the other parts of the center more appealing to visitors. Also, consider the layout of your visitor center. Is it pulling visitors through the entirety of the center? Or, are you unknowingly emphasizing only a few portions of it so that the rest of it falls to the wayside?
4. Use data generated to create solid funding requests and to draw more people
Probably the most compelling argument for implementing a traffic counting solution is the ability to generate reports based on historical trends and data regarding people served. With this information, you will be able to create solid funding requests with real statistics, drastically increasing your chances for additional funding. Potential funders want to see results and impact before investing. With a traffic counting solution, you will be able to give them just that.
You will also gain insight to the most popular sections of the visitor center. Using this information, you can create more compelling marketing materials such as travel brochures and maps. In addition to that, you will know which information to market on your social media pages, drawing more of an audience and pulling more people to your visitor center.
Traffic counting is vital for making better informed business decisions for visitor centers. A traffic counting solution will eliminate the stressful guesswork in staffing, funding requests, and marketing for your visitor center.
