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ABSTRACT
KEYWORDS: niche marketing, fall tourism, fall foliage touring, origin/destination patterns, special interest tourism
Although fall color touring has long been pursued by the traveling public and promoted by destinations, it has been the subject of extraordinarily little research. This article helps fill this knowledge gap and assists destination marketers seeking to more effectively attract this market niche. Analyses of data from a telephone survey of households in the Great Lakes region indicate that marketers who wish to attract fall color tourists should promote a wide range of ancillary activities in addition to foliage viewing and target primarily older individuals in nearby markets.
INTRODUCTION
In many regions of the world, most tourism occurs during a peak season. Often this results in tourist crowding during such times but excess capacity during most of the remainder of the year. It also forces tourism business operators to depend onerously on revenues earned during the 'high season' to survive during the 'low season,' which in turn makes these operators vulnerable to events that may negatively affect peak season tourism activity, such as terrorism, spikes in energy prices, and/or bad weather. The seasonality of tourism has also been blamed for the difficulties many tourism entrepreneurs have experienced with gaining access to capital, getting tourism recognized as a viable economic activity, recruiting and retaining full-time staff, and realizing an acceptable return on investment.1
To mitigate the effects of seasonality, many destination marketers strive to increase tourism during non-peak seasons, including the fall. Expanding fall tourism, however, requires effective marketing strategies, which in turn requires a clear understanding of the fall tourism market, including one of its most basic niches - fall color tourists. 'Leaf peeping' has long been pursued by the traveling public and promoted by destinations. Many organizations, including 25 state tourism offices in the USA, actively promote fall color touring (FCT) and maintain websites and/or hotlines that provide current information on fall foliage conditions throughout the nation.
FCT is a type of special interest tourism, defined as 'the provision of customized leisure and recreational experiences driven by specific interests of individuals and groups.'2 Individuals participate in such activities to satisfy their particular interests and needs and comprise niche markets for the activities. To successfully market to such...