Competitive Effectiveness:Hershey Entertainment & Resorts

Get to Know the Hospitality/Travel Industry

Mintel Oxygen Browse the market research reports in the Lifestyles and Travel catagories.

Themed Entertainment Association  Find attendance statistics for theme and water parks as well as operational guidelines

National Household Travel Survey (From the Federal Highway Administration)  Get authoritative data and reports on trips!

U.S. Travel Association Industry advocacy association providing data, forecasts and survey results

Evaluate Potential Markets

American Community Survey  Use the Census bureau's authoritative survey on demographic characteristics of Boston and Pittsburgh

American Factfinder2 Access the most recent 2010 Cencus data releases for Boston & Pittsburgh

SRDS Media Solutions Use the Local Market Audience Analyst to get demographic projections, PRIZM social group and lifestyle profiles, and lifestyle ranking indices.  Works best with Internet Explorer.

ZoomProspector A fun tool for comparing communities or finding areas that match a profile.  Underlying data self reported by cities and states.

Effective Buying Power Another comparison tool from Nielson Claritas.

Statistical Datasets (Proquest) An alternative platform for accessing census data and lifestyle profiles.

Beyond Numbers

Get a feel for the towns tenor & temperament.

Boston Globe

Boston Magazine

Pittsburg Post Gazette

Pittsburg Magazine

Identify Competing Destinations

ReferenceUSA Use the business directory to locate theme parks in proximity to your potential markets.

American Automobile Association Check out their AAA World Magazine (don't miss the recent pirce on the men's movement to take back the spa experience at Hershey!)

Research Trends in Destination Marketing

Find books like these in our catalog by searching for tourism and hospitality .

Journal of Travel Research

Journal of Vacation Marketing

Tourism Management

Annals of Tourism

Browse these journals and search for additional articles in  Business Source Premier,  ABI/Inform and TRID or TRB Publications Index (transportation research databases). 

Plan the Promotional Budget

SRDS Media Solutions Suite of directories for media planners within traditonal channels.

Ad$Summary  Reference work with historical ad spending by brand.

e-Marketer  Database bringing together statistics and reports on digital marketing.

Advertising Red Book Traditional directory of advertising agencies

MRI+ Advertising rates for consumer magazines only.

Do Due Diligence

Not all information sources are created equal.  You will be expected to do due diligence on the sources you rely on.  This means you should investigate and analyse the research you use.

• Research the authors credentials and expertise by searching for degrees, certifications, affiliations and other publications.
• Research the reputation of the issueing agency or author by searching for news organizations that cite or rely on the source.
• Analyse the document internally.  Are data sources documented?  Are methods for gathering data and analysing it described?
• Ascertain the financial health and longevity of the organization by checking business directories.
• Find another source that restates or supports data provided.  Can your source be corroborated?
• Use blogs judiciously. This NYT articles on the business interests of TechCrunch's publisher discusses potential conflicts.
• Found an on point "white paper"?  Know what you're using!