Delaware’s size and low-profile may actually help it’s tourism industry according to a new survey, which also suggest recent efforts by the state tourism office to lure visitors are effective.
In this week’ Enlighten Me -- Delaware Public Media's James Dawson sat down with state tourism director Linda Parkowski to discuss the survey and the First State’s continued efforts to boost tourism here.
Here’s a shocker: people outside of Delaware don’t know much about it.
In the 1992 comedy "Wayne's World," Mike Meyers stood in front of a green screen, taking instantaneous trips to different American locals with co-star Dana Carvey.
Neither knew what to make of the First State when a postcard boasting the old bridge over the Indian River Inlet appeared behind them, simply saying "Hi, I'm in Delaware."
But that’s a good thing because you’re working with a blank slate, according to a survey put out by international marketing firm FutureBrand.
Delaware ranked second in the country for the largest positive change in perception - after starting with neutral initial impressions.
The lack of preconceived notions about Delaware helped make people more likely to decide they wanted to visit after looking at tourism commercials and brochures.
“We knew that we had opportunity here. We had opportunity to form an impression in people’s minds, so it was really an advantage for us to have a clean, clear slate," said state tourism director Linda Parkowski.
With that data, Parkowski says they can create better ads to boost tourism – including marketing to changing visitor demographics.
“It used to be that travelers were between the ages of 35-55 and now we’re skewing lower to the ages of 25-55, so where we are branching out is into the millennial marketing,” she said.
Only Idaho – which also boasted its outdoor recreation opportunities – ranked above Delaware in the survey.
