Jan 31, 2024

UNI provides insights and recommendations to the Iowa tourism industry

Iowa travel regions

UNI’s Strategic Marketing Services (SMS) and the Institute for Decision Making (IDM) assisted Travel Iowa, within the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) and the Iowa Travel Industry Partners (iTIP) in collecting and analyzing data for the Iowa Travel Organizations Annual Salary & Budget Report. Topics included lodging, funding, operating budget, existing occupations, employee benefits & incentives, and respondent demographics.

The online survey was promoted and distributed to IEDA and iTIP partner organizations and was launched on October 10, 2023. Participating respondents represented a fairly even geographic distribution amongst the travel area regions shown in the graphic below. The highest concentration of respondents was in the Storied and Scenic Southeast Iowa region (35.7%) followed by the Driftless Northeast Iowa region (32.1%). Capital Country in the Central Iowa region (14.3%) and Lakes & Land Northwest Iowa region (14.3%) made up the second tier of travel regions, while Loess Hills & Beyond in Southwest Iowa was 3.6%. 

Twenty-eight Iowa travel organizations fully completed the online survey among the four organizational types defined in this study. Data was then analyzed and segmented by organization type, total staff size and type of market to best uncover any meaningful differences between each respective group. A few of the key findings are shared below: 

  • Just over half (53.6%) of the respondents serve rural areas while 25.0% serve urban areas. Respondents indicated mostly medium (42.9%) populations, ranging from 10,000 to 29,999; followed by large (39.3%) populations, with 30,000 or more; and small (17.9%) populations, with less than 10,000. 
  • A majority (75.0%) of the respondents reported their organization’s annual tourism budget trend has been relatively stable over the past three years. Other respondents indicate an increasing significantly budget (10.7%) or increasing moderately budget (7.1%).

Amy Zeigler, State Tourism Manager of Iowa Economic Development Authority’s Iowa Tourism Office states, “IEDA is pleased to be able to utilize our university resources and expertise to complete research and survey projects such as this. Our relationship with the UNI Institute for Decision Making allows us to efficiently collect data and analyze it from a statewide perspective. The data collected from the tourism industry will specifically help guide our efforts as we continue work on the Iowa Tourism Industry Strategic Plan.”

This collaborative effort between SMS, IDM, IEDA, and iTIP, along with their travel industry partners, has successfully yielded valuable insights and data through the comprehensive "Iowa Travel Partners Annual Salary and Budget" report, providing a foundation for informed decision-making and strategic planning within the travel sector.