State: Research shows $31-for-$1 return on tourism ads

Nevada tourism officials believe that every dollar they invested on an advertising campaign that ran during the last 12 months generated $31 in tax revenue in the state.

Dann Lewis, executive director of the Nevada Commission on Tourism, says the return on investment appears to be the second-highest among states that have shared their results.

Here's how the commission tracks results:

It contracts with TNS Global, a London-based market research company, and provides TNS with data about the markets that were targeted by the Nevada advertising campaign.

During the fiscal year that ended on June 30, Nevada's targets included Los Angeles, San Francisco, Phoenix, Dallas, Seattle, Chicago, Sacramento and Salt Lake City as well as the Reno and Las Vegas markets.

Those markets account for about 15 million households. TNS screened them to come up with an estimate that 10.6 million of those households had traveled recently.

Then TNS asks a survey sample whether participants recall seeing the Nevada Commission on Tourism print or broadcast ads samples of the ads are included in the survey and asks if the ads caused them to visit the state.

Nearly 43 percent of consumers in the target markets said they saw or heard the ads during the fiscal year that ended June 30. That compares with 29.7 percent a year earlier.

From that, TNS estimates that the advertising campaign brought about 528,800 visitors to Nevada.

Finally, the survey collects data on the amount that visitors spent on hotels, food and the like, and the state calculates the amount of tax that would be collected on those purchases.

Using that methodology, the Nevada Commission on Tourism estimates that its $3.5 million advertising campaign directly accounted for $110 million in tax revenues.

Lewis called the campaign "thrifty" the state budgeted 30.6 percent less on tourism advertising than a year earlier and said it targeted consumers who are likely to respond to travel ads rather than blanketing entire regions.

He said other states generally report return on investment in tourism advertising of about half of the $31-for-$1 level reached by Nevada.

The state's campaign for winter tourism featured Lake Tahoe skiing and ran in television, print and Internet outlets. The summer campaign, which focused on outdoor recreation, also was created for TV, print and Internet.