Attribution connects marketing and website engagement to visitation patterns so destinations can understand what influences travel behavior, not just clicks.
June 9, 2026
Updated July 30, 2026
Visit Elkhart County had invested in RV storytelling and promotion but lacked a clear picture of how those efforts translated into real-world visitation. They also wanted to better understand and optimize earned media performance to strengthen future campaigns.
RV messaging was already in market through two channels: earned exposure from a Discovery Channel feature on RV There Yet?, and paid creative including a 30-second commercial that aired during the program, plus a full-page RV industry magazine ad timed around a local RV Dealer Open House in September.
Tourism Economics used the Website Impact Calculator to connect website engagement to visitation patterns, analyzing performance across travel planning windows in August and September and excluding local DMAs to isolate non-local demand. RV-related content consistently ranked among the top drivers of visit rate, with RV/Factory Tours leading in the 1 to 7 day window, RV Hall of Fame Museum in the 8 to 14 day window, and Hotels/Camping RV in the 15 to 30 day window.
From there, Tourism Economics worked backward from these visitation patterns to identify what was fueling RV interest, uncovering who was responding, when they were traveling, and which RV pages were driving them through.
Visit Elkhart County gained clarity they didn’t have before, particularly around the earned Discovery exposure, by seeing how RV messaging translated into measurable visitation behavior rather than attention alone. With evidence that the Discovery feature was worth leaning into, the team built follow-through around the December re-air window, creating a dedicated blog post and publishing social promotions ahead of the re-air.
Tourism Economics helped us move beyond assumptions. When RV content began to show higher-than-normal visit rates, they provided the platform and the tools to trace that increased interest back to real traveler behavior and what content ultimately motivated them.
Visit Elkhart County – WIC
