Pahrump seeks visitor insights on tourism initiative

Pahrump officials plan to capture feedback from tourists visiting the town through a survey - the latest initiative in the town’s tourism marketing efforts.

Arlette Ledbetter, director of tourism for the town of Pahrump, said the primary goal of the survey is to provide information that can be used to assess the impact of tourism on Pahrump.

“The survey will begin in September or October. We will interview 100 people per month for 12 months to obtain a variety of visitors,” Ledbetter said.

The survey will be conducted on tablets and will include questions on hotels, activities and guests’ travel plans. Ledbetter said the survey will take place at various hotels, RV resorts and attractions in Pahrump.

The cost of the initiative is $22,000 and will be paid from tourism room tax funds. The tourism room tax is a nine-percent tax paid by lodgers.

The information will be compiled in a report by GLS Research and used in the town’s marketing efforts and economic impact assessments, Ledbetter said. It will be available to the Nevada Commission on Tourism, hotel properties, attractions, the Nye County Regional Economic Development Authority and those interested in future projects in the town of Pahrump.

Ledbetter said the primary objectives of the market research project are understanding of the lodgers’ primary motivations for visiting Pahrump, determining their trip characteristics and measure expenditures and measuring their perceptions of Pahrump and satisfaction with their visit.

In addition, the town will soon start using the merchandise with a Pahrump logo for giveaways at trade and travel shows, RV rallies and other events.

“The call to action would be the website listed on all the products to drive the customer to log on and book a room on the booking widget,” Ledbetter said.

Pahrump currently doesn’t track any visitor demographics. While officials receive information from the town’s tourism website visitpahrump.com and social media, that information doesn’t reflect the number of actual visitors to town.

Online initiatives continue

Pahrump’s online platforms meanwhile continue to grow, a recent recap showed.

From May through June, visitpahrump.com had earned 114 media placements with a value of more than $842,000 and $190 million in impressions, according to the presentation by BrainTrust, a Las Vegas marketing firm tasked with marketing Pahrump tourism.

Overall, website traffic in May was up more than 82 percent from May 2016 and up more than 63 percent in June from the same time last year.

In addition, visitpahrump.com had 500 new likes on Facebook, 93 new followers on Twitter and 111 new likes on Instagram.

“We grew that Facebook page so quickly that we’ve almost plateaued a little bit. We are still getting engagement and new followers, but it’s at a much slower pace than what we were used to when we would have 10,000 right off in two months,” said Jennifer Jo, senior account executive with BrainTrust.

Pahrump was also featured in several publications including David Magazine, Desert Magazine, Las Vegas Weekly, CBS Local, MSN and Trip Savvy.

Officials said they are currently gearing up for a few upcoming initiatives such as a refreshed Pahrump brochure, Lake Spring Mountain pass giveaway, a summer giveaway contest on social media and the coverage for the Fourth of July.

Contact reporter Daria Sokolova at dsokolova@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @dariasokolova77