Illustrative engagement. A representative scenario showing how we approach this kind of work in culture & heritage. It does not describe a specific client; outcomes are described qualitatively.
Industry overview
What is shaping culture & heritage
Museums, festivals and heritage sites need to understand visitors, build new audiences and show the value of their work to funders and communities.
- Funders expect evidence of impact
- New audiences need different programming
- Heritage tourism depends on visitor experience
Client background
A city tourism board, working in Kerala. This is an illustrative engagement: a representative scenario showing how we approach this kind of work, not a named client project.
- Organisation
- A city tourism board
- Sector
- Culture & heritage
- Team engaged
- Market Research
- Services
- Quantitative research, Data analytics & dashboards
Client challenge
The board wanted to show businesses how a boat-race festival benefited the local economy.
Research objectives
- Deliver on the brief: estimating spending by festival visitors.
- Produce results that can be compared across groups and locations.
- Give the client evidence it can act on within 6 weeks.
Target audience
Scope: 2,500 visitors.
Audiences we typically reach in culture & heritage
VisitorsNon-visitors and new audiencesLocal communitiesArtists and performersFunders and partners
Geographic coverage
Coverage: Kerala. Market: India.
- India
Research methodology
A structured quantitative design, so results could be compared across groups, locations and time.
- 1Brief
- 2Visitor spending survey
- 3Insight
We surveyed visitors about accommodation, food, transport and shopping, and analysed spending by visitor type.
Quantitative researchData analytics & dashboards
Sampling strategy
- Respondents were selected across Kerala using quotas set in advance for each location and respondent type, so no single area or group dominated.
Data collection
- visitors
- 2,500
- Trained local-language interviewers conducted interviews in person, supervised in the field.
Data quality & validation
- Back-checks on a share of completed interviews
- Time and location checks on field interviews
- Supervisor accompaniment in the field
- Logic and range checks on the final data
- Work carried out under our ISO 20252 quality procedures
Data analysis
- Cross-tabulation by key groups and locations
- Significance testing on the differences that mattered
- Interactive dashboard for ongoing tracking
Key findings
- Out-of-state visitors accounted for most accommodation spending.
Show local businesses where visitors spend.
Recommendations
- Build on the core insight: show local businesses where visitors spend.
- Focus effort where the evidence was strongest: out-of-state visitors accounted for most accommodation spending.
- Re-measure after the changes to confirm the effect.
Business impact
- The board promoted festival packages in source markets.
What changed in the business as a result of the work. Impact is described qualitatively.
Deliverables & next steps
- Insight report and management presentation
- Cleaned data file and data tables
- Interactive dashboard
- Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
- A natural follow-on question: who visits, and who doesn't?