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MODULE 5Implement and Construct Project

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Destination Marketing and Management

Promote outdoor recreation areas sustainably.

This toolkit is designed for local governments, recreation managers, businesses, and nonprofit leaders across New Hampshire to plan, promote, and sustain outdoor recreation in their communities. Whether you're managing a small community trail or a growing tourism hub, this resource offers flexible guidance to support both marketing and long-term stewardship.

Outdoor recreation is a key driver of both local pride and economic opportunity. People enjoy sharing local outdoor spots with a wide community of recreationists, and visitors enjoy exploring new recreation areas and activities. Taking care of local outdoor areas requires strong marketing and responsible recreation.

Communities should thoughtfully promote their outdoor spaces. Marketing local outdoor recreation can improve the economic impact of tourism, signal the user groups who might enjoy these recreation spaces, and develop the town's brand as an outdoor recreation destination of any scale.

In order to ensure the sustainability of recreation for all users, however, it is also important to teach visitors how to respect the community and nature. Destination management helps keep both people and wildlife safe, and makes sure outdoor spaces remain in good condition for future visitors.

Marketing and managing outdoor destinations involve continually seeking a balance between promoting the positive economic, health, and community-building potential of outdoor recreation, while minimizing the potential for negative impacts on the environment and community character.

Destination Marketing

No matter the scale or quantity of outdoor recreation opportunities in your community, it is valuable to tell a story about your community that communicates what makes it special and why people might enjoy visiting.

Two hikers on a mountain trail looking out over a cloudy, forested ridge with a distant peak.

Know Your Market

Amid social media algorithms and catchy commercials, we live in an "attention economy", where businesses compete to capture and hold people's attention. Marketing your community must also capture the attention of potential tourists and inspire enough interest for them to choose to visit. A key first marketing step is understanding who you want to bring to your community.

Consider the following questions:

Your community does not need to understand every possible market in order to be successful, you just need to keep your message targeted toward your audience.

Growth Share Matrix

The Growth Share Matrix, originally developed by the Boston Consulting Group, can help communities evaluate and prioritize types of tourism based on two key factors:

  1. Market Growth - How quickly a type of tourism is gaining popularity
    • Example: If more people are doing Nordic skiing each year, then that is high market growth.
  2. Market Share - How much of that market your community currently captures
    • Example: If lots of Nordic skiers already choose your town's Nordic ski trails over others then you have a high market share in Nordic skiing.

You can apply this framework to the types of tourists you currently attract or hope to attract, and use it to guide investment and messaging strategies.

You can categorize the types of tourists that your community attracts, or wants to attract, into these four categories. Once categorized, you can adjust your marketing strategies accordingly.

  1. Stars - High-Growth, High-Share Segments
    • Example: Outdoor recreation tourists who already visit often and whose numbers are growing.
    • Strategy: Invest heavily in marketing and infrastructure to maintain and grow this segment, as it has strong potential for long-term benefits.
  2. Cash Cows - Low-Growth, High-Share Segments
    • Example: Local families who visit annually for a well-known festival.
    • Strategy: Maintain marketing but don't overspend; this group is stable and brings consistent returns, even if growth is slow.
  3. Question Marks - High-Growth, Low-Share Segments
    • Example: Young mountain bikers, a fast-growing group who don't yet know about your community.
    • Strategy: Consider investing in targeted campaigns. If successful, this segment could become a Star. If not, reconsider.
  4. Dogs - Low-Growth, Low-Share Segments
    • Example: Large tour groups that prefer more urban destinations and rarely visit.
    • Strategy: Limit marketing efforts here unless a clear opportunity arises; they're unlikely to offer strong returns.

In thinking through this matrix, you may find that different categories apply to different recreation activities or assets in your community. For example, your well-maintained trail system could make day trip hikers a star market. Meanwhile, your community's annual mountain bike race might make local mountain bikers a cash cow market. Understanding these categories can help your community prioritize which types of tourism to invest in and which user groups to target through marketing.

Show What Makes Your Community Unique

Think about the outdoor spaces, scenic views, local plants and animals, events, and small businesses that make your town stand out.

How can you share these unique attributes with visitors and help visitors feel connected to your town? When people feel a personal connection to a place, they are more likely to take care of it.

Placemaking is about creating or connecting to the unique identity of your community. Strategies for placemaking in public spaces can help visitors connect with this identity. Depending on your community's budget, these strategies could include establishing a new trail running race or painting a mural with your town name to create a new photo opportunity.

A view down a downtown sidewalk past storefronts towards a brick clock tower and parked cars.

Using Varied and Targeted Marketing Strategies

Marketing your outdoor spaces helps tell people who these areas are meant for. To make sure both locals and tourists feel welcome, and to avoid problems between different user groups, it may help to use multiple types of marketing.

Marketing to Local Users

By promoting a lifestyle centered around outdoor recreation, marketing local outdoor recreation to existing residents supports the local economy and strengthens community identity. Both local and tourist involvement in outdoor recreation can drive revenue to nearby restaurants, shops, and lodging, which supports local jobs and encourages new business investment.

As economic activity grows, communities often see improvements in public services, infrastructure, and local amenities. In this way, marketing outdoor recreation to both residents and visitors contributes to quality of life and helps create a more vibrant, livable place for everyone.

Ideas for local marketing include:

Tourism Marketing

Tourism marketing helps your town maximize the economic impact of tourism. In marketing beyond your community, consider the different types of tourism that you may wish to target. Some of the tourist user groups to consider include:

For more information on the economic impacts of different tourist groups, see the Economic Impact Analysis tool.

Ideas for tourism marketing include:

A man riding a red mountain bike on a forest path covered in autumn leaves under tall pine trees.

Marketing within the Wider Region

Communicate with your surrounding communities and regional outdoor recreation hubs to find opportunities to include your community in broader outdoor recreation planning and tourism marketing efforts. Your community can share ideas, learn from the experiences of other towns, and attract more visitors to your whole region.

For example, if a nearby town gets really busy in August, you could let visitors know about a quieter trail in your town as an alternative day trip destination.

Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts offer a regional outdoor recreation ecosystem, with New Hampshire at the center. This network may offer opportunities to work across state lines to promote regional collaboration. At the same time, however, outdoor recreation markets in neighboring states create competition for capturing regional tourism from New Hampshire.

Working with bigger organizations in your region can also help more people hear about your town. For example, if you have snowmobile trails, you might partner with the NH Snowmobile Association to share your events and highlights. For more information on regional partnerships, see the Partnerships and Regional Collaboration tool.

Support Local Businesses

Local businesses are an important part of destination marketing. When these businesses grow, your town becomes more attractive to visitors and more of the money they spend stays in the community.

Your community can post sample trip ideas on your website, flyers, or event posters. These ideas can mix outdoor activities with stops at local businesses like restaurants, inns, gear shops, or gas stations.

Example 1: Stop by Bob's Tackle Shop to grab some bait before heading down to the river for a relaxing day of fly-fishing.

Example 2: After biking the local trail, cool off with an ice cream cone from the general store.

Sustainable Tourism

As your community invests in destination marketing and outdoor recreation, it's likely that visitor numbers and trail usage will increase. Sustainable tourism helps ensure your community continues to benefit economically and socially from this growth, while also protecting the natural environment and preserving community character.

The goal of sustainable tourism is to balance the interests of all stakeholders, including residents, local businesses, landowners, and visitors, so that tourism can help the community thrive, without overwhelming its capacity. A sustainable approach supports the long-term health of both the environment and the local culture, which in turn helps maintain tourist interest.

Understand Community and Environmental Limits

With input from residents, set clear tourism and recreation goals that reflect your community's capacity. These goals should consider:

Your community may already collect data that can inform an understanding of the capacity for hosting tourists. Some types of existing data collection might include:

Data Collection Method How it Informs Community Capacity
Trash collection in park High trash areas indicate high use areas
Count cars in trailhead or park parking lots Car volume indicates peak and low usage times
Trail counting Use the Trail Counting Tool to estimate usage of different trails or parks
Campsite or lodging records The amount of vacancies indicates a community's capacity for overnight visitors
Track volunteer hours The number of volunteer hours indicates the community's capacity for trail maintenance, event hosting, and other volunteer-dependent activities
Search and rescue call volume Call volume, as well as rescue location, can indicate seasons and locations that may require greater visitor education on safety and preparedness
Survey results Survey results from a visitor satisfaction survey can indicate user conflicts, community strengths, and visitor preferences

Different types of recreation may place different demands on local resources, so it's important to evaluate capacity on a case-by-case basis.

Key questions to ask:

Keeping Pace with Growth in Tourism

As interest in outdoor recreation grows, many communities are eager to see an increase in tourism. However, without careful planning, visitation for outdoor recreation can outpace the capacity of local infrastructure.

This can lead to challenges such as:

Rather than only reacting to these pressures, it is important for communities to plan ahead and invest in infrastructure that supports long-term growth. This investment can include improvements to businesses, public infrastructure, and outdoor infrastructure.

Examples include:

In many places, strong partnerships already exist between trail organizations, local governments, and businesses. These collaborations are essential for creating a shared vision that balances tourism growth with the needs of residents, while maintaining the quality of the outdoor experience for everyone. The following subheadings outline some strategies that communities can undertake to sustainably plan for and manage tourism growth.

Two adults and three children smiling while walking down a cobblestone street lined with historic-looking storefronts.

Shared Funding for Infrastructure

As outdoor tourism grows, communities often need to improve infrastructure like trailheads, signage, restrooms, parking, and pedestrian infrastructure. These upgrades can be expensive, but shared funding makes them more manageable.

Ways communities can work together include:

Form a Destination Management Committee

Creating a neutral Destination Management Committee can help guide tourism efforts, resolve conflicts, and represent a range of perspectives. This group might include residents, town officials, and people from various recreation user groups.

Responsibilities of the committee include:

Case Study Example: Gorham, NH has established such a committee to manage tourism and trail use in a way that supports both the economy and the environment. See how Gorham's Destination Management Committee relates to their broader sustainable tourism strategy in this comprehensive report, which includes their Community Action Plan.

Zoning and Development Coordination

As tourism increases, careful land use planning is essential to avoid problems like overcrowding, traffic, poorly placed development, and a spike in short-term rentals that can threaten the local housing supply. Local governments, trail groups, and businesses can work together to guide growth in ways that support both visitors and residents.

Key approaches include:

By coordinating these efforts, communities can support tourism growth while maintaining their unique character and quality of life.

Educate Visitors on Safety, Respect, and Expectations

Education is a powerful tool for protecting outdoor spaces and the communities that host them. Rather than simply enforcing rules, provide visitors with information that encourages responsible behavior. This can be done through signs, brochures, websites, and public bulletin boards. It is important to maintain clear, concise, and consistent messaging across outdoor recreation resources for safety and preparedness.

A snow-covered information kiosk with multiple signs in a winter forest clearing.

New Hampshire's Wildly Responsible campaign offers shareable resources about safe and sustainable outdoor recreation throughout the state. Wildly Responsible resources include guidance on proper preparation for hiking, skiing, fishing, bike, OHV, and other activities.

The Interpretation, Education, and Programming tool provides more guidance on educating visitors and residents about natural and cultural assets, but educational messages might include:

Manage Visitation Based on Capacity

As your tourism activities grow, keep checking how they're affecting the community and the environment. This will help you protect the community's values and goals, while maintaining the community's vision for itself over time. Be prepared to change your plans if needed.

If certain groups are underrepresented, expand marketing efforts and explore new partnerships. If specific areas become overcrowded, consider strategies such as:

When creating these management tools, aim to use the least restrictive solutions that still have meaningful impact. This helps maintain accessibility while protecting the environment and community quality of life.

You can also use visual reminders to help visitors understand how they can reduce their impact. For example, fencing off a fragile alpine zone with a sign explaining the importance of native plant protection can educate and influence visitor behavior effectively.

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