Sustainable Lake Tahoe

Key Opportunities

Encourage responsible tourism in a popular tourist destination

Disperse travelers throughout the year rather than at peak times

Speak to audiences not traditionally receptive to sustainability messaging

Showing in-market economic impact to tell the full story of a new audience

Spreading Visitors Out Across Time

As part of a growing collective consciousness focused on sustainability, regenerative travel — or travel as a force for good — is on the rise. According to Expedia’s Sustainable Travel Study, 90% of consumers are looking for sustainable options when traveling. As many as 49% will choose a less crowded destination to reduce the effects of overtourism. 

We needed a campaign that would give us the flexibility to change seasonally as well as pivot due to COVID-19 and Mother Nature. We also needed a more grown-up campaign that balanced the fun and awesome “total Tahoe” experience while encouraging respect for the lake and responsible tourism. We ended up doing this by playing off the crystal clear waters of Lake Tahoe and the fact that it’s obviously (“clearly”) one of the most spectacular places in the world to have an awesome getaway.

Defining the Sustainable Traveler

The messaging was clear: if you value responsible travel, you’ll consider traveling to Lake Tahoe during “shoulder seasons,” or off-peak times of year to help spread out the traffic and congestion in the area. 

We targeted five primary audiences: Outdoors, Entertainment, Affluent Adventurers, Families and Sustainable Travelers. This latter group includes potential travelers who live more sustainable/green lives and consider environmental impact every time they set foot outside their homes.

Our ads were crafted to showcase Visit Lake Tahoe’s commitment to responsible travel through copy, imagery and landing page language. 

Telling the Full Story of a New Audience

Visit Lake Tahoe is a unique DMO in that it does not focus solely on room nights. Situated in one of America’s scenic wonders, the organization is dedicated to destination stewardship, encouraging visitors to tread lightly and be respectful of the area’s sensitive environment. Room nights are still crucial, but they share the spotlight with the region’s sustainability efforts. As a nod to this, Noble Studios set out to create a sustainability audience that would receive campaigns with specific messaging. 

Through our long-standing partnership with Zartico, the makers of the world’s only Destination Operating System, we were able to gain visibility into the movement of visitors to Lake Tahoe and the economic opportunities they present. Zartico’s insights allowed us to see in-market visitation from the sustainability audience from August 2022 to March 2023, showing a 9% increase in share of overnight visitors YoY; an 8% higher overnight visitor percentage than overall visitors; and a 2% growth in average visitor spending YoY. We were also able to see that this audience engages with accommodation content 11% more than the overall visitor and visits over-touristed areas —  Emerald Bay (5% less) and Stateline (10% less) —  less frequently than our overall visitor. 

In the end, the Zartico partnership showed us that sustainability visitors stayed longer in-market and spent more money. This critical data now lets us tell the full story of the impact the marketing investment has in the destination.