The audience for the GAC service is those individuals residing in the Denver-metropolitan area who are active in outdoor sports, have enough disposable income to participate in event and tour activities outside Colorado, have no children, and who already actively travel for pleasure. GAC is successful because the Denver metro area market is the best market in the United States for this demographic.
The information used to develop our target audience was obtained from the Lifestyle Market Analysis 2004 (“LMA 2004”). In the LMA 2004, published by Experian, Inc., the 210 largest metropolitan areas (referred to as “Designated Market Areas”, or “DMA”s) in America are ranked in various categories based upon the percentage of the population in each DMA that participates in a certain activity or fits into a certain demographic profile. In addition to ranking DMAs on a percentage basis, the LMA 2004 also publishes gross numbers of participants of a demographic within each DMA.
There are 2,718,023 residents in the Denver metropolitan area, many of whom are athletically active. The Denver DMA (which includes Denver, Boulder and the surrounding suburbs) scores exceptionally high in the outdoor sports participation categories. For example, Denver is ranked 4th out of 210 DMAs in terms of the percentage of the population who bicycle frequently, behind only Anchorage, Alaska, Bend, Oregon, and Alpena, Michigan. The total number of individuals who bicycle frequently in Denver is 427,074 (30.4% of the total population), which is more than in Anchorage, Bend, Alpena and the other six DMAs in the top ten combined.
The Denver DMA ranks first in America in terms of the percentage of the population who snow ski frequently (the term “snow skiing” includes snowboarding), with more than 25% of the total population skiing regularly. Again, the total number of individuals in Denver who snow ski frequently (363,856) is more than the total in the other nine DMAs in the top ten combined.
Denver’s DMA scored 3rd out of 210 DMAs in terms of the percentage of the population that gets regular physical fitness or exercise, with a total of 658,874 individuals who get regular exercise (46.9% of the total population). The only two DMAs ahead of Denver were Fairbanks, Alaska (48.6% of the population, or 16,707 individuals), and Honolulu, Hawaii (47.6% of the population, or 201,130 individuals). The total number of people who exercise frequently in the Denver DMA is more than three times as large as both of the total numbers of Fairbanks and Honolulu combined.
On a percentage basis, Denver is 18th out of 210 DMAs in terms of people who run or jog frequently. However, Denver is one of only five DMAs in the top twenty that have more than 15% of the population listed as frequent runners or joggers and have a gross number of runners in excess of 230,000. In Denver, 234,610 of the total population runs or jogs frequently, which is 16.7% of the population. Recently, Runner’s World Magazine named Boulder, Colorado as the #1 “running city” in America.
The Denver metro area is a hotbed of outdoor enthusiasts. But this is only half of the picture. What makes Denver especially attractive for out of state event planners and tour operators is the large percentage of individuals who are affluent, have no children, and travel frequently.
Denver is ranked 7th out of 210 DMAs in terms of percentage of the population with dual income households and no children. More than 1 in 5 of Denver’s households is a dual income household with no children. There are 296,423 such households in the Denver metro area. Additionally, Denver is 7th of 210 DMAs in terms of the total population that is married, between 18-34 years old and has no children (there are 66,028 such households in the Denver metro area), and 5th of 210 DMAs in terms of percentage of the population that is married, between 35-44 years old and has no children (there are 53,384 such households in the Denver metro area). Denver has 68,838 people between 18 and 34 years old with an income of $50,000 to $74,999 (7th of 210 DMAs). There are also 140,485 individuals in Denver who are between 35 and 44 years old with an annual income of more than $75,000 (9th of 210 DMAs).
The residents of the Denver metro area travel frequently. Denver has more people who travel within the United States than any other DMA in America. The city boasts more than 609,000 such travelers. As for people who travel for pleasure, Denver has 720,688 such individuals, ranking it 11th out of 210 DMAs in America.
Denver’s residents also enjoy traveling abroad. Of the 210 largest DMAs in America, Denver is11th in terms of the percentage of the population that travels to foreign countries. More than 317,000 people in Denver travel abroad. When people in the Denver metropolitan area travel, they are intelligent consumers. Denver ranks 8th out of 210 DMAs by percentage of the population that utilizes frequent flyer miles to help them travel. There are more than a half million individuals in the Denver metropolitan area who use frequent flyer miles.
The combination of young, active, wealthy individuals and couples without children makes the Denver market a “must hit” for any serious tour operator or event planner. There is no better way to target this attractive demographic than with GAC. Call us and learn more!!
