How Visitor Intelligence Helps a Small DMO Make a Big Impact
In Stillwater, Oklahoma - home of Oklahoma State University and proudly known as America’s Friendliest College Town - Visit Stillwater isn’t just telling the story of tourism’s impact. They’re proving it.
By strategically incorporating Zartico’s Visitor Intelligence platform into their operations, Visit Stillwater has strengthened stakeholder engagement, empowered local businesses, and demonstrated the outsized economic value of tourism. From game-day weekends to record-breaking concert events, data intelligence is helping the team make better decisions and inspire action across the community.
| “Zartico doesn’t do the work for us, it helps us do our work better. It’s like having a built-in research department that supports everything from planning to persuasion.” - Cristy Morrison, President & CEO, Visit Stillwater |
Intelligence in Action: Three High-Impact Use Cases
1. Building Confidence with Stakeholders
Visit Stillwater embeds visitor insights and data visualizations into semi-annual reports and monthly updates shared with city leadership. By clearly quantifying how tourism contributes to the local economy, they’ve changed the tone of conversations with elected officials. That transparency and clarity have changed how leaders perceive the impact of tourism.
“It’s exciting to see these numbers,” said Stillwater’s mayor in a February 2025 council meeting. “Forty percent of the spend in Stillwater came from visitors—and that money helps fix our roads without residents paying out of pocket. That’s a huge deal.”
The data helps reinforce continued investment in tourism and demonstrates the ROI of that investment in language that resonates with decision-makers.
2. Maximizing the Local Impact of Major Events
When OSU Athletics hosted The Boys from Oklahoma, a four-day Red Dirt concert series and the largest event in Stillwater’s recent history, Visit Stillwater used real-time insights to reveal and measure its full community impact:
- +14% increase in visitor spending
- 46% of total spend came from visitors
- 57% of visitor spend went to local, non-chain businesses
- +183% increase in hotel revenue compared to the prior four weekends
- +22% year-over-year growth in visitor-generated tax revenue
“We always believed the event would be big, but the data helped us prove it. That made it possible to advocate for a repeat event in 2026.”
- Cristy Morrison, President & CEO, Visit Stillwater
The event also brought in ticket buyers from all 50 states - opening doors for future marketing efforts.
Taking place in April 2025, The Boys from Oklahoma concert series is the largest event in Stillwater’s recent history.
Image: Oklahoma State University Athletics
3. Equipping Businesses to Capitalize on Visitor Demand
Zartico’s Visitor Intelligence has helped Visit Stillwater identify and communicate untapped economic opportunity, particularly around OSU football weekends.
“When 50,000-plus fans come to town for a game, it’s a missed opportunity if businesses are closed the next day. We used Zartico’s data to show the Sunday visitor traffic and spending patterns, and that gave us a clear starting point to talk with local shops and restaurants. It wasn’t just a hunch, it was proof that staying open could mean more revenue.”
- Cristy Morrison, President & CEO, Visit Stillwater
Visit Stillwater uses Zartico's intelligence to identify and communicate untapped economic opportunity around OSU football weekends.
Images: Visit Stillwater
Why It Works: Small Team, Big Results
Visit Stillwater proves that you don’t need a big-city budget to make a big impact - you just need the right data intelligence, visibility to the true visitor journey, and the leadership to act on it.
By using data not as a report card but as a decision-making tool, Visit Stillwater has become a trusted source of insight for city leaders, a strategic partner to local businesses, and a catalyst for economic growth. Their work shows what’s possible when insights are turned into action.
With Zartico’s Visitor Intelligence, they’ve:
- Demonstrated that 40% of local spend comes from visitors
- Used data to influence business operations and event strategy
- Built the trust needed to protect and grow tourism funding
- Shifted the narrative from assumption to impact
| “We may be a small team, but data gives us credibility. It helps us advocate for tourism, back up our decisions, and give our partners the confidence to invest.” - Cristy Morrison, President & CEO, Visit Stillwater |
Ready to turn guesswork into precision?
Schedule a demo and discover what’s possible with Zartico.