Visit Minot taps into tech to track tourism numbers

MINOT, N.D. – Tourism is a vital part of Minot’s economy, and early numbers indicate the summer season is off to a good start.

Visit Minot recently gained access to software that will allow them to better track the numbers of tourists visiting the city.

The technology uses the GPS features on cell phones and tells the organization where different ZIP codes enter the city and where they go.

They say within the last two weeks alone they were able to see that visitors from 38 different states visited the Scandinavian Heritage Park.

Stephanie Schoenrock with Visit Minot said they plan to use the information as a marketing tool and to gauge the progress of tourism this summer.

“It’s helping us basically do a better job with tourism across the board for our hospital energy in Minot,” said Schoenrock.

The new software is a part of the tourism and resilience project.

Schoenrock said this practice is commonplace in business. She said the software does not collect any personal information of the user.