Longwoods International

What Longwoods International does

Longwoods International is a privately held market research consultancy founded in 1978 and headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, with a secondary headquarters in Toronto, Canada. The firm specializes in survey-based research, analytics, and strategic counsel for the travel and tourism industry, serving destination marketing organizations (DMOs), state tourism offices, convention and visitors bureaus, and government tourism agencies primarily across North America. Its flagship product, the Travel USA® syndicated study, is the largest ongoing survey of American travelers, sampling approximately 325,000 trips per year across 400+ destinations and providing visitor profiles, spending data, planning behavior, and demographic insights on a subscription basis with quarterly updates and dashboard access.

The company's core technology stack centers on proprietary, peer-reviewed survey methodologies applied since the 1990s, including Advertising Effectiveness & ROI measurement, Brand Health & Image Assessment rooted in experimental psychology, Resident Sentiment tracking, and Halo Effect research linking tourism marketing to broader economic development. The 2019-launched Longwoods Compass Dashboard provides clients with interactive data visualization and self-service cross-tabulation. In 2023, Longwoods acquired Clarity of Place, adding the PlaceBalance diagnostic tool and destination positioning services. The company also publishes ongoing tracking studies (American Travel Sentiment waves, Canadian Travel Sentiment Towards the U.S.) that receive frequent citation in major national media.

Longwoods monetizes through three primary streams: recurring Travel USA® syndicated subscriptions sold annually, custom research projects (impact analyses, demographic studies, regional image assessments), and consulting services including strategic planning, marketing reboot, RFP management, and partnership program development. Distribution is sales-led via a dedicated Client Engagement team with regional offices across eight U.S. states, supported by strategic partnerships with industry associations such as Destinations International. Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed. The firm operates within the Miles Partnership ecosystem under the operating entity Miles Partnership, LLLP, and has had Blake C. Goldring (Executive Chairman of AGF Management Limited) as a Partner, Investor, and Advisor since 2001.

Name

Longwoods International

Legal name

Longwoods International

Website

https://longwoods-intl.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1978

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Longwoods International is a privately held market research consultancy serving destination marketing organizations, state tourism offices, and convention and visitors bureaus with syndicated travel research (Travel USA®), advertising ROI measurement, brand health assessment, and destination development consulting across North America.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Travel and Tourism Market Research

akta.pro primary industry

Sustainability & ESG Travel Intelligence (Emissions, SAF, impact data) (THALAIAL)

Keywords

• Travel market research
• Tourism consulting services
• Advertising effectiveness research
• Destination marketing research
• Visitor profile research

Headquarters

HQ city

Columbus

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices10 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Syndicated Research Studies: Travel USA® syndicated study providing ongoing survey data on American travelers to destinations across 400+ destinations with 325,000+ trips sampled annually.
2. Custom Research Projects: Tailored research programs constructed for specific client questions, including destination assessments, economic impact studies, brand research, and specialized tourism analyses.
3. Consulting Services: Research-based consulting including strategic planning, marketing reboot, partnership program development, RFP process management, and destination organization advisory services.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Longwoods International is a B2B market research consultancy that provides syndicated and custom research studies, advertising effectiveness measurement, brand health assessments, and consulting services to destination marketing organizations (DMOs), convention and visitors bureaus (CVBs), and government tourism agencies. The firm's flagship offering is the Travel USA® syndicated study, the largest ongoing survey of American travelers with an average sample of 325,000 trips per year covering 400+ destinations.

Product overview

Longwoods International offers a comprehensive portfolio of travel and tourism research products and services built around its flagship Travel USA® syndicated study—the largest ongoing survey of American travelers with 325,000+ trips sampled annually. The core offerings include Advertising Effectiveness & ROI Research for measuring campaign returns, Brand Health & Image Assessment for understanding emotional drivers, Resident Sentiment Research for community perception analysis, and Halo Effect Research linking tourism marketing to economic development outcomes. These are supplemented by Custom Research and Consulting Services modules addressing specific client needs. The Clarity of Place brand (acquired in 2023) adds destination positioning and PlaceBalance diagnostic capabilities. Longwoods Compass Dashboard provides data visualization tools for Travel USA clients. Additional research series include American Travel Sentiment waves and Canadian Travel Sentiment tracking.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Clarity of Place: A Longwoods International company providing destination assessments through PlaceBalance diagnostic tool, destination positioning, and destination strategy services. Specializes in data-driven community alignment for destinations.
• Travel USA®

Products and services

• Travel USA® Visitor Profile Research Largest ongoing syndicated study of American travelers, sampling an average of 325,000 trips per year across 400+ destinations. Provides comprehensive visitor profiles including trip volume, visitor origins, spending data, trip purposes, planning behavior, accommodations, activities, social media use, satisfaction, and demographics for tourism organizations.
• Advertising Effectiveness & ROI Research Science-based, peer-reviewed methodology for measuring advertising return on investment using proprietary control procedures that isolate advertising effects from external factors. Evaluates campaign success across broadcast, print, outdoor, digital, and social media. Applied since 1990 to hundreds of campaigns for destination marketing organizations.
• Brand Health & Image Assessment Award-winning image research methodology rooted in experimental psychology that uncovers the emotional and rational hot buttons driving consumer destination preferences and purchase behavior. Helps destinations understand traveler perceptions and create powerful brand messages.
• Resident Sentiment Research Research examining how local communities perceive tourism impacts, comparing local responses to annual National Resident Sentiment studies. Helps destination organizations build community support through engagement strategies.
• Halo Effect Research Pioneering research measuring how tourism marketing and visitation impact a destination's image across economic development indicators including residency, employment, entrepreneurship, and education perceptions.
• Clarity of Place Destination development and execution consultancy offering the PlaceBalance diagnostic tool for visualizing visitor economy fit, destination positioning, and strategy services. Provides data-driven community alignment for destinations.
• Custom Research Custom research programs constructed and executed by Longwoods experts to address specific marketing questions. Includes project examples such as impact analysis of seasonal events, demographic studies, and regional image assessments.
• Consulting Services Research-based consulting services covering funding strategy, insight presentations, marketing reboot, partnership program development, RFP process management, and strategic planning for destination organizations.
• American Travel Sentiment Ongoing tracking study of American travelers providing regular wave reports on travel intentions, behaviors, and sentiment. Covers topics including holiday travel, economic concerns, sporting events, and major anniversaries.
• Canadian Travel Sentiment Towards the U.S. Tracking study of Canadian travelers' sentiment towards U.S. travel, monitoring impacts of policy, trade practices, and political statements on Canadian visitation patterns.
• Resident Sentiment Towards Sporting Events Research Research line measuring resident perceptions of sporting events at all levels including Olympic sports, NCAA events, FIFA, youth sports tournaments, and participation events. Developed in partnership with Cimarron Global Solutions and presented by Miles Partnership.

Quantifiable outcome

• Colorado's domestic market share plunged 30% within two years after eliminating tourism marketing ($1.4 billion annual revenue loss), documented by Longwoods research
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers32 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• MMGY NextFactorminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 27 October 2025Co-produced 'The Advocacy Leadership Imperative' research with MMGY NextFactor for Destinations International's 2025 Advocacy Summit, addressing funding challenges facing destination organizations.
• Destinations InternationalcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 23 October 2025Annual research partnership producing the U.S. and Canada National Resident Sentiment Studies. Partnership began in 2018. Research released at Destinations International Advocacy Summit and provided to DI's 8,000+ members and partners from 750+ destinations.
• Miles PartnershipcoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 25 March 2025Title sponsor for sports tourism research reports. Longwoods research supported by Miles Partnership which fields surveys and provides marketing support. Miles Partnership is a strategic marketing consultancy focused exclusively on travel and tourism.
• Visit FriscominorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 25 March 2025Additional support sponsor for the 2025 Resident Sentiment Towards Sporting Events National Benchmark Study.
• Greater Orlando Sports CommissionminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 25 March 2025Additional support sponsor for the 2025 Resident Sentiment Towards Sporting Events National Benchmark Study.
• Cimarron Global SolutionscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 July 2024Joint research partnership for Resident Sentiment Towards Sporting Events studies. Collaboration between two leading research firms in sports tourism, combining Longwoods' resident sentiment expertise with Cimarron's sports tourism specialization. Fielded landmark 4,000-respondent national surveys in 2024 and 2025.
• Greater Columbus Sports CommissionminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 July 2024Provided support for initial sports tourism resident sentiment research launch in Columbus, OH.
• Clarity of PlacecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Acquired by Longwoods International in 2023. Clarity of Place provides destination assessment and positioning services using the PlaceBalance diagnostic tool. Team of practitioners with five decades of shared experience in destination development.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Cimarron Global Solutions: Cimarron is a Longwoods partner but also a sports-tourism research competitor — joint Resident Sentiment Towards Sporting Events studies indicate overlapping expertise in destination sentiment and sports-tourism measurement. Strong peer at the niche intersection of tourism research and sports events.
• MMGY Global: MMGY Global is the most direct competitor: a B2B travel and hospitality marketing research firm serving DMOs, hotels, and tourism boards with traveler profile, brand, and ROI studies. Overlapping client base, similar methods, and similar focus on U.S. destination marketing make it the closest peer to Longwoods.
• Arrivalist: Arrivalist is a travel-data and analytics firm providing destination visitation measurement, Daily Travel Index, and campaign ROI analytics — overlapping with Longwoods' Travel USA® and Advertising ROI offerings using alternative (panel/location) data sources.
• Tourism Economics (Oxford Economics): Tourism Economics produces tourism economic-impact analyses, forecasting, and policy studies for destinations, governments, and tourism organizations — directly comparable to Longwoods' economic-impact and Halo Effect research. Both firms monetize research tied to government and DMO decision-making.

Emerging players

• AirDNA: AirDNA is a short-term-rental and alternative-accommodation analytics platform using big data; comparable in travel-data analytics product DNA, with partial overlap in destination intelligence and competition for DMO analytic budgets.
• Skift Research: Skift Research produces subscription travel-sector research reports and destination insights aimed at tourism marketers and suppliers. Comparable as an emerging subscription-research competitor serving part of Longwoods' destination-industry audience.
• STR (a CoStar company): STR provides hospitality performance data (hotel occupancy, ADR, RevPAR) and increasingly destination-level tourism intelligence. Relevant because Longwoods' VP of Client Engagement came from STR/CoStar; overlap is partial (lodging-centric vs. visitor-profile/DMO-centric) but the firms sell into similar tourism clients.

Others

• Miles Partnership: Miles Partnership is the operating-entity parent and title sponsor for Longwoods' sports tourism research. As a strategic marketing consultancy exclusively serving travel/tourism clients, it overlaps in market but functions more as partner/distributor than as a research competitor.
• Phocuswright: Phocuswright produces travel-industry research and syndicated subscription studies (e.g., U.S. Travel Market, Global Travel Market). Comparable as a travel-research subscription model, but skewed toward distribution/OTAs rather than DMO visitor profiling.

Broad incumbents

• ADARA: ADARA is a travel data co-op and identity-driven analytics platform serving airlines, hotels, OTAs, and destinations — broader than Longwoods but functionally comparable as a travel audience/data partner to tourism marketers and DMOs.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Lngwds
• Facebookfacebook.com/longwoodsinternational
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/longwoods-international

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Longwoods International