WAUSA – Wausa area residents are invited to find out more about the “secret shoppers” who visited the village during the past year to evaluate the community’s promotion of itself and local tourist attractions.
A Wausa community tourism follow-up meeting has been set for 5:30 p.m. April 24 at the Lied Lincoln Township Library. This event has been scheduled to follow up a recent 2024 series of Knox County Economic Development community gatherings.
Dr. Kristin Malek, an event management specialist with Nebraska Extension, handled the presentation of information to attendees.
She explained a variety of marketing, food and beverage, tourism, event planning and community development experts visited each community across the county to identify each town’s existing strengths, opportunities for improvement and possible future initiatives regarding tourism.
Ahead of their unannounced visits, these “secret shoppers” checked out community and business websites and social media, and then came to shop in local stores, eat at local restaurants, stay overnight in area hotels, connect with locals and take in other area sites and destinations.
Malek shared overviews of these visits – made by members of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s First Impressions Program team from April 2023 to March of this year – during the community meetings.
Each of Malek’s presentations on these community visits included pre-visit research findings, on-site impressions, post-visit reflections and suggestions for how each town could better promote itself, especially online.
For more information, people may call Knox County Economic Development at 402-288-5619.
