Gray Research Solutions

09/06/2024

What. A. Week. It’s my favorite week every year, where I get to teach and spend time with the next generation of tourism marketing professionals in the Southeast (and Wisconsin and Oklahoma!) alongside experts that are the best in their fields and the AMAZING Southeast Tourism Society staff. Everyone works, learns and celebrates together and we all come away as better people and better destination leaders.

This year hit different as I stepped into Berkeley Young’s big shoes as Provost (impossible act to follow) and followed in the footsteps of my mentor Judy Randall (who saw over a thousand students graduate before she retired).

I’ll always be grateful for this program and for this opportunity!

31/01/2024

Wow—the GACVB annual conference is the place to be! Only in Cartersville Bartow Tourism has put on an amazing event for GA DMOs and their partners. Museum City is showing OUT!

If you haven’t been to Bartow County to see some of the amazing museums here you are missing out! Shannon even got to throw an atlatl today (ancient spearthrower) at the Etowah Indian Mounds state historic site. Who gets to do that?!? We love the tourism industry and the Southeast US!

21/12/2023

⚠️ Announcement: Our office will be closed from the 25th of December until the 1st of January. We will return to our normal activities on the 2nd. ⚠️

We wish our clients and friends Happy Holidays, and may 2024 be full of accomplishments! 🎉

- GRS team

14/12/2023

GRS is now an unstoppable team of four!!

Our growing team is heading into 2024 with a brand new set of research clients, fresh methods, and new ideas.

23/11/2023

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!
We are thankful to all of our dearest clients and friends.
Enjoy your day!

17/11/2023

GRS had a great time during our Destination Immersion trip to this past week! This is our second project with Visit Sandy Springs, but the last one was back in 2018. A lot has changed in 5 years, not the least of which is a new city center in City Springs !

In our opinion it's worth a trip here just for the food - We had a great meal with the team at “The Select”— a new restaurant next to City Springs with delicious food, stylish decorations and great atmosphere. Highly recommended!

One of the places we visited was Morgan Falls Overlook Park (pictured), part of the National Chattahoochee Recreational Area. It is a fascinating experience to be able to travel from "city" to "wilderness" in just minutes. The turning leaves made the landscape of the park even more beautiful.

We are super excited about this project. How has tourism changed in 5 years? We can’t wait to see what a full year of research will show us.

Thanks Visit Sandy Springs for having us! Now the work begins!

31/10/2023

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 👻
From your friends here at Gray Research Solutions!

25/09/2023

GRS is proud to sponsor STS Connections 2023! 🎉

We will see you in Jackson, Mississippi
Who else is attending?

14/09/2023

Today Shannon learned that you can't post both video and photos at the same time! This one is too good to miss so we're making another "Happy 40th Birthday STS" post in honor of our mentor and "mama" Judy Randall. Judy, GRS would not be where we are today without the guidance and leadership of you and STS!

14/09/2023

Someone(s) very special are celebrating their 40th birthday today - our very good friends at ! The Southeast Tourism Society is the BEST tourism association, not just in the southeast but in the nation. STS has given GRS 13 years of meaningful relationships, mentors who have become lifetime friends, the ability to teach tourism research at to our industry colleagues, and so much more.

31/08/2023

We are so proud to say that we’ve officially started a new project with Coweta County, Georgia and this week we visited this charming destination and experienced a few of its gems.

We’ve enjoyed its nature, entered a speakeasy through an alley way, we ate delicious food, walked through the streets of where the series The Walking Dead was filmed and shopped at these cute boutiques in downtown. A true variety of activities that any visitor would appreciate.

Everything was incredible and treated us very well and with good old southern hospitality.

They are thriving and we can’t wait for what the next steps of the research will show us. Stay tuned!

17/08/2023

🥳🎉🎈 Happy 10th Anniversary to Gray Research Solutions!! 🎉🎉

We’re thrilled to celebrate a decade of empowering tourism marketers with data-driven insights. A big shoutout to our incredible team for their hard work and dedication. Here’s to the next 10 years! (And to raising the next generation of exceptional data analysts! 📊✨)

Swipe to visit our memory lane and get to know a little bit more about our story:

1️⃣2023- Our founder and CEO Shannon celebrating 10 years of success and hard work!
2️⃣2012- Sketching out the vision… 3️⃣2013- GRS is incorporated! This is out first office in Nashville, TN
4️⃣2013 - First client was Marriner Marketing out of Columbia, MD which is still a client to this day. Dear to our hearts, we owe them a lot for their early and continued support!
5️⃣Judy Rendall Shannon’s mentor and a legend for the tourism industry. We are so very thankful for her support and shared knowledge.
6️⃣2016 - GRS sponsors our first STS session
7️⃣2018 - GRS hires Laura Abassi-Lemmon and Mira Lares when GRS moves to Maryland, who were great sports about working from the couch temporarily.
8️⃣2020 - GRS moves its headquarters to St.Thomas, Virgin Islands to escape COVID. This is the view from the office, where Shannon had to suffer by using the window as her whiteboard (such a huge issue 🙄😂)
9️⃣GRS hires our first Project Manager, Mayara Durkee. One of her first jobs was to party with the Maryland Tourism Coalition! (Tough job 😜)
🔟Now GRS is training the next generation of researchers!

22/06/2023

We do research in a lot of places, but it's not every day that we get to do research for the place we live. 📍

This week we got to present our research results for and join in a brand conclave session with our friends at in MD!

Baltimore County is one of THREE counties in the US where the city that shares its name is independent from the county—meaning Baltimore City is not a part of Baltimore County. Since visitors don't see county lines, you can imagine what a difficult job the County DMO has with visitor perception.

Marriner, who is also the agency of record for Visit Maryland, is the perfect partner to help them re-discover their identity and we are proud to help! 🎉

15/06/2023

GRS is at the annual international conference for the Travel and Tourism Research Association (TTRA) this week in St. Louis, MO!

This is an opportunity to geek out with academic and industry tourism researchers from all over the world. 🤓

We always come back with the latest cutting edge tourism research ideas and a whole slew of new research friends.

Thank you and

08/06/2023

It's our favorite time of year! 🫶🏽

Every year we spend a week at STS Marketing College with over 300 tourism professionals in Macon, GA. From the shining eager faces of nervous green-tags (first year students) to the incredible content and wealth of knowledge of the professors, this experience is unparalleled.

This year our Chief Cat Herder and Social Media Strategist Mayara Durkee will be starting her first year studying to be a Tourism Marketing Professional (TMP)! 🎉

If you're in tourism and you haven't been to marketing college, be sure to work it into your budget next year if you can.

Included for your viewing pleasure is Shannon as a green tag during her first year at Marketing College way back in 2013, with the great Judy Randall and old STS friend Chuck Bonelli.

01/06/2023

According to a recent survey from Forbes, 66% of LGBTQ+ travelers don’t see their lifestyle represented in advertising, while 51% wished they saw ads that represented families like theirs.

Representation is SO IMPORTANT in making LGBTQ+ travelers feel safe and welcome in your destination.

We are proud to stand by the LGBTQ+ community and celebrate pride month! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️
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18/05/2023

Meet Dawn Przystal, President of Blue Elephant Solutions! Our field researcher extraordinaire.

Dawn has been working with GRS for 6 years interviewing visitors and helping to develop strategic recommendations for our clients.

She's getting ready to visit one of our wonderful clients Visit Columbus, GA to conduct springtime intercepts for a Visitor Profile Study.

In the 2nd picture, Dawn, Shannon, and the lovely Visit Columbus, GA team are taking part in the vibrant foodie scene Columbus offers. 

For our Visitor Profile Studies, GRS conducts in-person intercepts with visitors while they are experiencing the destination, so we can get their fresh perspectives and experiences. We hear a lot of cool stories that you can't get any other way. If this sounds like something that would be helpful for your destination, give us a shout!
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14/05/2023

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY! 🌹

To all of our clients, friends and all types of moms out there (furry moms, step moms, adopted moms, etc…)

11/05/2023

🇺🇸✈️ HAPPY NATIONAL TRAVEL & TOURISM WEEK! ✈️🇺🇸

This week the travel industry celebrates the huge impact that tourism has in communities across our nation.

Let's take this week to give thanks and celebrate this vital industry to our country.

This year marks the 40th year of celebration and that our industry brings awareness of this direct impact in our economy.

As data nerds, we feel we should show you in numbers:
Last year, travel spending injected TRILLIONS of dollars into the American economy. Our industry doesn’t just support the economy, it moves the economy forward. 💰

15 MILLION: That’s the number of American jobs—from hospitality to manufacturing—supported by travel across countless industries. When travel succeeds, America succeeds. 📈

Let’s amplify the essential and integral role travel plays in every industry and nearly everything we do. Our success is the nation’s success, and together, we will keep moving .
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05/05/2023

HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO 🇲🇽🌮🌵

May your day be filled with happiness and joy. 🎉❤️

Today we honor the culture and heritage of our southern neighbors! 🇲🇽

The 5th of May is a commemoration of underdog Mexico’s defeat over the French in the battle of Puebla in 1862, but in the US it has become a day of celebration of Chicano and Mexican-America culture.

BTW the traditional dish of celebration is Mole Poblano (not just tacos🌮), so be sure to have some mole with your margarita! 🍹🥳
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04/05/2023

It’s Star Wars day! 💫
So from the GRS nerds: May the 4th be with you.

If you need help with research even if the travels are to a Galaxy far far away🌌… remember we’re here.

27/04/2023

Laura,

We value your brilliant mind and your balanced perspective. Thanks for sticking with GRS for these past 4 years!
Our clients benefit from your dedication every day. We are so lucky to have you.

Here’s to many more years to come!!! 🥳💛🥂✨

20/04/2023

We had a wonderful time at two STS events this week in beautiful Huntsville, Alabama! First we spoke at the first annual SMPR Forum on How to Use Research to Reach Humans, then we had a BLAST at a silent disco in the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. Southeast Tourism Society really knows how to put on a good event!



P.s. did you know there is a canal full of koi and carp that runs through downtown Huntsville and used to carry cotton to market from the Tennessee River? Amazing!
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13/04/2023

BIG NEWS ALERT! 📣

🎉We're thrilled to announce the launch of Gray Research Solutions' new website!🚀

GRS has been steadily growing and we are excited to show off what we can do for tourism organizations.

Ready to explore? Head over to our website and see for yourself what we're all about!🔍🌍🧳

Let us know what you think!

28/09/2022

If you’ve ever wondered about cultural anthropology, this is a great article from one of our favorite journals, SAPIENS. At GRS we practice anthropology in tourism by looking at each destination as a subculture— interviewing visitors and observing visitor patterns is our fieldwork.

If you've ever wondered what is cultural anthropology, here's how the field studies the dizzyingly diverse ways people live today.

19/09/2022

Research is a road map.
Do you know where you’re going?

12/09/2022

We are so very proud to announce that Gray Research Solutions is officially a MBE (Minority Business Enterprise) partner in Maryland.

This a a big milestone for us and we are thrilled with the news!

Thank you all for the support.
Cheers to another accomplishment for GRS 🥂
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08/09/2022

We are so happy to be “home” at STS connections! Having a wonderful time connecting with old friends and making new ones. is awesome!!

05/06/2022

Heading to for our annual week at STS Marketing College! And we get to fly DIRECT from BWI to MACON thanks to Contour.

Can’t wait to see all the bright eyed fresh ready-to-learn students. Here we come! Contour Airlines Southeast Tourism Society

06/07/2020

Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum - Charleston Harbor, SC - Patriots Point

We are proud to be working with Crawford Strategy and Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum! Thanks for trusting us with your research. Charleston bound ASAP!

https://www.patriotspoint.org/

COVID-19 Update: Our museum is open and "White Glove Certified." Click here for more information and to learn about new safety measures in place to protect visitors. Reminder: Avoid contact, skip the line buy your ticket online!