Measuring impact: How Visit Sacramento uses D/AI Destinations to track engagement and reputation

The opportunity

Transforming perceptions into proof

Visit Sacramento had been investing heavily in community engagement, focusing on strengthening local involvement, public perception, and regional initiatives to build stronger ties with residents while positioning the city as a welcoming, vibrant destination.

These efforts were central to their mission, but one challenge remained: how do you measure something as intangible as community connection or reputation?

One of its most significant projects has been its “America’s Farm-to Fork Capital” initiative which has been instrumental in the region’s culinary evolution. Because of their growing recognition in the agriculture and culinary space, Sacramento was selected to host Terra Madre Americas, the North and South Americas edition of Italy’s world-renowned Terra Madre Salon del Gusto.

While the team sensed this momentum, they needed credible, data-backed evidence to further demonstrate the extent of the city’s growing appeal.

It was equally vital to ensure that the benefits of tourism extended beyond the city centre and the main attractions. Visit Sacramento wanted to demonstrate how tourism and reputation gains were resonating across the wider region—strengthening community involvement and ensuring that growth was broad, inclusive, and meaningful.

Why choose Data Appeal

One platform, multiple perspectives

D/AI Destinations is a platform from Data Appeal that combines geospatial intelligence, sentiment and popularity analysis, and market insights—helping destinations track visitor preferences, monitor event impact, evaluate reputation, and support sustainable, responsible tourism—all in real time.

Unlike traditional data providers, it doesn’t just deliver raw numbers: with a user-friendly platform, including indexes such as Sentiment Score, Popularity Index, and Sustainability Index, plus AI-powered assistance, it transforms vast, complex data into decision-ready insights.

With coverage of over 250 million points of interest in 180+ countries and the ability to analyse reviews from 130+ global sources, Visit Sacramento saw in D / AI Destinations a solution that could:

• Put metrics behind community engagement.
• Validate Sacramento’s food and dining reputation with hard data.
• Offer a regional view, making it possible to highlight the benefits of tourism across every neighbourhood and community.
• Provide insights they could easily share with stakeholders—from internal teams to elected officials and community members.

Data Appeal’s solution

Analysing millions of reviews to measure engagement and reputation

Visit Sacramento adopted D/AI Destinations, and through the platform, Visit Sacramento is now able to:

• Track sentiment in real time by analysing millions of online reviews, social content, and visitor feedback. This includes monitoring categories critical to Sacramento, such as food, dining, hospitality, and cultural attractions.
• Validate anecdotal experiences with hard evidence
• Visualise regional impact: D/AI Destinations provides a broader lens, showing how tourism reputation spreads beyond central Sacramento into surrounding communities—helping ensure equitable involvement and representation.
• Benchmark and compare performance against other destinations, enabling Sacramento to position itself competitively in the travel landscape. With granular data, they could analyse specific metrics like family sentiment vs. family sentiment and hospitality vs. hospitality, allowing for more precise and targeted strategies.
• Communicate insights effectively: With intuitive dashboards and exportable reports, Visit Sacramento can share findings internally across departments and externally with elected officials, stakeholders, and community members—building alignment and credibility.

The results

Stronger insights, broader impact, clearer story

Since implementing D / AI Destinations, Visit Sacramento has transformed the way it measures, understands, and communicates its impact:

• Tangible evidence of success: Engagement, social impact, and reputation can now be measured with hard data—removing guesswork and replacing it with quantifiable insights.

For example, overall sentiment during the Terra Madre Americas week reached a strong 83.3, up 2 points from last year, with a notable +5 increase in the Hospitality & F&B sector.

Sentiment, Sept 22–29, 2025 (week of the event), compared with Sept 22–29, 2024. Source: D / AI Destinations

• Improved transparency: Visit Sacramento can now openly share insights with officials, stakeholders, and the wider community
• Food destination validation: What residents and visitors have been saying anecdotally is now supported by metrics, giving Visit Sacramento a stronger narrative for marketing and promotion.
• Broader community involvement: By using regional data, the organisation can showcase how tourism benefits extend across the Sacramento area, helping involve more communities in the tourism economy.
• Credibility with stakeholders: Sharing actionable data with elected officials, partners, and community members reinforces Visit Sacramento’s role as a trusted, data-driven DMO.
• Stronger foundations for strategy: With ongoing monitoring, the organisation now has a framework to continuously improve, adapt, and prove the value of its efforts to both visitors and residents.