Recently Our Friends at the Evel Knievel Museum Shared the Following Year-End Update.
Let us start by saying THANK YOU!! It’s been a fantastic year, and we are tremendously grateful for YOUR support! It is with our team of dedicated sponsors, volunteers, museum and community leadership that we are able to keep the Museum running smoothly every single week.
It’s hard to believe Grand Opening was 18 months ago – time has flown by as we have continued to greet visitors from around the globe, host back-to-back events, and every week during our peak travel season welcome out-of-town tour buses!
The Thrillride Continues, By the Numbers
- The Evel Knievel Museum has welcomed more than 30,000 visitors from 63 countries, averaging 3 – 4 new countries EACH month.
Local Economic Impact
We poll each guest, asking where they are from, and if they stayed the night in Topeka.
- 92% of our visitors are from outside of Topeka, with 62% of these visitors arriving from outside the state or country.
- Our data indicates that more than 7,000 hotel nights can be attributed directly to the Museum…
- Not including any day-trippers, this economic impact translates into more than $1.2 million! (Source: Visit Topeka market research/overnight per diem)
- The local economic impact extends beyond hotels…to restaurants, shopping, entertainment, gas, and more…
Summer Highlights
- Throughout the summer we averaged visitors from 18 states EACH DAY.
- We toured at least one International visitor EVERY DAY. Visitors from ALL 50 states cycled through the museum EVERY 30 DAYS.
- A large percentage of our visitors, from all parts of the country, specifically planned their trip to Topeka to see the Evel Knievel Museum and enjoyed other area attractions while here.
- After Top Fuel national drag racer Scott Palmer’s visit in May, he loved the museum so much that he put a large Evel Knievel Museum sticker on his race car. This caught the Fox Sports One announcers’ attention, and they frequently identify the Museum and Topeka on their national racing broadcasts!
National Recognition & World-Wide Media Coverage
- Our extensive, local media coverage and support from WIBW, KSNT, Topeka Capital-Journal, Visit Topeka and the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks & Tourism launched what turned into massive regional, national and International coverage that continues to this day.
- And it’s not just a little… do a quick search for “Evel Knievel Museum”…it’s a lot!
- Publicity from the Kansas City Star, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Wichita Media, Travel + Leisure and more appear within the first few Google search pages.
- Radio interviews are common and too many to count. We’ve been heard on multiple XM Radio stations, national NPR, morning shows in Detroit, St. Louis, Los Angeles, and more.
- The Museum has been featured in numerous national magazine publications.
- We were thrilled to be showcased on Cable television’s “Mysteries at the Museum” and “Collision Course” (a Caesars Palace jump documentary on the Reelz Channel).
- The word continues to spread across the nation, as well as internationally.
Social Media, Website & Rave Online Reviews
- Our social media presence has grown from 0 last June, when we launched our Facebook page, to more than 45,000 followers today. We are on pace to surpass 100,000 followers next year.
- Our website includes a “Plan Your Visit” page that introduces Topeka and our partnering hotels. The website currently averages 10,000 page views PER MONTH, and this figure continues to grow.
- Reviews are very important in the “Attraction” industry. On a scale of 1-5, we are rated a 5 on EVERY major review forum, including TripAdvisor, Google, Facebook, and Yelp.
- Visitors love our museum and their experience here in Topeka. TripAdvisor ranks us #1 of “Things to Do” in Topeka and #2 in the State of Kansas. Our goal is to be #1 in the State.
Bottom line – people are finding us, and our audience is growing. They are making plans, taking trips, buying airplane tickets and coming to Topeka just to see the Museum. They are loving it, telling their friends and family, posting on social media, visiting other local attractions, and spending their tourism dollars in our community and our state.
The Museum has cast a positive light on the City of Topeka that shines far and wide, and the results have been seen in our visitor attendance.
As we said from the beginning – our success will be the community’s success, and we need the entire community to make it work. With the help from our sponsors and partners, we were able to complete this project; and it is with your continued investment that we can operate it. We appreciate all your support – financial, corporate events, sponsorships, group visits, public relations, media – all of these elements are critical to our ongoing success. We look forward to continuing to partner with you and leveraging this attraction to positively impact our community. We continue to develop more ideas on how we can grow the Museum’s attendance and bring in more visitors each year. It is a positive for everyone. We thank you for joining us, and your leadership part in making the Evel Knievel Museum a world-class tourist attraction and continued source of community pride!
