How Greater Zion Increased Engagement by 15x with SKYNAV’s Immersive Technology
When travelers think about visiting a destination like Greater Zion, inspiration is everything. Towering red-rock cliffs, world-class hiking, championship golf, and wide-open desert landscapes create a sense of adventure that’s hard to capture through traditional web experiences alone.
That’s exactly the challenge the Greater Zion Convention & Tourism Office set out to solve.
The Challenge: Turning Inspiration into Exploration
Like many destination marketing organizations, Greater Zion faced a familiar issue: low time on site.
“When I first started, average time on site was around 8 seconds,” said Ed Aurrecoechea, Marketing Manager for Greater Zion. “That’s not enough time to inspire someone to visit, let alone explore everything we offer.”
The goal was clear — create an experience that doesn’t just inform visitors, but pulls them in, keeps them engaged, and helps them imagine their trip.
The Solution: Immersive Exploration with SKYNAV
Greater Zion partnered with SKYNAV to launch a fully immersive, aerial-to-ground experience that allows users to explore the region in stunning, cinematic detail.
Instead of static pages, visitors can now:
- Fly through Greater Zion’s landscapes in high-definition
- Drop into specific locations and points of interest
- Navigate visually across hikes, golf courses, parks, and communities
The result is a shift from passive browsing to active exploration.
The Impact: From 8 Seconds to Nearly 2 Minutes
The results were immediate — and significant.
“Now we’re seeing average time on site closer to 2 minutes,” said Aurrecoechea. “That’s a major jump, and I do believe the 360 map is playing a key role in driving that engagement.”
That’s more than a 15x increase in engagement time, signaling a fundamental change in how users interact with the destination.
“Our goal is always to inspire people to visit, and engagement is a key indicator of that,” Aurrecoechea added. “Seeing time on site grow from 8 seconds to nearly 2 minutes tells us we’re creating a more meaningful, exploratory experience that helps travelers discover everything Greater Zion has to offer.”
The Next Layer: AI-Powered Discovery with Navi
Beyond immersive visuals, Greater Zion is also leveraging navi, SKYNAV’s AI-powered guide, to understand how travelers interact with the destination in real time.
Early insights from navi show users actively asking:
- “hikes here”
- “what are some great restaurants here”
- “what kind of golf courses do they have”
In response, navi delivers location-aware recommendations tied directly to the exact scene users are viewing — creating a seamless blend of inspiration and planning.
This combination of:
- Cinematic exploration
- Real-time AI guidance
- Contextual recommendations
is transforming how visitors engage with Greater Zion.
“It’s exactly the kind of insight we need,” Aurrecoechea said. “Understanding what users are asking and how they’re interacting with the platform is incredibly valuable as we continue to build this out.”
What’s Next
Building on this momentum, Greater Zion is already planning to expand the experience with a homepage-wide immersive map, designed to showcase everything from hiking and dining to golf and lodging in a single, unified interface.
The goal is simple:
Make it easier than ever for travelers to see it, feel it, and plan it.
A New Standard for Destination Marketing
Greater Zion’s success highlights a larger shift happening across the travel industry.
Static content is no longer enough.
Today’s travelers want to:
- Explore before they book
- Visualize their experience
- Interact with destinations in real time
By combining immersive technology with AI-powered guidance, Greater Zion isn’t just promoting a destination — it’s bringing it to life.
And the results speak for themselves. Visit virtual Zion here.
