Industry Insights: Dr. Joseph St. Germain

Every semester the Eric Friedheim Tourism Institute brings an industry leader to share his/her experiences and perspectives with our students and faculty as part of our Seminar Series. This semester we hosted Dr. Joseph St. Germain, President and Partner at Downs & St. Germain Research.  

Dr. St. Germain received his PhD in Educational Psychology from Florida State University, and his company, based in Tallahassee, specializes in developing marketing and strategic recommendations from survey results and focus groups.  

On the seminar, Dr. St. Germain shared with our students and faculty two projects his company recently developed for two destinations: Sarasota, FL, and Louisiana. In both projects, the company conducted focus groups with the biggest visitor markets of their destinations to understand their perceptions and preferences about the branding and communication of the destination, including logos, taglines, and images. The results of these focus groups were used to provide recommendations to their clients focusing on increasing visitation and improving destination perception.  

Students and faculty enjoyed being able to see examples of research applied in the industry. After the presentation, the group engaged in a Q&A as well as students could individually connect with Dr. St. Germain and get insights for their own researches.