Travel Montana knows who the desirable out-of-state visitors are.

Now the state tourism promotion bureau's task is to figure out how to get more of those people to come here.

Unrelated to a similar ongoing exercise in Helena, Travel Montana is conducting its own branding study, aiming to bridge the gap between the state's attractions and the people most wanted to visit the Treasure State.

Travel Montana is targeting "geo-tourists," or "high value, low impact" people who like outdoor recreation of all kinds. The key in developing the brand aimed at this market is finding something to differentiate Montana from Wyoming, Idaho and other states in the Northern Rockies that compete for the same tourist dollars.

"It's not just growing the number of visitors, but bringing the right people in," said Katy Peterson, Travel Montana's consumer marketing manager. "We want people who appreciate where they're going and don't degrade it. They value the experience and they want to preserve and maintain it. They benefit the place they travel to. We have a responsibility to the state of Montana to attract people who will not degrade our quality of life."

The Washington, D.C., consultant hired to lead the branding effort said the tourists Montana has said it wants are experienced, low-impact visitors who are not afraid to spend money.

"This is an audience that wants to go off the beaten path, but not very far," Mike Bento said. "They want to go for a hike during the day, but then they want a good meal, a hot tub, a glass of wine at night. They want a fairly high level of service."

The consultants are hosting a series of workshops across the state this week to get Montanans' input on how they view the state's attractiveness to tourists. They hope to deliver a brand concept by early spring, in time for use in marketing materials for the 2008-09 winter tourist season.

Peterson said tourism advertising in Montana totals $76 million a year, only $3 million of which is spent by Travel Montana. Developing a brand, she said, will help all the individual advertisers stay closer to a unifying theme.

"We're looking for ways to make our efforts stronger," she said. "Even within our industry there were people saying different things. The benefit is going to be the consistency of the message and getting people to say the same thing."

Earlier this year, a series of focus groups in Seattle, Chicago and Atlanta were asked for their opinions about Montana, as well as whether they would be likely to visit.

Two groups met in each city -- one consisting of people who had visited Montana or the Northern Rockies before, and another of people who hadn't been here and had limited familiarity with the state. Each group was screened to meet certain income and other demographic criteria.

Several of the states' attributes -- real and stereotyped -- were viewed in both positive and negative light by the focus groups. Potential visitors who said they cherish wide open spaces and rugged beauty also expressed reservations about the state's remoteness in terms of access to emergency health care, cultural opportunities and other more "urban" amenities.

"I need a place to plug in my curling iron," one potential visitor from Atlanta said.

Peterson said the entire exercise, including the consulting fees, focus groups and additional market research, is around $107,000.

Reporter John Harrington: 447-4080 or john.harrington@helenair.com