Tourism Research Centre and Tourism Industry Association of PEI launch P.E.I. Tourism Operator Panel
The Tourism Research Centre (TRC) at the University of PEI and the Tourism Industry Association of PEI (TIAPEI), with funding partners Tourism PEI and ACOA, are proud to announce a new interactive research initiative geared towards tourism operators.
While many tourism studies are focused on the demand side of tourism--that is, the tourist, the supply side of the industry is often overlooked. Tourism operators have direct access to visitors that is rarely used to evaluate the market trends, and to identify product and market opportunities.
“Few operators have the opportunity to work directly with the Tourism Advisory Council, the Tourism Research Centre or the Department of Tourism,” says Kent Hudson, Faculty Co-director of the TRC. “We want to create a regular dialogue between operators and those organizations.”
To facilitate this on-going dialogue, the TRC is launching a P.E.I. operator panel. The panel will be comprised of at least 500 tourism operators on the Island who are willing to share hard data such as bookings, inquiries, website hits and phone calls from the supply side.
“After collecting enough data, the primary purpose of the operator panel will be to develop an operator confidence index,” says Hudson. “Like other indexes, this can be used as an indicator of unfolding trends in the industry before, during and after the peak tourist season. The system will serve to collect a variety of data and could even be used to more precisely determine the economic impact of special events such as festivals, concerts and other tourism activities.”
Once developed, the operator confidence index will be released on a bi-weekly basis during the peak season (July to October) and on a monthly basis for the remainder of the year. This year, 2008, will serve as the benchmark year for the survey. Meaningful comparative analysis will be possible over time as survey results are recorded.
“The data collected will be used to provide an index measure of the health of the industry in at least three sectors: accommodations, food and beverage, and attractions,” explains Chris Jones, Director of Policy, Planning and Research for Tourism PEI. “However, it is important to note that we are interested in all operations that are impacted by the tourism industry on Prince Edward Island, such as retail outlets, gas stations and grocery stores.”
“This is truly an exciting endeavor for tourism operators on P.E.I.,” says Don Cudmore, Executive Director of TIAPEI. “Many operators know ahead of time what sort of season they may expect. The confidence index will allow operators to learn if they are in line with the overall industry, are busier, or are perhaps lagging in visitors for that period. By working with our valued operators, we are able to define market trends and opportunities and incorporate those into our promotional strategy. We are lucky on P.E.I. to have so many cooperative operators in such a small region, and it really will be to everyone’s advantage to join the panel and help improve P.E.I.’s tourism potential.”
Each operator’s information will be strictly confidential as it relates to the data that is provided. The information will be used solely for the purposes of the confidence index and will not be utilized at the operator level. Operators who are interested in joining the panel are urged to do so by visiting http://trc.upei.ca/survey/operator.php.
For more information, contact the Tourism Research Centre at (902) 566-6096 or trc@upei.ca.
