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Tourism Research Centre releases full-year results of 2007-2008 visitor exit survey
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The Tourism Research Centre at the University of Prince Edward Island has released its first comprehensive report on the visitor exit survey for 2007-2008.
This survey was distributed for a full year and was designed to capture information about PEI's visitors year-round instead of just summer visitors. The results presented in the report concern pleasure visitors who spent at least one night in PEI between July 2007 and June 2008. The report is an overview of the 4,539 completed surveys.
During the surveying period, PEI received over one million overnight pleasure visitors spending about $315 million in direct expenditures.
'Nova Scotia is our single most important market followed very closely by New Brunswick,' says Dr. Paul Lewis, a Research Director at the TRC.
While in PEI, over 380,000 guests came from Nova Scotia, and they alone spent over $93 million. About 294,000 visitors were from New Brunswick; they spent almost $70 million.
PEI enjoys a significant rate of repeat visitation: over the full year, 78 per cent of visitors had been to PEI before. In addition, these returning visitors are loyal: about 76 per cent of them had visited PEI within the past two years. There are two distinct markets involved: summer visitors who return primarily to enjoy the natural beauty of the Island and winter visitors who return primarily to visit friends and family. The winter has the highest rate of repeat visitors of any season (93 per cent).
'Each of these markets comes back for different reasons and, consequently, each may have distinct needs and wants for which operators could adapt their products accordingly,' says Dr. Lewis.
Regarding accommodations, PEI faces two very different challenges: how to better develop urban tourism in the main season for a repeat clientele more interested in rural experiences, and how to develop tourism in rural areas in the in the winter for a clientele that comes back frequently to visit friends and relatives. Over half of PEI's winter visitors stay with family or friends, but more than 38 per cent choose to stay in hotels, motels or resorts.
'There seems to be good potential to expand that market by creating products that appeal not only to our winter visitors but also to the folks they have come to visit,' says Lewis. 'A good example of this is Charlottetown's Jack Frost Festival held in February.'
With regard to challenges faced by the different travel destinations, the North Cape, South Shore, and Points East regions face the challenge of attracting more customers to stay overnight there, but those who do visit these areas tend to spend more nights there than in urban settings.
'Tailoring seasonal attractions to reflect these trends may be worthwhile to consider when developing regional tourism strategies,' he says.
Charlottetown and Summerside face an opposite challenge. In the main season, 62 per cent of travel parties do not stay at all in Charlottetown or Summerside. In winter, when travel is dominated by those visiting family and friends, the situation flips; about 68 per cent of travel parties do stay overnight in either Summerside or Charlottetown, with over half of those travel parties staying in Charlottetown.
'We have a dedicated clientele, even in the winter off-season. Although it does not compare to the main season, we must open up to the real business opportunities that exist year-round,' says Lewis.
Reports will continue to be released from exit survey findings for the next nine months. In total, at least 10 additional reports will be released.
'The exit survey was designed so results can be structured to look at our visitors in many different lights. There are many different ways to categorize our visitors. We have a wealth of information available to us now and will be releasing reports based on these exit survey findings over the next seven or eight months. The Tourism Research Centre will continue to serve industry and government by providing timely and accurate research on PEI tourism,' he says.
The full report is available on the exit survey section of the TRC's website: www.trc.upei.ca/exitsurvey. Further information about the report can be obtained from the Tourism Research Centre, School of Business, University of PEI, at (902) 566-6096 or trc@upei.ca.
This survey was distributed for a full year and was designed to capture information about PEI's visitors year-round instead of just summer visitors. The results presented in the report concern pleasure visitors who spent at least one night in PEI between July 2007 and June 2008. The report is an overview of the 4,539 completed surveys.
During the surveying period, PEI received over one million overnight pleasure visitors spending about $315 million in direct expenditures.
'Nova Scotia is our single most important market followed very closely by New Brunswick,' says Dr. Paul Lewis, a Research Director at the TRC.
While in PEI, over 380,000 guests came from Nova Scotia, and they alone spent over $93 million. About 294,000 visitors were from New Brunswick; they spent almost $70 million.
PEI enjoys a significant rate of repeat visitation: over the full year, 78 per cent of visitors had been to PEI before. In addition, these returning visitors are loyal: about 76 per cent of them had visited PEI within the past two years. There are two distinct markets involved: summer visitors who return primarily to enjoy the natural beauty of the Island and winter visitors who return primarily to visit friends and family. The winter has the highest rate of repeat visitors of any season (93 per cent).
'Each of these markets comes back for different reasons and, consequently, each may have distinct needs and wants for which operators could adapt their products accordingly,' says Dr. Lewis.
Regarding accommodations, PEI faces two very different challenges: how to better develop urban tourism in the main season for a repeat clientele more interested in rural experiences, and how to develop tourism in rural areas in the in the winter for a clientele that comes back frequently to visit friends and relatives. Over half of PEI's winter visitors stay with family or friends, but more than 38 per cent choose to stay in hotels, motels or resorts.
'There seems to be good potential to expand that market by creating products that appeal not only to our winter visitors but also to the folks they have come to visit,' says Lewis. 'A good example of this is Charlottetown's Jack Frost Festival held in February.'
With regard to challenges faced by the different travel destinations, the North Cape, South Shore, and Points East regions face the challenge of attracting more customers to stay overnight there, but those who do visit these areas tend to spend more nights there than in urban settings.
'Tailoring seasonal attractions to reflect these trends may be worthwhile to consider when developing regional tourism strategies,' he says.
Charlottetown and Summerside face an opposite challenge. In the main season, 62 per cent of travel parties do not stay at all in Charlottetown or Summerside. In winter, when travel is dominated by those visiting family and friends, the situation flips; about 68 per cent of travel parties do stay overnight in either Summerside or Charlottetown, with over half of those travel parties staying in Charlottetown.
'We have a dedicated clientele, even in the winter off-season. Although it does not compare to the main season, we must open up to the real business opportunities that exist year-round,' says Lewis.
Reports will continue to be released from exit survey findings for the next nine months. In total, at least 10 additional reports will be released.
'The exit survey was designed so results can be structured to look at our visitors in many different lights. There are many different ways to categorize our visitors. We have a wealth of information available to us now and will be releasing reports based on these exit survey findings over the next seven or eight months. The Tourism Research Centre will continue to serve industry and government by providing timely and accurate research on PEI tourism,' he says.
The full report is available on the exit survey section of the TRC's website: www.trc.upei.ca/exitsurvey. Further information about the report can be obtained from the Tourism Research Centre, School of Business, University of PEI, at (902) 566-6096 or trc@upei.ca.
Contact
Anna MacDonald
Media Relations and Communications, Integrated Communications
