Visitors pleased with PEI’s historic sites, museums, and galleries
UPEI's Tourism Research Centre (TRC) recently released research results suggesting that 91 per cent of visitors to PEI tend to visit a historic site, museum, or art gallery when travelling. Overall, respondents felt that PEI attractions were interesting, informative, and a worthwhile venture on their holiday.
The survey was completed by 3,201 people, 2,807 of whom had previously visited PEI. Two thirds of these visitors had visited one or more of PEI's historic sites, museums, or galleries during at least one of their trips to PEI during the past five years.
'This report contains a wide variety of valuable information about visitor attitudes towards PEI's historic sites, museums, and galleries,' said Harry Holman, Director of Culture, Heritage and Libraries for the Province of PEI. 'The timing of this research is excellent as the Department of Tourism and Culture will be placing increased emphasis on cultural tourism beginning in 2011.'
About one-third of respondents to the survey were ‘high interest' visitors to historic sites, museums and art galleries. Another 44 per cent were ‘moderate interest' visitors, meaning visiting these types of attraction was likely not the main reason to travel to a destination, but the availability of them play an important secondary role when travelling.
The most popular sites were Green Gables National Historic Site, site of Lucy Maud Montgomery's Cavendish home, Confederation Centre Gallery and Museum, and the Lucy Maud Montgomery birthplace.
When asked to rate the attractions, respondents scored the Public Archives of PEI highest, followed by Orwell Corner Historic Village, Province House National Historic Site, and Greenwich Interpretation Centre. They gave high evaluations of customer service, maintenance of the property, and authenticity of the sites, and an overall rating of 5.8 out of 7.
'Many sites that are not commonly visited received very good ratings by visitors,' said Holman. 'There is a wonderful opportunity to expand promotion for these venues to reach even more of our visitors and elevate their PEI experience. We are particularly pleased that so many visitors share Islanders' appreciation of historic buildings and cultural landscapes.'
'It was satisfying to learn that many visitors to PEI are interested in historic buildings,' said Dr. Sean Hennessey, faculty director of the TRC. 'Almost 80 per cent of survey respondents strolled around Charlottetown to look at the buildings and 62 per cent did so in the North Cape Coastal Drive region. This is quite noteworthy as historic buildings receive little promotion in the visitor's guide and walking-tour brochures are not always available. The fact that these activities were rated so highly implies that preserving historic sites and buildings is a sensible strategy for PEI to pursue.'
Most visitors used PEI's official Visitor's Information Guide, Tourism PEI's official website, or past experience in their decision to visit an attraction. In addition, many visitors reported that they simply stopped in as they were touring the area, highlighting the importance of good signage for historic sites, museums and galleries.
Data for this report was collected on behalf of Tourism PEI using the TRC's online research panel from November 20 to December 11, 2009. To read the full report, please visit the TRC's website. For more information about this or other TRC research, please contact trc@upei.ca or call (902)566-6096.
