Wisconsin Department of Tourism 2002-2003 Four Season In-Market Leisure Travel Survey - Winter 2003 Segment

Background

Executive Summary:

• Trip Characteristics

• Trip Planning Sources and Advertising Recommendations

• Lodging and Travel Group Characteristics

• Spending

• Demographics

• Activities and Satisfaction

Background

This is the second in a series of four seasonal surveys. The Wisconsin Department of Tourism began this segment of the study during mid-December and continued into March.

The purpose of the overall study series is to evaluate a range of marketing topics from visitor attitudes, satisfaction levels and traveler activities, to media recommendations, spending patterns, travel group composition and demographics.

In order to determine winter activities travelers enjoy, we selected a combination of urban and rural areas. For those activities that rely on snow cover, interviews were conducted during times of snow cover sufficient for outdoor recreation.

The survey areas for the winter segment were conducted in the Brown/Shawano County area, the Marathon/Wood/Portage County area (the Central Wisconsin Corridor), the Racine/Kenosha County area, and the Fond du Lac/Winnebago County area. Within each area, approximately 325 travelers were interviewed. A total sample of 1305 completed surveys was used for the winter segment of the study.

Those interviewed were qualified as being on a leisure trip or enjoying leisure activities while on business-related travel. Travelers were interviewed across the widest location spectrum possible, including downtown shopping areas, outdoor recreation locations, attractions and events. In addition, travelers were interviewed during daytime and evening hours on both weekends and weekdays to provide a good cross section of day trip and overnight visitors.

The following report is structured to provide comparative findings between the four areas as well as the composite findings for all of the areas combined. While the data show information pertinent to each of the areas studied, in many cases, the information is applicable to other regions of the state. This is particularly true for areas within the state with similar leisure travel infrastructure and attributes.

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Executive Summary - Combined Area Key Findings

Trip Characteristics:

• The majority (87.4%) of the travelers were on a leisure trip.

• On average, travelers have taken almost 12 trips in Wisconsin during the past three years. Those who have taken less than three Wisconsin vacations during the past three years comprised 11.7% of those interviewed.

• It can be suggested that infrequent travelers are the most likely to be motivated to travel in Wisconsin due to the awareness generated through marketing and promotional activities.

• Three-quarters (75.6%) of the winter visitors were short-term planners. Travelers indicated that the month or months they began to plan their trip most frequently occurred during December, January, February and March.

• Overall, the most frequently mentioned reasons for choosing winter as the time of year to travel were outdoor winter recreation, noted 24.6% of the time, followed by winter snow cited 18.2%, visiting friends and relatives 12.5% and holiday shopping 11.1%.

• Other reasons for choosing this time of year were "spur-of-the-moment" (9.3%), public events such as festivals, concerts, etc. (6.7%), and "personal event" such as wedding, birthday, etc. (6.4%).

• The top five most frequently mentioned reasons for choosing their specific destination were outdoor activities (33.9%); friends and relatives live nearby (23.1%), shopping (17.1%), spectator sports (12.8%), and festivals/events (11.4%).

• In addition to the top five reasons mentioned above, activities for adults (8.8%), close to home (7.6%), activities for kids (7.5%) and personal occasion (7.5%) - wedding, reunion, etc., were also noted.

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Trip Planning Sources:

• On average, respondents noted 1.6 sources of information they used in planning their trip. The most frequently noted sources were friends and relatives, cited 34.2% of the time; followed by local Internet sites (24.3%), State Internet site (8.8%), other Internet sites (8.6%), and prior knowledge (7.8%).

• Information racks (hotels, etc.) were cited 5.8% of the time followed by magazine articles (5.6%), and TV travel programs (4.7%). 

• Newspaper ads (4.7%) were ahead of newspaper articles (3.3%), AAA (3.1%), and magazine ads (3.0%). 

• Twenty percent of the respondents indicated they did not use any information.

• Respondents were asked which information was "most useful" when planning their trip. Friends and relatives were noted 26.8% of the time. Other sources included local Internet sites (18.4%), prior knowledge (5.6%), other Internet sites (4.9%), and the State Internet site (4.7%).

Advertising Recommendations:

• Survey participants were also asked to suggest the best media sources for advertising to reach more people like themselves to make them aware of Wisconsin as a vacation destination. On average, respondents offered two media suggestions (1.83). Note that percentages will not add up to 100% due to multiple responses.

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Lodging and Travel Group Characteristics:

• Overall, 57% of the respondents were on overnight trips and on average, spent 1.27 nights in the area where they were interviewed. The following graph displays the lodging accommodations used by the winter respondents.

• Three-quarters of the respondents did not have plans to travel outside of the area where they were interviewed (75.7%). Nearly one-quarter (24.3%) said they had or would be traveling to other areas of the state while on their trip.

• More than one-third (38.7%) of the travelers were in groups of two; groups of three comprised 13.9% and groups of four were 20.7% of those surveyed. One in ten (10.7%) were traveling alone. Among larger groups, 15.2% were in groups of between five and eight people in their immediate travel party.

• The party composition of the winter traveler was comprised of mixed groups. Forty-one percent of the travel parties included spouses or significant others (41.5%). Children, as members of the travel party, were mentioned 27.2% of the time, which included both kids (24.4%) and grandchildren (2.8%).

• Friends included as travel companions were mentioned 17.4% while extended family groups were cited 5.8% of the time. Kids under 18 years of age were traveling with 34% of the groups.

• The average size of the winter travel party was 3 people.

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Spending:

• Overall, travelers and their immediate travel group spent an average (mean) $337 on their trip. One half of the travel groups spent more than $250 and one-half spent less; the median being $250.

• The frequent Wisconsin travel groups (those who visited three or more times during the past three years) had an average group expenditure of $335.

• The infrequent Wisconsin travel groups (those who have visited Wisconsin no more than two times during the past three years) spent somewhat more, $370 on average.

• Infrequent travelers are more likely to be motivated to vacation in Wisconsin through advertising and public relations communications since they are not as familiar with the state. Because they may be less familiar or not have firmly established travel activities or destination habits, it appears they tend to spend more per trip.

• Conversely, those who frequently vacation in Wisconsin are much more familiar with their options and often have favorite places to return season after season.

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Demographics:

• There was a relatively even distribution within the age categories among respondents between 25-34, 35-44 and 45-54 years old.

• Among winter travelers interviewed, there was a higher percentage (41.4%) with kids under 18 living in the home. During the fall study, seventy percent of the fall travelers interviewed indicated they did not have children less than 18 years of age living at home.

• Among those with children living in the home, children between the ages of 0-2 were mentioned 6.1% of the time, 3-5 years old (13.8%) and 6-11 years old (33.2%).

• Among the households that included older children/young adults, 31.4% had kids between the ages of 12-15; young adults (16-18 years old) were mentioned 15.5% of the time.

• Six out of ten respondents (60.6%) were men; 39.4% were women -- just about the opposite of that found in the fall study.

• Education levels were distributed across the spectrum. Over one-half (56.2%) had a college degree or a higher college education, 19.9% had some college or were currently enrolled. One-quarter (22.7%) had a high school degree and 1.2% had not received a high school diploma.

• As the graph below shows, household income was also spread across the earnings categories.

The majority of respondents (89.3%) described themselves as Caucasian or white and 3.2% as African American or black. The Latino/Hispanic group comprised 1.8% of the respondents and an additional 0.4%, Latino/Hispanic/Black. · Multi-racial (2.9%) was followed by Native American Indians who made up 1.5% of the respondents and those describing themselves as of Asian American (0.8%).

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Activities and Satisfaction:

• On average, travelers noted 2.5 activities, a smaller variety than the 3.4 activities found in the fall study.

• The top five activities mentioned, stated from most to least frequently mentioned included shopping (33.9%), dining (32.9%), downhill skiing (29.7%), visiting friends and relatives (23%), and bars/nightlife (15%).

• The next tier of activities was comprised of recreating with friends (13.5%), relaxing with spouse/significant other (13.1), sports event (11.9%), festivals/events (11.2%), and casino gambling (8.8%).

• Respondents were also asked to list the most important activities planned for their getaway trip in Wisconsin. On average, travelers cited one activity. The top five most important activities noted were downhill skiing (27.6%), shopping (14.1%), visiting family/friends (11.1%), sports event (10.7%), and attending a festival/event (9.2%).

It should be noted that about one-half of the respondents were interviewed during times of sparse or no snow. The lower than normal frequency of mention for seasonally dependent snow-related recreational activities such as snowmobiling and cross country skiing are most likely the result of this climatic condition.

Using a scale of 1 to 10 with 8-10 being very good/excellent, respondents were asked to rate 16 categories of attributes regarding their satisfaction with the area in which they stayed.

Average Ratings

The lowest average scores were on shopping choices (7.93), nightlife (7.83), "prices paid for things" (7.47), and scenery (7.30). In order for a customer to experience the value for the cost charged, the quality and selection of the goods and services, hours open, cleanliness and overall scenery/appearance need to be as high as the prices. All of the components of a vacation add together as a composite to form a more favorable or less favorable impression.

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Description of Wisconsin Vacation

Respondents were asked to describe their vacation experience with a word or a phrase. The following graph provides the most frequently mentioned responses. Please note percentages will not add to 100% due to multiple responses.

Repeat Visitors

Respondents were asked about the likelihood that they would return during the next 12 months for another Wisconsin vacation.

Those who were somewhat or very likely to vacation in Wisconsin were asked in which month or months they were most likely to vacation.

• On average, those who were likely to vacation in Wisconsin during the next 12 months noted 3.4 months in which they might travel. The following table shows the frequency of mention for each month.

• Nearly two-thirds (62.2%) of the respondents were very likely to recommend a Wisconsin vacation to friends or relatives, an additional 30.3% were somewhat likely to recommend Wisconsin. These figures make for a combined total of 92.5%.

For information on obtaining this or other Department of Tourism research documents, please see our Research page.