The Charleston Visitors in 2011

The Charleston Visitors in 2011 Bing Pan, Ph.D. Head of Research, Office of Tourism Analysis School of Business, College of Charleston Travel Council Meeting, Charleston, SC March 13, 2012 Thanks to CACVB for financial support Perrin Lawson, CACVB Laurie Smith, CACVB Keely Laughlin, CofC Nora Luce, CofC Financial Support from The factors influencing tourism demand: * The state of the economy => Discretionary income + psychology; * Access = cost of transportation = time + money; * Awareness = marketing efforts + PR. Charleston's tourism industry in 2011 2011 Visitor Intercept Study CACVB Website Traffic Indicators Top Metro areas in 2010? 1. New York City 2. DC/Baltimore 3. Atlanta 4. Charlotte 5. Chicago 6. Greenville 7. Boston 8. Knoxville 9. Cincinnati 10. Greensboro Visitors from Carolinas: 29.0% in 2007 => 23.0% in 2009 => 20.1% in 2010 => 30.1% in 2011 Kevin Smith, Research Assistant, OTA Conclusions Thing are changing... * Our traditional customer base is coming back; * Marketing campaign + PR = a new customer base; * More fully employed and higher-income visitors, came for business and events => The Established; * No more sterotype of Charleston tourists - retired and old couples looking at even older houses; * Cheap flights brought in rich visitors; * Technology influences their behavior greatly- use of mobile technology and social media. Especially thanks to: Voted as the Number 1 city in the U.S..... Husk voted the best new restaurant in America... Data Sources Office of Tourism Analysis CACVB Blue Ion For the link to this talk: bingpan@gmail.com The official report with more details available soon! Content: * Results from our 2011 intercept survey; * CACVB website traffic characteristics in 2011; * The interpretation of the results. Southwest came to Charleston, March 13, 2012.... Cruise ship discussion continues.... Danielle Frontin, CofC Top Metro areas in 2011? 1. Charlotte 2. New York City 3. Atlanta 4. Columbia 5. DC/Baltimore 6. Raleigh 7. Chicago 8. Philadelphia 9. Cincinnati 10. Greenville 1 2 3 4 5 Where are they from? When do you plan to come back? 2010 Mean: 3 years, 4 Months; Median: 2 years 2011 Mean: 2 years, 8 months, Median: 1 year, 6 months General characteristics of our visitors stayed the same: Middle-aged; college-educated; upper-middle level income; from adjacent states; arrive by car/airplane; enjoy history and food; dislike parking and traffic. * Data collectors randomly approached visitors in four primary locations in downtown Charleston: Aquarium Wharf Complex, Waterfront Park, the Battery, and Marion Square; * In random days and random hours; * One respondent per travel group; * Voluntary participation; * Pre-qualified for out-of-town visitors; * In total, 768 completed and usable surveys mailed back. Caveat: biased toward sightseeing visitors 21.0% to 23.6% increase in traffic from Carolinas from 2010 to 2011 Search Query Traffic from 2010 to 2011: "charleston sc events", 3,078 to 6,641, 115% increase "charleston sc visitor center", 5561 to 3707, -33% decrease "charleston nc", 5,190 to 5,464, 5% increase Mean age: 55.8; median age: 59 in 2010 Mean age: 50.5; median age: 52 in 2011 Total nonlocal visits increased from 1.78M to 1.81 M; 1.2% increase Mobile traffic increased from 61K to 110K; 80% of increase U.S. States where Web Visitors are from in 2011 Income Distribution in 2010 and 2011 Average number of times visiting Charleston: 3.9 in 2009 -> 3.4 in 2010 -> 4.5 in 2011 125K or above increased from 27.1% to 38.9% Kudos to BlueIon! $183 per day/local $194 per day/local