The Virginia Tourism Corporation's (VTC)
2003 Virginia Visitor Study
Introduction and Methodology
In 2003, the VTC conducted a follow-up mail survey to households who had responded to the Travel Industry Association's monthly TravelScope survey. Households who had responded that they visited Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, and/or Washington, D.C., on a recent trip were mailed a separate, more detailed questionnaire to provide the VTC with even more trip details than the original TravelScope questionnaire.
The twenty-page 2003 Fredericksburg Visitor Study* profiles provide detailed trip characteristics, visitor origin, destination, and demographic information on numerous Virginia travel segments.
In all, 4,849 surveys were mailed to qualifying households and 4,027 questionnaires were returned. This equates to an 83% response rate. Of those returned questionnaires, a total of 2,155 respondents indicated taking a trip that included Virginia during 2003. These 2,155 respondents represent the complete sample for analyzing the data about visitation to Virginia.
This study is not directly comparable to previous studies because of the different methodology employed. However, this study has been continued into calendar year 2004 and data collection has been consistent throughout the process.
Profile Contents
The first of the two columns on each page contains data representing "All Travel Parties" to Virginia. The second column contains the statistical data for the specific "profiled travel segment." This provides a quick comparison of the profiled travel segment with ALL visitors to easily view similarities and differences that may exist.
Attraction and Locality Profiles
Respondents to the survey were not asked to provide information specific to any attraction or locality, only whether or not they "experienced" that activity, attraction, or locality on their most recent trip. Since many travel parties "experience" multiple attractions and destinations on their trip, the trip activities are not necessarily specific to the locality or attraction.
Traveler Spending
The traveler spending represents the spending in all of Virginia by all party members of the specific profiled travel segments. Similarly to the activity data, respondents were not asked how much their travel party spent in each destination and therefore the data represents spending that took place anywhere in Virginia not necessarily in that locality or at that attraction.
The average spending per travel party, average spending per person, average spending per day, and average spending per person per day are provided. Two different sets of data are shown for those who said that they spent money and for those who didn't report any spending.
In addition, a breakdown of spending by category details how the travel dollar is being spent. The percentage of spending on lodging, rental cars, food, lodging, etc. is provided based on those travel parties who spent money on their most recent trip
Top DMAs of Origin
"Destination Marketing Area" (DMA) represent the origin markets of visitors for the profiled travel segment. In addition, these geographic areas represent potential media buying markets.
Demographics
Demographics include: Race, Age, marital status, household size, children in household, education, employment, occupation, income, home ownership, and life-stage variables.
*If you need the reader, go to the Adobe Web site to download the software. | 
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WAS 11/10/04
2003 Visitor Study Explanation
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