The Tourism Research Centre (TRC) at the School of Business at the University of PEI is pleased to announce the release of a new report discussing the results of a 2007 travel experience survey.

This survey was distributed to a panel comprised of people who had requested information from Tourism PEI about visiting PEI.

'This survey is interesting because at one point all of these panel members had requested information pertaining to PEI,' explained Dr. Sean Hennessey, faculty director of the TRC. 'Although further research is warranted, this survey gives us an idea of where visitors who were interested in PEI chose to visit instead of here. We learn that regular visitors to other destinations frequently return to the same destinations, and a majority of these respondents had already been to the same destination earlier in the year. This may suggest that the destination they return to frequently is relatively close, which makes a trip to PEI long by comparison. Attracting this type of visitor to PEI is a challenge, as is increasing shorter-term repeat visitation for those who do visit PEI.'

The survey also offers the opportunity to cross-reference results with those of an exit survey during a similar time period. The survey covered travel from June 1 to September 10, 2007. Previous results released on the exit survey covered travel to PEI from June 28 to September 30, 2007. The travel experience survey shows that 71 per cent of the 737 respondents had taken at least one pleasure holiday of four or more nights during the given time period. Of this 71 per cent, 52 per cent visited PEI during the stated time period. This yields an overall conversion rate of 37 per cent.

'When considering these figures,' says Hennessey, 'it is important to remember that the survey sample consists of individuals who requested travel information about PEI. While over half of those who took a summer vacation visited PEI, there exists a large market of potential future travellers to PEI consisting of those who did not vacation and those who vacationed elsewhere.'

In terms of activity participation rates and product assessments, the results are positive. Visitors to PEI participate in more activities and experiences, and they rate them higher than do visitors to other destinations. In this respect, there were no significant weaknesses or shortfalls relative to other destinations. While this is quite positive, it does not help to identify opportunities for new activities that may be offered. There are some activities where the participation rates are lower for PEI than other destinations, but the participation rates are not significantly different or particularly high for PEI, or for the other destinations.

Visitors who chose PEI as their primary destination admire the province's natural environment: PEI's natural beauty, scenery and landscape, and beaches and coastline were the three highest ranked features. In addition, 84 per cent of visitors who chose PEI as their primary destination chose to go to a beach, lake or river. This reinforces the importance of preserving, protecting and publicizing PEI's natural landscape and environment.

The full report is available on the TRC's website at www.trc.upei.ca or directly at www.trc.upei.ca/files/Travel_Experience_2007-Final.pdf. For more information about the TRC's research and reports, please visit the website, email trc@upei.ca or call (902) 566-6096.

The Auxiliary of the PEI Family Services Bureau has established an award in memory of long-time member Louise Haszard for UPEI students whose studies prepare them for a career in education, health or social services.

In a recent address to the Tourism Industry Association of PEI, Joe Veneto, international tourism management consultant and author of 'The Travel Packaging System,' revealed that the number one secret to packaging success is not only to think like a customer, but also to 'use research.' To that end, a newly released report on travel packages by the Tourism Research Centre (TRC) at the UPEI School of Business should help.

The survey on which the report was based was distributed by the TRC to a panel of online volunteers who had requested information about visiting PEI from Tourism PEI. The make-up of the panel is very similar to that of visitors to PEI.

'Although we looked at what types of travel packages people purchased, and who they travelled with on package holidays, we also examined why people do not buy travel packages,' says Dr. Monica MacDonald, Research Director of the TRC. 'This research, along with other research undertaken earlier this year, will help operators understand how travellers are using travel packages and why they are buying them.'

Participants who had never purchased a travel package revealed that the most common reason for not doing so was that they prefer doing their own research for their holidays. About a quarter of respondents who had never purchased a travel package believed packages lacked flexibility, and others thought they cost too much.

'The results really give us an idea of who is purchasing travel packages and for what reason. Almost three-quarters of Canadian participants who had purchased a travel package had bought an all-inclusive holiday package. However, less than half of US respondents had bought that type of package. They were much more interested in a flexible package that contained, for example, flight and hotel, or car rental and admission to local attractions,' says MacDonald.

A summary of other results includes:
• Slightly less than half (47.6 per cent) of the respondents to this survey have purchased a travel package in the two years prior to the survey.
• The overall interest in travel packages is rated 3.48 out of 5, about midway between neither uninterested or interested, and interested. This is a fairly good rating given that many of the respondents have not recently purchased travel packages and might be unfamiliar with their features.
• Combination packages in PEI generally omit one of the key elements that many travellers want: travel to the destination. This is not surprising given that PEI is not a major air traffic destination, and that it does not have an operating rail line. Some private tour companies offer transportation to PEI as part of either guided or unguided tours, but they seem to be the exception rather than the norm. PEI does provide, however, quality products for other sought-after package components: accommodations, and food and beverages.
• Canadians tend to purchase packages for southern, warm destinations, while Americans tend to travel within their own country.
• Those who had purchased travel packages in the past often chose to book through offline travel agencies.
• For those purchasing a travel package, the average party size was 4.72. This is substantially higher than the average party size of 2.85 visitors to PEI as reported in the 2007/08 exit survey report. During the peak season (July and August), the average party size is 3.15 people. The larger party size for those purchasing packages may be related to the perception that packages are good value for money and thus cheaper for larger groups compared to price and value per individual component.
• Price is important for travellers thinking about buying packages; the majority expect that packages will help them save money.
• On the other hand, there may also be a perception that packages are more costly than purchasing individual components. Cost was the third most popular reason why respondents had not purchased a package in the recent past.

The full report is available on the TRC's website at www.trc.upei.ca. For more information about the TRC's research and reports, please visit the website, email trc@upei.ca or call (902) 566-6096.

Ryan Gallant in front of Parliament BuildingAs part of his campaign to become CBC TV's Canada's Next Great Prime Minister, Ryan Gallant, a native of St. Ann's, PEI, and a graduate of UPEI, has organized a community event in Charlottetown to highlight the importance of PEI's new transit network. Gallant's event, "Take the Transit" Day, will see green-clad volunteers hitting the streets of Charlottetown to hand out information about PEI's Transit to Islanders, as well as distributing candy canes and singing carols.

Frances Moore Lappé, founder of the Small Planet Institute, will speak about globalization, trade and world hunger, with a focus on the role of women in food production, on January 7 from 7 to 9 p.m., in the Duffy Science Centre's amphitheatre (Room 135) at the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI).

The University of Prince Edward Island is reaching out to senior high school, college and university students who are interested in obtaining extra support and guidance as they move forward to the next stage of their education.

The Tourism Research Centre (TRC) at UPEI's School of Business today announced the release of a report based on Visitor Exit Survey results from July 2007 to June 2008. In this report, the TRC compared visitors to PEI based on their home province, state, or country. 'This report examines, by visitor origin, their activities, where they stay and for how long, and if they have been here before,' explains Dr. Monica MacDonald, a Research Director of the TRC.

In particular, the report stresses the differences between visitors from the Maritimes and all other visitors. For example, those from the Maritimes spend almost the total length of their holiday in PEI, but stay the fewest nights overall.

Visitors from Nova Scotia (35.5 per cent) and New Brunswick (28.1 per cent) make up the bulk of travel parties during the full year,' says Dr. MacDonald, 'and the vast majority of them are repeat visitors to the province.' Ontario residents made up 12.6 per cent of travel parties, and Quebec 9.2 per cent.

The most common type of travel party for the full year was made up of two adults. Families were generally the second most common type of travel party for the various markets.

Most of the Maritimers had visited PEI previously (95.4 per cent from New Brunswick and 93.6 per cent from Nova Scotia), and most international visitors had not (82.1 per cent were on their first visit).

Of all repeat visitors, our neighbours from Nova Scotia (74 per cent) and New Brunswick (72 per cent) were the most likely to have visited PEI in the past year.

As a percentage of time spent in PEI relative to the entire trip, Maritime visitors spent the longest portion of their overall holiday in PEI, with only 0.2 or 0.3 nights of their short stays being spent elsewhere. Visitors from Ontario spent the most nights in PEI overall (6.1), followed by US visitors (5.9 nights).

International visitors spent only 31 per cent of their longer holidays in PEI (4.4 of 14.2 nights) - the lowest of all groups.

There are some evident preferences in accommodation type for certain visitors. In total, almost 70 per cent of international visitors stayed at either a hotel/motel/resort (35 per cent) or inn/B&B/tourist home (34 per cent). Visitors from Quebec were easily the most likely to stay at a campground/trailer park (37 per cent). Maritimers were the most likely to stay with friends/relatives (26 per cent of those from New Brunswick, 29 per cent, Nova Scotia), followed closely by Ontario (24 per cent).

Overall, Charlottetown was the most common region visited overnight, with a range of 37 per cent (New Brunswick) of travel parties to 64 per cent (international) spending at least one night. The only exception was visitors from Quebec, who were more likely to visit Anne's Land (46 per cent).

In terms of activities, the further the visitor travels to get to PEI, the more likely they are to go sightseeing or take a driving tour. Quebec visitors, along with US visitors, seem to be more interested in the outdoors (visiting national/provincial parks). US and international visitors are slightly more likely to visit historical and cultural attractions, Ontario visitors are the most likely to enjoy a lobster dinner (41 per cent) and US visitors are more likely to attend live theatre/plays. International (50 per cent) and US visitors (37 per cent) are the most likely to visit Anne attractions, while visitors from New Brunswick (8 per cent) and Nova Scotia (11 per cent) are easily the least likely to visit them.

On a per person per night basis, international visitors have the highest spending while in PEI ($83.27), followed by Quebec visitors ($78.68), New Brunswickers ($72.45) and Nova Scotians ($71.64). The lowest spenders are US visitors ($70.06) and Ontario visitors ($69.42). However, due to their lengthy and active stays, visitors from Ontario spend the most per visit ($1,277.00). Maritimers spend the least per visit ($678.81) due to the shorter lengths of their stays.

Surveys were distributed to visitors at the Confederation Bridge, Charlottetown Airport and Wood Islands Ferry (seasonally) with intentions of measuring spending, overnight destinations, holiday activities, age, travel party size and point of entry/exit, among others. The Exit Survey was designed so results could be cross-analyzed to provide a depth of data for further analysis.

The report is part of a series of reports based on data collected from the Exit Survey. Results reported are for pleasure visitors who spent at least one night on PEI. For a list of all reports released by the TRC on Exit Survey results, please visit trc.upei.ca/exitsurvey. Reports will continue to be released over the next nine months.

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.

The Diversity Office at the University of Prince Edward Island will hold its first annual Diversity Week from January 19 to 24.

Ruth Freeman, coordinator of the Diversity Office, envisions the week as an opportunity to explore and share the increasing diversity of the university community.

'The spirit of diversity recognizes, acknowledges and celebrates what makes us different from one another,' she says. 'But it also seeks to build on what we have in common and what unites us across boundaries of class, gender, ethnicity, religion, language, culture and ability.'

A highlight of the week will be an address called 'Working Across Cultures' by well-known speaker Ben Yang on January 22 at 1 p.m. in the W.A. Murphy Student Centre.

Yang is known throughout Canada for his insightful and inspirational talks on globalization and cross-cultural communication. He is currently director of the University of Toronto's International Student Centre and an instructor for the International Educator Training Program at Queen's University. He also serves as chair for the Canadian Bureau for International Education Immigration's advising committee.

Other activities will include the official opening of UPEI's new aboriginal student centre, a poetry slam, movies, displays, cultural activities, international foods, presentations and more.

Photographs submitted to the Diversity Office's photo contest, which was held in advance of the week, will also be displayed. The top three winners are Doreen Pippy, for her June 2008 photo of UPEI student Billy MacDonald playing with students from Kinyinjere School in Kenya; Shine Chung, for Pinwheels for Peace, created for International Peace Day by Diversity Office volunteers and the UPEI Buddy Program in September 2008; and Leslie Holt-Dalziel, for a photo she submitted of the UPEI Adult Connections in Education (ACE) program's peer luncheon held in April 2008.

All Diversity Week activities are free and open to the public. A schedule of events is available on the Diversity Office's website at www.upei.ca/studentservices/diversity-office. For further information, please contact Ruth Freeman at (902) 628-4332 or rfreeman@upei.ca.