2015 CHARLESTON AREA VISITOR INTERCEPT SURVEY REPORT

Transcription

1 2015 CHARLESTON AREA VISITOR INTERCEPT SURVEY REPORT APRIL 26, 2016 Prepared By Melinda Patience, Brittany Watson, and Bing Pan, Ph.D. Office of Tourism Analysis Department of Hospitality & Tourism Management School of Business College of Charleston

2 Acknowledgements Thanks to undergraduate students Stephanie Baril, Logan Elliott, Ashley Leggett, Michael Richards, and Hannah Wagner for their hard work on data collection and entry. We are also grateful for the suggestions that Mr. Perrin Lawson, Deputy Director of the Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, provided during the preparation of this report. 2

3 Contents Acknowledgements... 2 Executive Summary... 4 Introduction... 5 Research Methods... 5 Analysis Methods... 6 Profiles of Charleston Visitors... 6 Planning Behavior Visitation Behavior Visitor Spending Visitor Likes and Dislikes Conclusions Appendix A. Results of All Questions in 2015 Survey Appendix B Charleston Area Visitor Intercept Survey Form Appendix C. Survey Weighting Method Appendix D. ZIP Code Map of 2015 U.S. Respondents Resident Addresses Appendix E. Word Cloud from Additional Comments Question Appendix F. All Comments from Additional Comments Question

4 Executive Summary A survey of visitors to the Charleston tri-county area revealed important demographic and behavioral patterns. More than 650 survey responses revealed that the visitors are mainly 50 years or older with the Baby Boomer age group dominating. There is also a peak in the early 40+ group, indicating business travelers. The respondents are most likely to be college educated, married or living with a partner, and have upper-middle income; they are mainly from adjacent states. International visitors has a share of about 5%. Ethnically, Caucasians dominate the visitor population with very few other ethnicities. More than half of Charleston visitors are repeated guests. Most of them arrive via car, followed by airplane. More than half of overnight visitors stayed in hotels or rental houses/beach houses, followed by Bed & Breakfasts and staying with friends and/or family. They spent an average of $944 per adult per trip ($889 in 2014), with $211 per adult per day locally. Most likely they will visit the Charleston City Market, historic houses, waterfront parks, beaches, and historic plantations. Most of them are extremely satisfied with their visits. They enjoyed the history of Charleston and food, and disliked the humidity and traffic. Most importantly, we also learned that most Charleston visitors also visited Mt. Pleasant, West of the Ashley, North Charleston, Isle of Palms, Kiawah Island, and Folly Beach. The average number of cities/areas visited is about 3. Around 16% of visitors used either CACVB website or Visitors Guide to decide to visit Charleston, after family and friends recommendations and past visit experience; more than 1/3 of them used the two media sources to plan their trips. The CACVB web site was the 2 nd most used online information source for planning a Charleston trip after travel review sites such as TripAdvisor and Yelp. The average traveling party sizes of 2-3 adults without kids remained consistent year-over-year. The adoption of mobile technology and social media was increasing significantly among Charleston visitors. These results show that Charleston continues to attract an affluent visitor group. CACVB continues to play a significant role in attracting visitors and helping them plan their trip. 4

5 Introduction With more than five million visitors traveling to the Charleston area in South Carolina on an annual basis, understanding visitors travel behavior, expenditure, wants and needs, and likes and dislikes is critical for effective target marketing, improving the quality of service within the local tourism industry, and increasing overall levels of satisfaction. To better understand Charleston visitors and provide them with a positive experience, an annual visitor intercept survey, sponsored by the Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (CACVB), is conducted by the Office of Tourism Analysis at the College of Charleston. This visitor study has been conducted annually since Research Methods The population sampled in this study was comprised of individuals who visited the downtown peninsula of Charleston from January through mid-december Intercept surveyors (current undergraduate students from the College of Charleston) randomly approached apparent visitors walking around four prime tourism areas in the historic district during various hours throughout the day on randomly selected days of the week, including weekends, to ask for their voluntary participation in this visitor survey. In agreement with the CACVB, four areas on the Charleston downtown peninsula utilized for survey distribution in 2015 included the Historic Charleston City Market area, Waterfront Park, White Point Gardens (The Battery), and Marion Square. The paper version of the 2015 visitor survey form is in Appendix B. Before giving an intercepted individual a questionnaire with a College of Charleston pre-addressed postage-paid envelope, our surveyors pre-qualified potential respondents by asking if their home residence is outside the Charleston Tri-county area 1. In other words, only those intercepted individuals that were nonresidents of the Charleston Tri-county area were asked to respond to this survey. The respondents can also choose to fill out the same survey online at In addition, if there was more than one non-resident in an intercepted travel party, only one person per travel party was asked to participate. 1 The Charleston Tri-county area or region consists of the following three counties in the SC coastal zone: Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester County. 5

6 In total, 635 paper surveys were returned through mail and 36 approached visitors returned their responses online. Among a total of 671 responses, 661 were useable after deleting responses from residents and incomplete responses. The overall survey response rate of 22% with 3,063 surveys handed out in The major questions this study attempted to answer included: what are some of the demographic characteristics of people visiting the Charleston area? What is their main purpose for visiting? How much money do they spend while visiting the Charleston area? Where are they from? What type of information sources are they using, both for deciding where to visit and planning their trips? Analysis Methods Similar to the analysis methods in 2014, we used a weighting scheme to correct possible data collection bias (See Appendix C for a detailed description). Profiles of Charleston Visitors Charleston area visitors who responded to the survey are likely to be married or living with a partner (78.4%). The second most likely response is single (10.2%). Approximately 87% of them possess at least some college education. The majority of respondents are female (73.3%). The mean age of respondents was 55 years old and the median age was 57, with just under 70% of visitors identifying as 50 years of age or older (Figure 1). Additionally, the majority of respondents were in the Baby Boomer age group, as approximately 55% of respondents were born between 1946 and 1964 (inclusive). 6

7 Age of Respondents Figure 1. Age Distribution of Charleston, SC, Visitors in 2015 Most of the respondents (78.1%) reported not having any children under the age of 18 years living in their household. An additional 7.4% of visitors had one child at home, 11.1% had two children at home, and 2.5% had three. With regards to ethnicity, only 1.4% identified as Hispanic or Latino. The ethnic breakdown of respondents was 95.9% Caucasian/White, 2.0% African-American/Black, and 1.2% Asian. Around 45.6% of the respondents were employed full-time with an additional 34.6% of respondents having retired or being semi-retired and 5.7% reporting as being employed part-time (Table 1 and Figure 2). Table 1. Employment Status of Visitors in 2015 Employment # % Employed (Full-Time) Employed (Part-Time) Self-Employed Retired Semi-Retired Full-Time Homemaker Student (Full-Time) Student (Part-Time) Unemployed

8 0.1% 1.5% Employment Status 0.7% 1.0% 6.0% Employed (Full-Time) Employed (Part-Time) Self-Employed 33.6% 45.6% Retired Semi-Retired Full-Time Homemaker Student (Full-Time) Student (Part-Time) 5.8% 5.7% Unemployed Figure 2. Employment Status of 2015 Visitors About 78% of visitors reported having a household income of $60,000 or more and approximately 54% of visitors have a household income of $100,000 or more (Table 2 and Figure 3). Table 2. Annual Household Income of 2015 Visitors Income # % Up to $44, $45,000 - $59, $60,000 - $74, $75,000 - $99, $100,000 - $124, $125,000 - $149, $150,000 - $199, $200,

9 Annual Household Income 18.2% 12.3% 9.4% 13.7% 9.5% 12.3% 10.3% 14.2% Up to $44,999 $45,000 - $59,999 $60,000 - $74,999 $75,000 - $99,999 $100,000 - $124,999 $125,000 - $149,999 $150,000 - $199,999 $200,000 + Figure 3. Distribution of Household Income Reported by 2015 Visitors Respondents were most likely from adjacent states or areas within driving distance to Charleston. Pennsylvania entered the top five states with 8.0% of respondents reporting from there, so is New York State (7.2%). The other top five states were South Carolina (11.1%), North Carolina (10.1%), Ohio (5.7%), and Tennessee (5.6%). Florida visitor percentage dropped out of the top five from the last year. Six states that are within driving distance North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, and Ohio accounted for about 39% of visitors in International visitors accounted for 5.6% of visitors in This is a decrease compared to 2014, but it may due to sampling bias, as researchers can be hesitant to approach non-english speakers. The most common international origins were Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Australia. 9

10 Table 3. Visitor Origin States in 2015 State # % State # % State # % SC KY DE NC TX OR PA LA MT OH IA CO TN CT MS International* IN AL VA MO OK NY IL HI GA RI VT MD WA AR MA WI NE MI WV KS NJ MN ME FL DC NM CA NH UT *Most common international locations: Canada (36), Germany (14), United Kingdom (8), and Australia (4). The top ten visitor origination Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) for responding 2015 visitors were the following: New York, NY; Washington, DC; Charlotte, NC; Boston, MA; Atlanta, GA; Philadelphia, PA; Detroit, MI; Chicago, IL; Columbia, SC; and Cincinnati, OH (Table 4). New MSAs in the top 10 this year are Philadelphia, PA, Detroit, MI, and Cincinnati, OH. Additionally, Atlanta, GA moved back into the top 10 after slipping to number 19 in Table 4. Top 20 Origination MSAs for Charleston, SC, Visitors in 2015 MSA # % New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-CT-PA Washington-Baltimore, DC-MD-VA-WV CMSA Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, NC-SC MSA Boston-Worcester-Lawrence, MA-NH-ME-CT CMSA Atlanta, GA MSA Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City, PA-NJ-DE-MD CMSA Detroit-Ann Arbor-Flint, MI CMSA Chicago-Gary-Kenosha, IL-IN-WI CMSA Columbia, SC MSA Cincinnati-Hamilton, OH-KY-IN CMSA Johnson City-Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA MS Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC MSA Greensboro--Winston-Salem--High Point, NC MSA Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, SC MSA Myrtle Beach, SC MSA Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY MSA Dallas-Fort Worth, TX CMSA Pittsburgh, PA MSA Cleveland-Akron, OH CMSA Denver-Boulder-Greeley, CO CMSA

11 Planning Behavior The question Which (if any) Web Sites did you use to research/plan your visit to the Charleston Area? revealed that the most frequently used online source of information was travel review websites (32.1%), followed by Charleston Area Convention & Visitors Bureau Website (24.1%), Online Travel Supplier Web Site (15.6%), Individual Hotel Web site (13.8%), Individual Airline Website (7.6%), and other (15.4%) (Table 5). The question In researching various destinations, which of the following influenced you to consider the Charleston area? revealed that the most influential sources of information were recommendations from friends or relatives (44.8%) and having visited Charleston before (36.9%) (Table 6). Table 5. Web Sites Used by 2015 Visitors to Research and Plan Website # % Travel Review Web Site (TripAdvisor, Yelp, etc) Charleston Area Convention & Visitors Bureau Website Online Travel Supplier Web Site (Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, etc) Individual Hotel Web Site (Marriott.com, etc) Individual Airline Web Site (Delta.com, etc) Charlestononly.com Other* I did not use the Internet to research my trip to Charleston *Most common Other answers: Google (46), VRBO (24), AAA (14), and Local Restaurants (4). Table 6. Influential Information Sources in Destination Choice in 2015 Influencing Factor # % Friend or Relative's Recommendations Visited Charleston Before Charleston Area Convention & Visitors Bureau Web Site Charleston Area Visitors Guide Magazine/Newspaper Article Travel Media Awards & Rankings Brochure Festival/Special Event Magazine Advertisement Television Show Travel Agent Other* *Most common Other answers: Family History (13), Business Trip (9), History (3), College Tour (3), and Wedding (3). Visitors were also asked about the information sources they used to plan their trip once they actually selected the Charleston area for their trip. Friend or Relative s Suggestions/ Recommendations (33.3%) was the 11

12 top source (Table 7). Travel Review Web Sites were the second most popular resource (27.5%), while the Travel Web Sites (20.7%), and the CACVB Website (16.8%) were a close third and fourth. Table 7. Visitor Information Sources for Planning a Trip to Charleston, SC, in 2015 Resources/Tools # % Friend or Relative's Recommendations Travel Review Website Travel Web Sites (such as Travelocity, Expedia, Orbitz, etc.) Charleston Area Convention & Visitors Bureau Web Site Charleston Area Visitors Guide Other* Hotel Web Sites (such as Marriott.com) Travel Books Local AAA Office Airline Web Sites (such as Delta.com) Travel Agent *Most common Other answers: General Self Knowledge (8), Google Searches (7), VRBO (9), AAA Website (5), and HomeAway.com (2). Around 70% of visitors to Charleston did not consider a destination other than Charleston for their trip. Moreover, of the 30.5% of visitors who did consider alternative destinations, Savannah, GA (56.4%) was the most commonly considered destination. Beaufort, SC (7.7%) and Myrtle Beach, SC (7.2%) were also frequently listed as considered destinations. As for why visitors ultimately chose Charleston as their destination, visitors most commonly cited the history of Charleston, the influence of family and friends, Charleston s location, and having never visited Charleston before. Other popular reasons to visit included previously visiting Charleston, part of a longer road trip, and food & restaurants. Visitors were also asked about their social media usage. Facebook was the most commonly used social media platform with 56.0% of the responding visitors identifying as Facebook users (Table 8). Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter all had significant increase in the percentage of users, compared to Overall, around 32.3% of visitors selected the None option in Among the 2015 respondents who were 40 years or younger, about 82% said that they did use some type of social media which is significantly higher than the 75% who stated they used social media in

13 Table 8. Social Media Usage by Charleston Visitors in 2015 Social Media # % Facebook Pinterest Instagram Twitter Blogs Other* Flickr None *Most common Other answers: SnapChat (3) and Yelp (3) Survey respondents were also asked about their use of mobile technology when researching and planning their trip. Just over 42% of visitors responded that they used tablets to research destinations and around 56% used their smart phones. When asked if tablet or smartphone technologies were used to help plan their trip after choosing their destination, the percentages were the about same as those who used the technology for researching destinations. Visitation Behavior The average travel party size in 2015 was 2.7 adults (median and mode: 2) and 0.3 children (median and mode: 0). Approximately 77% of the 2015 visitors reported arriving in the Charleston area by either their own cars or by rental car only (Table 9). About 16.5% of visitors arrived via airplane directly in Charleston. Another 3.9% of 2015 visitors reported flying to another city and then renting a car, with Charlotte and Savannah being the most common transfer cities. Table 9. Mode of Transportation in 2015 Mode of Transportation # % Personal Vehicle Airplane Rental Vehicle Flew to Another City and then Rented a Car* Amtrak Cruise Ship Private Boat Chartered Bus *The major middle cities were Charlotte, NC (7); Savannah, GA (5); New Orleans, LA (4); Myrtle Beach, SC (3); and Atlanta, GA (2). In 2015, approximately 60% of visitors reported that they had visited the Charleston Area at least once before, while approximately 40% of visitors said that this trip was their first visit to the area. On average, 13

14 the respondents who had previously visited Charleston indicated that they had visited the area for an average of 4 times over the past 5 years. Approximately 87% of visitors in 2015 reported staying at least one night in the Charleston area. The most frequently used paid accommodation types by overnight visitors were hotels (38.2%), rental houses/beach houses (19.1%), staying with Friends or Relatives (14.5%), and Bed and Breakfast (9.3%) (Table 10). Overnight visitors spent an average of 5.3 nights and a median of 4 nights in Charleston (Table 11). Table 10. Accommodation Types Chosen by 2015 Visitors Accommodation Type # % Hotel Rental House/Beach House Bed and Breakfast Staying with Friends or Relatives Resorts Other* Inn Trailer or Camping Sites Second Home/Vacation Home *Most common Other answers were Timeshare (19), AirBnB (7), and Cruise Ship (3). Table 11. Number of Nights Stayed in 2015 Nights # % or More Mean Nights: 5.3 Median Nights: 4 *Only includes overnight visitors; 85 respondents indicated that they visited for a day trip. Visitors were asked to score the relative importance of different Charleston area elements or assets on their decision to visit in History and Historic Sites was cited as the most important element, followed by Restaurants/Local Cuisine, Tours, and Independent/Unique Shops (Table 12). In 2014, these four factors were also the top four most important factors. 14

15 Table 12. Importance of Various Charleston Assets for 2015 Visitors (5 = Very Important; 0 = Not Important at All) Scored Categories Change History and Historic Sites Restaurants/local cuisine Tours (walking, motorized, boat, etc.) Independent/unique shops Beaches/beach activities Cultural Events Outdoor recreation (fishing, golf, etc.) Annual Festivals and Events National retailers or outlet shopping Children's activities and attractions In 2015, visitors were also asked to identify the one main purpose of their trip. Overwhelmingly, the respondents selected Vacation (63.8%) as the main purpose of the trip, followed by Visiting Friends and Family (15.2%) and Attending a Conference, Meeting or Trade Show (3.1%) (Table 13). Around 12.8% of visitors listed a purpose that was not available as a choice, with Friends Trip (16), Wedding (14), Sport Event (13) Military (7) and College Visit (6) as most common other answers. Table 13. Main Purpose of Vacation in 2015 Purpose # % Vacation Visiting Friends and Family Attending a Conference, Meeting, or Trade Show Attending a Festival/Special Event, Performance, or Exhibit Cruise Ship Port-of-Call Business Other *Most common Other answers were Friends Trip (16), Wedding (14), Sport Event (13) Military (7) and College Visit (6). Approximately 32.6% of the respondents reported visiting an Official Charleston Area Visitor Center. However, first-time visitors to Charleston were more likely to visit an Official Visitor Center, as 40.9% of firsttime visitors went to an Official Visitor Center compared to only about 25.8% of repeat visitors. The rate of visitation to a visitor center dropped significantly from This decrease may be due to the increasing use of mobile technology and online resources. 15

16 While in Charleston, the most popular attractions/destinations for 2015 visitors were the Charleston City Market (82.6%), Waterfront Parks (54.8%), Historic Houses (52.9%), Beaches (52.9%), Historic Plantations (33.3%), Historic Forts (21.8%), and Museums (20.9%). Respondents were also asked which cities they visited in the Charleston Area. On average, the visitors visited 2.8 cities each, with a median and mode of 2 (Figure 4). In addition, the ratio of visitation to different areas/cities in the Charleston was calculated (Table 14). Besides downtown, where we intercepted the survey respondents, visitors most frequently cited Mt. Pleasant (39.5%) and West of the Ashley (33.1%). Table 14 shows the percentages for all areas in Charleston County. 200 Number of Cities/Areas Visited Frequency Number of Cities/Areas Figure 4. The Number of Cities/Areas Visited 16

17 Table 14. Percentage of Visitors to Cities/Areas with Charleston County Cities/Towns # % City of Charleston (Downtown) Mount Pleasant West of the Ashley (West Ashley, James Island, Johns Island) North Charleston Folly Beach Isle of Palms Sullivan's Island Kiawah Island Seabrook Island Other* *Most common Other answers were Edisto Island (17), Summerville (10), Wadmalaw Island (5) and Goose Creek (5). In order to measure satisfaction, visitors in 2015 were instead asked How likely is it that you would recommend a visit to the Charleston area to a friend or colleague? on a 0 to 10 scale where 0 represented Not at all likely to recommend and 10 represented Extremely likely to recommend. Over 94% of visitors selected 8, 9, or 10, including 71.8% who chose 10. The average recommendation score was a 9.5. Moreover, only 0.2% respondent with a score less than 5. When asked about how long it will be until the respondent returns to the Charleston area for another visit, the mean length of time until a repeat visit averaged 2 years and 2 months with a median of 2 years. Visitor Spending Visitors were asked to estimate their travel party s expenditures for various expense categories (e.g. lodging, dining, tours, etc.) while in the Charleston area (See Question 9 in Appendix A). For overnight visitors (i.e. those staying one night or more), Table 15 summarizes 2015 visitor spending pattern averages, for each expense category as well as total averages. The 2015 average total spending per day per adult was $231 and $211 in local spending, up from $210 and $188, respectively, in Per person per visit spending also increased again this year to $944 ($889 in 2014 and $859 in 2013). 17

18 Table 15. Breakdown of Overnight Visitor Expense Averages by Person (Adult) and Travel Party in 2015 Category/Total Per Per Per Day Per Day Per Per Travel Travel Per Per Person Person Party Per Party Per Person Person* Per Visit Per Visit* Visit Visit* Lodging $76 $91 $353 $415 $929 $1,093 Airline Tickets $75 $323 $214 $924 Auto $11 $14 $44 $54 $109 $133 Taxi Fares $1 $8 $4 $28 $14 $94 Attractions $8 $15 $33 $60 $87 $160 Tours $6 $14 $19 $47 $44 $112 Dining $43 $44 $158 $161 $423 $431 Supplies $7 $12 $43 $69 $118 $191 Retail Shopping $21 $35 $75 $124 $197 $325 Other Spending $10 $17 $40 $65 $125 $203 Total Local Expenditures $211 $211 $869 $869 $2,315 $2,150 Total Expenditures $231 $231 $944 $944 $2,530 $2,315 * Averages calculated in these columns excluded zero response. The sum of all categories does not equal total expenditures because each category was calculated based on non-zero values. Airfare Ticket expenditures were not included in Total Local Expenditures. Visitor Likes and Dislikes In the 2015 survey, the respondents were asked to indicate how important certain factors influenced their decision to visit the Charleston area. Charleston s history and historic sites were rated 4.1, the highest among all the factors, following by restaurants/local cuisine (3.8), tours (3.3), and independent shops (3.3) (Table 16). Table 6. Most Important Factors in Influencing the Decision to Visit (5 = Very Important; 0 = Not At All Important) Scored Categories 2015 History and Historic Sites 4.1 Restaurants/local cuisine 3.8 Tours (walking, motorized, boat, etc.) 3.3 Independent/unique shops 3.3 Beaches/beach activities 2.6 Cultural Events 1.8 Outdoor recreation (fishing, golf, etc.) 1.8 Annual Festivals and Events 1.5 National retailers or outlet shopping 1.1 Children's activities and attractions

19 In all, this data suggests that the Charleston area s history and historic attractions have remained and will presumably continue to be the most important factor in visitors decision to visit Charleston. Of course, local foods and shopping activities continue to positively affect visitors decision. Visitors were also asked the open-ended question What negatively impacted your visit to Charleston? Complaints about the weather, heat, or humidity were most common with 18.4% of respondents saying the weather negatively affected their trip. Traffic related complaints were also common (18.3%), as were complaints about parking (16.7%), the commercialization of historic areas (5.6%), and complaints about individual restaurant experiences (4.9%). It is worth noting that over 57% of the survey respondents chose not to list any events and/or other considerations that negatively impacted their Charleston area visit. Conclusions In conclusion, Charleston visitors are mainly 50 years or older with the Baby Boomer age group dominating. There is also a peak in the early 40+ group, indicating business travelers. The respondents are most likely to be college educated, married or living with a partner, and have upper-middle income; they are mainly from adjacent states. International visitors remain a share of more than 5%. Ethnically, Caucasians dominate the visitor population with very few other ethnicities. More than half of Charleston visitors are repeated guests. Most of them arrive via car, followed by airplane. More than half of overnight visitors stayed in hotels or rental houses/beach houses, followed by Bed & Breakfasts and staying with friends and/or family. They spent an average of $944 per adult per trip, with $211 per adult per day locally. Most likely they will visit the Charleston City Market, historic houses, waterfront parks, beaches, and historic plantations. Most of them are extremely satisfied with their visits. They enjoyed the history of Charleston and food, and disliked the humidity and traffic. Most importantly, we also learned that most Charleston visitors also visited Mt. Pleasant, West of the Ashley, North Charleston, Isle of Palms, Kiawah Island, and Folly Beach. The average number of cities/areas visited is 2. The interesting differences from 2014 to 2015 are a decrease in the ratio of first time visitors (52% in 2014 to 40% in 2015) and an increase in people who were visiting family and friends (10% in 2014 to 15% in 2015). The decrease in first time visitors may have been caused by the lack of new flight destinations that 19

20 have helped to bolster first time visitors in previous years. With the increase in people visiting family and friends, the percentage of visitors who stay with family and friends also increased from 8% (2014) to 14% (2015). This may reflect the changing demographics of Charleston as the area is moving toward a larger metropolitan area. As more people move to the area, more people may be traveling to Charleston to visit them. Around 16% of visitors used either CACVB website or Visitors Guide to decide to visit Charleston, after family and friends recommendations and past visit experience; more than 1/3 of them used the two media sources to plan their trips. The CACVB web site was the 2 nd most used online information source for planning a Charleston trip after travel review sites such as TripAdvisor and Yelp. The average traveling party sizes of 2-3 adults without kids remained consistent year-over-year. The adoption of mobile technology and social media was increasing significantly among Charleston visitors. These results show that Charleston has expanded its reputation internationally. It continues to attract an affluent visitor group. CACVB continues to play a significant role in attracting visitors and helping them plan their trips. 20

21 Appendix A. Results of All Questions in 2015 Survey Note: While 661 useable survey forms were analyzed for this report, every respondent did not respond to every question. For instance, of all 661 overall respondents, only 654 responded to Question 4, so it is labeled as having 654 responses. Additionally, some questions included other qualifying questions, so responses are lower on these questions. For instance, if a respondent s visit was a day trip, they would not provide an answer for questions about accommodations. Question 1: Is this your first trip to the Charleston Area? (661 responses) # % No Yes If No, how many times have you visited the Charleston area in the last five years? (270 responses) Number of Visits # % or More Mean: 4.9 visit Median: 4 visits Question 2: Including yourself, how many people were in your travel party? (661 responses) Adults # % Children # % or More Mean Adults: 2.7; Mean Children: 0.3 Median Adults: 2; Median Children: 0 21

22 Question 3: How did you come to the Charleston area? (661 responses) Mode of Transportation # % Personal Vehicle Airplane Flew to Another City and then Rented a Car* Rental Vehicle Cruise Ship Amtrak Chartered Bus Private Boat *The major middle cities were Charlotte, NC (7); Savannah, GA (5); New Orleans, LA (4); Myrtle Beach, SC (3); and Atlanta, GA (2). Question 4: Please specify the date when you arrived in the Charleston area*. (657 responses) Month # % January February March April May June July August September October November December *The monthly data was weighted so the visitor numbers in the survey would match the seasonality of hotel roomnights sold Respondent Visits to Charleston by Month 22

23 Question 5: How many nights in total have you stayed (or will you be staying) in the Charleston area during this trip? (576 responses*) Nights # % or More Mean Nights: 5.3 Median Nights: 4 *Only includes overnight visitors; 85 respondents indicated that they visited for a day trip. Accommodation Types (576 responses) Accommodation Type # % Hotel Rental House/Beach House Bed and Breakfast Staying with Friends or Relatives Resorts Other* Inn Trailer or Camping Sites Second Home/Vacation Home *Most common Other answers were Timeshare (19), AirBnB (7), and Cruise Ship (3). Accommodation Location (576 responses) Accommodation Location # % City of Charleston (Downtown) North Charleston City of Charleston (West Ashley, James Island, Johns Island) Kiawah Island Isle of Palms Mt. Pleasant Other* Folly Beach Seabrook Island *Most common Other answers were Edisto Island (13), Goose Creek (10), Summerville (5) and Daniel Island (5) 23

24 Question 6: How important were the following in your decision to visit the Charleston area? (5 = Very Important; 0 = Not At All Important) (Responses varied from 599 to 641 per factor) Scored Categories Change History and Historic Sites Restaurants/local cuisine Tours (walking, motorized, boat, etc.) Independent/unique shops Beaches/beach activities Cultural Events Outdoor recreation (fishing, golf, etc.) Annual Festivals and Events National retailers or outlet shopping Children's activities and attractions Question 7: What was the main purpose of your visit to Charleston? (Please check only one.) (659 responses) Purpose # % Vacation Visiting Friends and Family Attending a Conference, Meeting, or Trade Show Attending a Festival/Special Event, Performance, or Exhibit Cruise Ship Port-of-Call Business Other *Most common Other answers were Friends Trip (16), Wedding (14), Sport Event (13) Military (7) and College Visit (6). Question 8: Did you or members of your party visit an official Charleston Area Visitor Center? (660 responses) # % No Yes

25 Question 9: Please estimate how much money your travel party has spent or will spend in total for this trip in the following categories. Category/Total Per Day Per Person Per Day Per Person* Per Person Per Visit Per Person Per Visit* Per Travel Party Per Visit Per Travel Party Per Visit* Lodging $76 $91 $353 $415 $929 $1,093 Airline Tickets $75 $323 $214 $924 Auto $11 $14 $44 $54 $109 $133 Taxi Fares $1 $8 $4 $28 $14 $94 Attractions $8 $15 $33 $60 $87 $160 Tours $6 $14 $19 $47 $44 $112 Dining $43 $44 $158 $161 $423 $431 Supplies $7 $12 $43 $69 $118 $191 Retail Shopping $21 $35 $75 $124 $197 $325 Other Spending $10 $17 $40 $65 $125 $203 Total Local Expenditures $211 $211 $869 $869 $2,315 $2,150 Total Expenditures $231 $231 $944 $944 $2,530 $2,315 * Averages calculated in these columns excluded zero response. The sum of all categories does not equal total expenditures because each category was calculated based on non-zero values. Airfare Ticket expenditures were not included in Total Local Expenditures. Question 10: Please indicate which attractions you plan to visit or visited while in the Charleston area. (Check all that apply.) (Percentages based on all 661 responses; sum of percentages can exceed 100%.) Attractions # % Charleston City Market Waterfront Parks (downtown Charleston, Mt. Pleasant, North Charleston) Historic Houses Beaches Historic Plantations Historic Forts Museums Patriots Point (USS Yorktown) Charleston County Parks (Palmetto Island, James Island, Wannamaker, etc) South Carolina Aquarium Specific Event/Festival Charles Towne Landing Other* *Most common Other answers: Sporting Event (11), Parks & Gardens (8), Restaurants (7), and College of Charleston (4). Question 11: Please indicate which tours you plan to take or took. (Check all that apply.) (Percentages based on all 661 responses; sum of percentages can exceed 100%.) Tour Type # % Carriage Tour Walking Tour Boat/Water Tour Motorized Tour Other Tour (e.g. bicycle, etc) None

26 Question 12: Which of the following cities/towns did you visit while in the Charleston area? (Check all that apply.) (Percentages based on all 661 responses; sum of percentages can exceed 100%.) Cities/Towns # % City of Charleston (Downtown) Mount Pleasant West of the Ashley (West Ashley, James Island, Johns Island) North Charleston Folly Beach Isle of Palms Sullivan's Island Kiawah Island Seabrook Island Other* Mean Number of Cities/Towns Visited: 2.8 Median Number of Cities/Towns Visited: 2 *Most common Other answers were Edisto Island (17), Summerville (10), Wadmalaw Island (5) and Goose Creek (5). Question 13: How likely is it that you would recommend a visit to the Charleston area to a friend or colleague? (0 = Not at all likely to recommend; 5 = Neutral; 10 = Extremely likely to recommend) (661 responses) Score # % Mean Score: 9.5 Median Score: 10 Question 14: I will probably visit Charleston within the next: (587 responses) Months # % Years # % More than Mean: 2 years, 2 months Median: 1 year 26

27 Question 15: Please indicate what you enjoyed most about your visit to Charleston. (Check all that apply.) (Percentages based on all 661 responses; sum of percentages can exceed 100%.) Enjoyed Most # % Food/Restaurants Historic Ambiance/Atmosphere Visiting Historic Sites and Plantations Beaches/Waterfront Tours Shopping Local Hospitality Other Attractions (museums, SC Aquarium, Patriots Point, etc) Specific Event/Festival Other* *Most common Other answers: Walkability of the City (5), Art Galleries (3), and Architecture (3). Question 16: What negatively impacted your visit to Charleston? (Open-ended, percentages based on 278 responses.) Most Common Complaint Categories Response # % Weather and Humidity Traffic Parking Commercialization Restaurants Odor Personal Issue Expensive Lack of Clear Signage and Street Directions Businesses Close Early Question 17: Which (if any) Web Sites did you use to research/plan your visit to the Charleston area? (Percentage based on all 661 responses; sum of percentages can exceed 100%.) Website # % Travel Review Web Site (TripAdvisor, Yelp, etc) Charleston Area Convention & Visitors Bureau Website Online Travel Supplier Web Site (Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, etc) Individual Hotel Web Site (Marriott.com, etc) Individual Airline Web Site (Delta.com, etc) Charlestononly.com Other* I did not use the Internet to research my trip to Charleston *Most common Other answers: Google (18), VRBO (18), AAA (9), and Pinterest (8). 27

28 Question 18: Did you use any of the following technologies to help research your destination choice? (Percentages based on all 661 responses; sum of percentages can exceed 100%.) Technology # % Tablets (ipad, Kindle, etc) Smart Phone Question 19: Did you consider any other destinations when planning your trip? (628 responses) # % No Yes Most common other cities considered: (Percentages based on 181 Yes responses to the previous question; sum of percentages can exceed 100%.) Competing Cities # % Savannah, GA Beaufort, SC Myrtle Beach, SC Outer Banks, NC Hilton Head, SC Asheville, NC New Orleans, LA Atlanta, GA Florida Nashville, TN Question 20: Why did you choose Charleston as your destination instead of other destinations? (Open-ended; Percentage based on all 661 responses; sum of percentages can exceed 100%.) Most common reasons why respondents chose Charleston: Response # % Response # % History Nice City Family & Family Food/Restaurants Location Business Never Been Before Wedding Been Before Beaches Road Trip Personal Connection Recommendation Southern Charm Historic Ambiance/Atmosphere Variety of Things to Do

29 Question 21: In researching various destinations, which of the following influenced you to consider the Charleston area? (Check all that apply.) (Percentages based on all 661 responses; sum of percentages can exceed 100%.) Influencing Factor # % Friend or Relative's Recommendations Visited Charleston Before Charleston Area Convention & Visitors Bureau Web Site Charleston Area Visitors Guide Magazine/Newspaper Article Travel Media Awards & Rankings Brochure Festival/Special Event Magazine Advertisement Television Show Travel Agent Other* *Most common Other answers: Family History (13), Business Trip (9), History (3), College Tour (3), and Wedding (3). Question 22: Once you selected the Charleston area for this trip, what resources or tools did you use to plan your visit? (Check all that apply.) (Percentages based on all 739 responses; sum of percentages can exceed 100%.) Resources/Tools # % Friend or Relative's Recommendations Travel Review Website Travel Web Sites (such as Travelocity, Expedia, Orbitz, etc.) Charleston Area Convention & Visitors Bureau Web Site Charleston Area Visitors Guide Other* Hotel Web Sites (such as Marriott.com) Travel Books Local AAA Office Airline Web Sites (such as Delta.com) Travel Agent *Most common Other answers: General Self Knowledge (8), Google Searches (7), VRBO (9), AAA Website (5), and HomeAway.com (2). Question 23: Did you use any of the following technologies to plan your trip after choosing your destination? (Percentages based on all 646 responses; sum of percentages can exceed 100%.) Technology Used # % Smart Phone Tablet (ipad, Kindle, etc)

30 Question 24: Which of the following social media sites do you use? (Choose all that apply.) (Percentages based on all 661 responses; sum of percentages can exceed 100%.) Social Media # % Facebook Pinterest Instagram Twitter Blogs Other* Flickr None *Most common Other answers: SnapChat (3) and Yelp (3) Question 25: Where do you live? (654 responses) State # % State # % State # % SC KY DE NC TX OR PA LA MT OH IA CO TN CT MS International* IN AL VA MO OK NY IL HI GA RI VT MD WA AR MA WI NE MI WV KS NJ MN ME FL DC NM CA NH UT *Most common international locations: Canada (17), United Kingdom (11), and Australia (9). Question 26: Gender (650 responses) Gender # % Female Male Question 27: Marital Status (647 responses) Marital Status # % Married or Living with a Partner Single Separated or Divorced Widowed

31 Question 28: Age (636 responses) 140 Age Distribution of Respondents Mean Age: 54.6 years Median Age: 57 years Question 29: Are you Hispanic or Latino? (626 responses) # % No Yes Question 30: Please specify the race you most closely identify with: (641 responses) Race # % Caucasian/White African-American/Black Asian American Indian or Alaska Native Other

32 Question 31: How many children under 18 years of age do you have in your household? (542 responses) Children # % Ages of Children*: Age Total # % < *Respondents could list up to 6 children under the age of 18. No respondent listed more than 4 children. Overall, the average respondent had 0.4 children. Of those who had children, the average respondent had 1.9 children and the average age was 10.4 years old. Question 32: Indicate your highest level of education. (651 responses) Education # % Less than 12 years High School Graduate Technical/Trade School Some College College Graduate Some Graduate School Masters/Graduate Degree Doctoral Degree

33 Question 33: Which of the following best describes your current employment status? (646 responses) Employment # % Employed (Full-Time) Employed (Part-Time) Self-Employed Retired Semi-Retired Full-Time Homemaker Student (Full-Time) Student (Part-Time) Unemployed Question 34: In what category is your annual household income? (574 responses) Income # % Up to $44, $45,000 - $59, $60,000 - $74, $75,000 - $99, $100,000 - $124, $125,000 - $149, $150,000 - $199, $200, Question 35: Additional Comments. See Appendix F. 33

34 Appendix B Charleston Area Visitor Intercept Survey Form 34

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40 Appendix C. Survey Weighting Method More survey intercepts occurred during the spring and summer months, as well as in the City of Charleston downtown peninsula area than other areas. To be precautionary, the sampling results are assumed to be generally biased toward those visitors who stayed in Charleston downtown accommodations in the spring and summer seasons. Under-sampled visitors who stayed in other Charleston area locations (e.g. North Charleston, Mount Pleasant, etc.) and perhaps visited in fall or winter may have different behavioral patterns such as lengths of stay or spending. Thus, we balanced the survey sample responses by a weighting procedure. The weighting procedure assigns different weights to each response in the survey sample based on the total accommodation rooms sold (including hotel rooms and vacation rentals) in different locations and months. We obtain the latter information from STR Global and the vacation rental project conducted by the Office of Tourism Analysis; those numbers were then used to reduce the potential location and seasonal bias in the intercept survey. For example, a survey response in January from a visitor who stayed in North Charleston will be less likely to be sampled, so this visitor s response might subsequently be weighted as 3 responses. In contrast, a July visitor who stayed in the Charleston downtown area might be counted as a 0.5 response, since these visitors are more likely to be intercepted. Therefore, after applying the weighting procedure, the resulting sample distribution of accommodations in different locations and months in a year should more accurately match the population of all visitors to the tri-county area. 40

41 Appendix D. ZIP Code Map of 2015 U.S. Respondents Resident Addresses 41

42 Appendix E. Word Cloud from Additional Comments Question 42

43 Appendix F. All Comments from Additional Comments Question *The spelling and grammar mistakes were left uncorrected. Comments a lovely trip- 3 nights perfect. might come during a festival and add a night a wonderful city. clean, friendly, and inviting/ Love that you have public washrooms and water available to tourists. Will come back again and will continue to recommend Charleston as a stopping place. Thanks Absolutely love Charleston! Have visited 9 times in the past 15 years. I always recommend it to my friends and family. amazing city! we will definitely be back amazing that so many ancient (for the USA) houses have survived the destruction mania of the 30s and beyond. No High-rises- YES! An hour to town the USS Yorktown. Great restaurants, loved blossom! Didn't have time to tour Kiawah Isle. King st, Mt. Pleasant house rental so convenient to bridge to Charleston. nearby rental. Starbucks, wholefoods, trader joe's. nice areas, shops towards Isle of Palms. Loved ion home section. Awesome coastline nature centers. CAW CAW was a 5-star attraction. Botany bay the wildlife is what we came for Beautiful churches, rainbow row really cool. Parking garage filthy. People we met on street were very friendly. Peninsula Charleston map we were given from the hotel was poor. Better maps readily available would help a lot Beautiful city, nice people Beautiful city, wonderful people, amazing food! Thank you for the great memories and the pickled okra! We will be back!...for the okra :) Beautiful city. Love it, thanks. / (just make sure all horses are well taken care of. Thank you.) Beautiful, clean city with typically great weather. Love the friendly people and yummy food of the area Being a navy veteran, I especially enjoyed the waterfront park Came to tour College of Charleston + fell in love with the city - what a well-kept secret it is! Can't wait to return! Can't wait to visit again next year! =) Cash-only parking lots and garages in downtown area are very annoying! Charleston is wonderful city to tour. Easy to walk around, loved the architecture and feel of the southern city. Learned some of its history from tours, great experience to compare with harbor city Boston. Charleston is a beautiful area to visit. however, it needs to be careful about pricing and costs. other area are becoming more attractive and competitive as prices for accommodations and food continue to escalate downtown Charleston is a great city. So many things to see. Thought the merchants on Market St. were very reasonableespecially Art Gallery: Loved the fudge and its ice cream Charleston is a very beautiful and welcoming city! Many places to see and many restaurants to choose from! Thank you for your hard work in making it a great place to visit and live Charleston is a wonderful destination city, we will definitely continue to visit even after our son graduates Charleston is a wonderful place with true southern charm and hospitality! we enjoyed the historic sites and downtown tours. lots to do and see, we want to return in the spring to see the city in full bloom Charleston is an excellent city we enjoyed friendliness of everyone Charleston is as beautiful as we heard it would be - loved it! We saw lovely scenes in every direction we looked. Charleston is just the greatest city. I'm from NY and the ease of getting around, the cleanliness and friendly environment is appreciated 43