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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 or directly at . For more information about the TRC's research and reports, please visit the website, email trc@upei.ca or call (902) 566-6096.