Louisiana Welcome Center Visitor Impact Study

 Introduction

Tourist information centers (or welcome centers) play an important role in providing information to visitors as they travel to or reach a destination. Most states in the U.S. have tourist information centers located at entry points such as airports and state borders. Since the automobile is the primary mode of transportation for travelers in the U.S., information centers at state borders of major highways are especially important.  These centers are mostly state funded and are part of a concerted effort to enhance visitation and tourism expenditures, similar to the roles of the other parts of the tourism marketing mix. Just as the effectiveness of tourism advertising and promotion is assessed, the economic contribution of these welcome centers must also be assessed.

 

This current study examines the value of welcome centers in creating additional tourism expenditures that were not originally planned by visitors.  Additional spending can occur as visitors increase their length of stay in Louisiana based on information received at the welcome centers.  It can also occur when visitors spend more money during their trip by visiting additional tourist sites and attractions that they became aware of from the tourist information received at the center.

Methodology

The population for this report is comprised of all domestic visitors who stopped to ask for information at Louisiana State Welcome Centers during the fiscal year July 2003 through June 2004.  Eleven state operated centers were involved in this project during this reporting period and Center personnel randomly selected visitors to complete a travel diary.

 

Visitors were given the diary to record their actual trip characteristics, expenditures, and the influence of the information received at the center.  The diary was designed to allow participants to record the location, price and description of their expenditures and also to assess the impact of the information received at the center.      

                                                                             

Participants were asked to return their diaries upon completion of their trips.  An incentive, a CD of Louisiana music, was mailed to participants who completed and returned their diaries. 

 

Total Expenditures Attributed to Welcome Centers

In order to calculate total expenditures attributed to Welcome Centers, returned surveys were first separated between day-trippers (passers-through) and overnight visitors.  Second, Welcome Center visitor party numbers for the period of July 31, 2003 through June 30, 2004 were obtained from the Louisiana Office of Tourism and also divided into the two groups (day-trippers and overnight visitors) based on the proportions resulting from

survey responses.  Expenditures were then calculated based on the average spending data reported in the travel diaries by respondents.

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From The President's Desk…

 

      The next few months feature the 36^th Annual TTRA International Conference at the New Orleans Marriott, 555 Canal Street, June 12-15^th, plus our our 18^th Annual TTRA South Central States Chapter Conference at the Double Tree Hotel, Little Rock, September 8-9^th. Please make plans to attend both conferences.

      Harsha E. Chacko, past Chapter President, took the lead in coordinating our June 12, 2005 Board Meeting at the Palace Café in New Orleans, next to the site of the TTRA International Conference.  Marianne H. Marcell, a Chapter Board Member, will serve as the Moderator for the June 15, 2005 session titled: Tourism Satellite Accounts: Results and Rewards.  The Conference Theme is “The Three R’s: Research, Results, Rewards.”

Zaher “Zach” Hallab, another Chapter Board Member, has worked closely with Marianne in developing grant application guidelines for a TTRA South Central States Chapter Scholarship.  There is the possibility that students may apply, but this was not certain at press time.  In other words, applications had to be postmarked by April 29^th.

      Pam Smith, our Second Vice President, provided technical assistance and expertise in updating our Chapter-specific brochure.  Her findings were shared with Chapter Officers/Board Members at our April 1, 2005 Board Meeting in Vicksburg.

      Donnie Crain, Diamond State Brochure Distribution Service, Bigelow, Arkansas, is our newest Chapter Board Member, effective    January 1, 2005.  Donnie chairs our Little Rock Conference with the theme “Research Renaissance—Revitalizing the Tourism Product.”

      The day-and-a-half Chapter Conference at the Double Tree Hotel begins at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, September 8^th, and concludes just before “high noon” on Friday, September 9^th.  Guided Tours of the Clinton Presidential Center and Park will be part of the excitement.  Ditto for the Thursday dinner at the historic Capital Hotel.

      And to cap things off, our Chapter submitted its 2004 compliance documentation to TTRA International prior to their March 31, 2005 deadline.  We also forwarded our Chapter Achievement Award (for 2004) application to TTRA International, citing the successful Chapter Conference in Natchez, web site enhancements, etc.

      Mark Northington—our Chapter Secretary—just celebrated his 30^th anniversary as a state employee with Louisiana.  Nearly 2/3 of that time (the past 19 years) have been with their  Office of Tourism.  Charles McLemore also has a long tenure with the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism – 25 years.  We appreciate their time and expertise.                       

 

Sincerely,

 

Tom Van Hyning, President

TTRA South Central States Chapter

 

 

                                  

                                            

Officers

President

Mr. Tom Van Hyning, Research Manager

MDA/Tourism Division

P.O. Box 849

Jackson, MS 39205-0849

Phone: (601) 359-3297, ext. 5753

E-Mail: tvanhyning@mississippi.org                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

First Vice President

Ms. Pam McGill, Vice President of Client Partnerships

Flake Wilkerson Market Insights

333 Executive Court, Suite 100

Little Rock, AR 72205

Phone: (501) 221-3303

E-Mail:pmcgill@mktinsights.com                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

 

Second Vice President

Ms. Pam Smith, Research Specialist

Auburn University – Montgomery

Center for Business and Economic Development

600 South Court Street

Montgomery, AL 36104

Phone: (334) 244-3608

E-mail: psmith@cbed.aum.edu                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

 

Secretary

Mr. Mark Northington, Research Director

Louisiana Office of Tourism       

P.O. Box 94291    

Baton Rouge, LA 70804

Phone : (225) 342-8144 

E-mail : mnorthington@crt.state.la.us                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

Treasurer

Mr. Charles McLemore, Director of

Research & Information Services

Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism

2312 Cantrell Road

Little Rock, AR 72202

Phone: (501) 324-1520

E-Mail: charles.mclemore@mail.state.ar.us                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

 

Board of Directors

Arkansas

Mr. Donnie Crain

Diamond State Brochure Distribution Service

Bigelow, AR 72016

Phone: (501) 252-0646

E-mail: dcrain@acxiom.com

 

Louisiana

Ms. Marianne Hawkins Marcell, Research Analyst

UNO Division of Business and Economic Research

378 Business Building, Lakefront Campus

2000 Lakeshore Drive

New Orleans, LA 70148

Phone: (504) 280-6299

E-mail: mhmarcel@uno.edu                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

 

Mississippi

Ms. Arma de la Cruz, Vice President of Tourism

Greater Starkville Development Partnership

1 Research Boulevard, Suite 204

Starkville, MS 39759

Phone: (662) 323-3322

E-Mail: adelacruz@starkville.org                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

 

Mississippi

Dr. Zaher “Zach” Hallab, Assistant Professor

Hospitality Management

University of Southern Mississippi, USM Box 4877

Hattiesburg, MS 34406

Phone: (601) 266-6660

E-mail: zaher.hallab@usm.edu

 

Ex‑Officio

Dr. Harsha E. Chacko, Professor

School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism, UNO

New Orleans, LA 70148   

Phone: (504) 280-6821         

E-mail:hchacko@uno.edu

 

 

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• Visitors to Louisiana who came just for the day or were just passing through, spent a total of $21.4 million of which $8.1 million (37.9%) was attributable to information received at the Louisiana Welcome Centers (Table 1).

 

·        Overnight visitors spent a total of $240.6 million of which $47.0 million (19.5%) was attributable to information received at the Louisiana Welcome Centers (Table 2). 

 

·        For the period from July 31, 2003 through June 30, 2004 the total economic impact of day-trippers/passers-through and overnight visitors was $262.0 million of which $55.1 million (21.0%) was attributable to information received at the Louisiana Welcome Centers (Table 3).

 

Nights in Louisiana

 

According to the sign-in registrations, visitors to Louisiana’s Welcome Centers indicated they spent an average of 1.94 nights/party in Louisiana.  Visitors that filled out the Welcome Center diaries spent an average of 1.97 nights in Louisiana. The following chart indicates the number of nights spent in Louisiana, as indicated by the data:

 

 

The difficulty in comparing these numbers is twofold.  There is only space on the diary for five nights of visitation; therefore, there is no way to know if a visitor who is reporting 5 nights in Louisiana is actually truncating their visitation.  Second, there are some visitors that do not fill out the diaries completely, leaving their nights spent in Louisiana to be miscounted, as well.   For this reason, the median, which is 2.0, would be a more accurate count of the number of nights spent in Louisiana than the mean.  For future reporting, the median number of nights according to the sign-in registrations should be reported for comparative purposes and/or a question should be added to the visitor diaries asking how many nights visitors intend to spend in Louisiana.

 

Welcome Center Level of Influence

 

·        The Welcome Centers had moderate influence on helping respondents choose where to go on their trip with an average rating of 5.4 on a scale where 0 = no influence to 9 = very heavy influence.  Slidell (6.3) received the highest average influence. 

 

Survey Demographics

 

·        The percentage of respondents indicating that they were retired varied widely by Welcome Center.  On average, 57.0% of respondents were retirees. 

 

·        For level of education,  the majority (55.7%) of respondents were college graduates or higher.  

 

·        As indicated, most respondents indicated that their occupation was retired (42.2%); professional (29.5%) and managerial (11.0%) were the next highest responses.

 

·        The annual income of respondents on average clustered in the $25,000 - $49,999 category (29.8%) and the $50,000 - $74,999 category (32.8%). 

 

Table 1:  Total Expenditures by Daytrippers/Passers-Through (July 31, 2003 through June 30, 2004)

 

 

 

 

Table 2: Total Expenditures by Overnight Visitors  (July 31, 2003 through June 30, 2004)