Travel and Tourism in Maine The 2003 Visitor Study The Maine Highlands Prepared for the: Maine Office of Tourism June 2004

2 Size & Structure of the Maine Highlands Travel Market  The Maine Highlands region of Maine is visited on approximately one in ten of all Maine Day and Overnight trips.  It receives 3.0 million Day trips, 0.8 million Overnight trips on which 1+ nights are spent in the region itself, and another 0.2 million Overnight trips to the state on which the traveler spends some time or passes through The Maine Highlands.  This means that most (80%) of those who spend time in the region are also prompted to overnight in the region.

3 Trips to The Maine Highlands Total: 4.06 Million Trips Pass-Through 0.22 Million (8%) Day Trips 3.0 Million (73%) Stayed Overnight 0.84 Million (18.6%)

4 Key Market Segments  Overnight trips, though smaller in number than day trips, typically generate more traveler revenue for the state because they are longer and often involve spending for commercial accommodation.  Vacation or Marketable trips are worthy of particular attention for similar reasons and because the choice of destination on them is discretionary and open, therefore, to the influence of destination marketing activities.

5 Purpose of Overnight Trips to The Maine Highlands 1+ Nights in Region: 1.06 Million Trips Visit Friends/Relatives 0.41 Million (39%) Marketable Pleasure 0.45 Million (42%) Business 0.20 Million (19%)

6 Types of Marketable Trips  Shopping, Touring, and Outdoor trips are the leading types of Day trips taken to the Maine Highlands.  Outdoors, Special Events and Touring are the leading types of Overnight trips.  Touring trips are taken to travel through areas of scenic beauty, cultural or general interest.  Outdoors trips are to experience the natural environment and engage in outdoor activities such as camping, hunting, fishing, hiking, or rafting).  Special Event trips are to attend an event such as a fair, festival, pageant, race, sports meet, or a professional or college ball game.

7 Marketable Day Trip Mix Base: Marketable Day Trips

8 Overnight Marketable Trip Mix Base: Overnight Marketable Trips <1%

9 Making the Trip  The Maine Highlands attracts visitors from areas in similar proportion to the state overall. Seven-in-ten come from New England and the balance from elsewhere in the country.

10 Sources of Business Base: Total Overnight Trips

11 Making the Trip cont’d  They come throughout the year such that the region is less reliant on the high summer than the state overall.

12 Season of Trip Base: Total Overnight Trips

13 Making the Trip cont’d  They stay an average of 5.6 nights in the state and the Maine Highlands captures 3.8 of these.

14 Number of Nights in Maine Total in Maine: 5.6 Nights Maine Highlands 3.8 Nights Other Regions 1.8 Nights Base: Total Overnight Trips

15 Making the Trip cont’d  Three-in-ten those nights are spent in the homes of friends and relatives. The balance of nights are widely distributed across other accommodation types, similar to the state overall.

16 Accommodations Used* Base: Total Overnight Trips * Percent of trip nights spent in each type of accommodation

17 The Maine Highland Visitor  All kinds of travel parties visit The Maine Highlands, although they do skew somewhat more male and younger on average versus the state wide Norm.

18 Travel Party Composition Base: Total Overnight Trips

19 Gender Base: Total Overnight Trips

20 Age Base: Total Overnight Trips

21 The Maine Highland Visitor cont’d  Perhaps owing to their age, they plan and book with somewhat shorter lead times, albeit using the typical information sources. The internet is the leading source other than personal experience and friendly advice.

22 Planning Cycle Base: Total Overnight Trips

23 Booking Cycle Base: Total Overnight Trips Booked in Advance Note: On 33% of Total Overnight Trips there was no advance booking.

24 Information Sources Used Base: Total Overnight Trips

25 The Maine Highlands Experience  Their trips provided a rich and varied experience ranging from the outdoors, to shopping, enjoying local foods, and visiting historic areas. Nonetheless, the hallmarks of the Maine Highlands trips are exploring the wilderness, the natural environment, viewing wildlife, and visiting national/state parks and the countryside.

26 Things Experienced on Trip Base: Total Overnight Trips

27 Things Experienced on Trip cont’d Base: Total Overnight Trips

28 The Maine Highlands Experience cont’d  Bangor is another hallmark. It calls half of all Maine Highlands visitors to its doorstep. Whereas, Moosehead Lake-Greenville and Baxter State Park-Katahdin attract about only 15% of the region’s visitors.

29 Regional Destinations Visited Base: Total Overnight Trips

30 Product Delivery  The Maine Highlands visitors are well satisfied with Maine as a vacation destination. It stands well ahead of the U.S. Norm across a gamut of factors and especially Sports & Recreation.

31 Product Delivery Base: Total Overnight Trips

32 Product Delivery cont’d  Indeed, as many as six-in-ten of The Maine Highlands visitors strongly agree that the state has excellent opportunities for Sports & Recreation. The list includes both cold and warm weather activities and those engaged in on land and water.

33 Top Strengths Base: Total Overnight Trips

34 The Bottom Line  The Maine Highlands are an outdoor wonderland but also provide a rounded experience.  Notable marketing opportunity remains, nonetheless, in increasing the number of Maine visitors who at least spend some time in The Maine Highlands and thereby also develop an increased touring business.

35 Research Background  This report was prepared for the Maine Office of Tourism by Longwoods International.  Visitor volume and travel profile data come from:  Travel USA ®, Longwoods' syndicated survey of the U.S. travel market that contacts a representative sample of 200,000 U.S. households annually,  the follow-up survey of Maine overnight visitors identified through Travel USA ® and,  the Maine Day Visitor Study.