The Maine Office of Tourism has published results of the latest visitor tracking research by Davidson Peterson Associates.
Highlights for December 2015 - April 2016:
[This first group of items involves mainly observed behaviors, so data are pretty trustworthy.]
- Overnight visitation to Maine increased at about the same rate as that for USA overall.
- Day visitation was essentially flat.
- Canadians' share of total visits was about the same as in the same period a year ago, despite falling Loonie.
- The Maine Beaches region attracted the greatest share of both overnight and day visits; "food/beverage/culinary" and "shopping" were top drivers.
- Share of first-time visitors was flat with the previous year.
[But this next group of items involves what people said their opinions were, or what they said they will do in future. Those kinds of data are subject to a pretty big margin of error because unless they're really unhappy about their experience, people tend to tell survey-takers what they think they want to hear.]
- About three-fourths of overnight visitors and two-thirds of day-trippers said friendliness of the people exceeded their expectations.
- About two-thirds of all visitors said overall quality of customer service exceeded expectations.
- About two-thirds of overnight visitors said welcoming locals who make visitors feel comfortable exceeded expectations; day-trippers...not so much.
- About 30% of overnight visitors and 40% of day-trippers say they already have plans to visit Maine again in the next 2 years.
- 84% of overnight visitors and 77% of day-trippers say they will recommend Maine as a vacation destination to friends or relatives.
