TOURISM BC REPORT: New Research Highlights Activities and Motivations of Travellers
by Ray LeBlond

New Research Highlights Activities and Motivations of Travellers
In 2006, Tourism BC joined other tourism and government agencies across the country in pooling resources to extensively research US and Canadian travellers’ activities, behaviours, habits, and motivators in order to help advance the industry.

Titled the Travel Activities and Motivations Study (TAMS), more than 75,000 Canadian households and 60,000 US households were surveyed about their demographics, general travel attitudes, decision-making processes, trip-planning methods, and media habits.

Two overview reports, Travel Activities and Motivations of U.S. Residents and Travel Activities and Motivations of Canadian Residents, which summarize these findings, are now available in the research section of Tourism BC’s corporate website at www.tourismbc.com.

“By using a common tool and methodology, TAMS allows us to make a consistent and thorough comparison of North American travellers with respect to their activities, motivations, and attitudes toward travel,” explains Richard Porges, Director of Research at Tourism BC. “While some of the findings confirm what we already know, the study also provides new information identifying activities that are primary motivators for leisure trips, the relative size of markets for different activities, and awareness and interest in BC as a travel destination.”

According to TAMS, while activities such as dining and shopping were a part of most trips (but not the primary motivator), only a relatively small number of activities were primary trip motivators. Most of those surveyed indicated booking their leisure trips based on their overall perceptions of a destination, and then considering what activities to do at the destination. 

“The value of the TAMS study is that it helps us understand the level of interest in various activities, and also to define who is interested in those activities,” says Carol Nelson, Tourism BC’s Director of Marketing for North America. “It allows us to estimate the potential market size for different activities.” 

What kinds of activities are North American travellers interested in while on holiday? According to TAMS, some of the most popular are dining and shopping, visiting exhibits/historic sites/museums as well as various outdoor activities. 

The activities identified as trip motivators include amusement and theme parks as well as some water- and land-based activities. For example, 76% of trips by Americans that included a package golf tour were primarily motivated by the golf package, while 1.3% of all travellers made at least one trip that included visiting a golf course.

For more detailed activity information, five sector-specific US TAMS surveys are currently available: history and heritage, snowmobilers, backcountry lodge guests, river rafters and sea kayakers. (More activity-specific reports will become available in the next few months.)

These detailed reports offer information on the demographics and market profile of each sector activity and other activities these travellers are interested in, identifying opportunities for marketing partnerships and packaging. 
“From a provincial tourism perspective, TAMS gives us important insight into North American travel interests and helps us efficiently identify our market opportunities,” adds Carol. “It also provides us with additional data to support what we already know - that we should continue targeting key US markets such as California and Washington through marketing partnerships such as BC Escapes and other sector programs.”

Other notable findings from TAMS include:
• Americans ranked Canada as the top international destination for
overnight trips in the last two years (as well as the last 10 years).

• BC ranked as the most appealing province to visit by American
respondents.

• Two conditions were important to a majority of American travellers in
choosing a destination: Feeling safe at the destination (72%), and having
convenient access to the destination by car (51%).

• Nearly half of the American pleasure travellers used the Internet to make
travel purchases (such as airline tickets and hotel bookings).

• Americans living in Arizona, California, Colorado, Minnesota,
Washington, and Wisconsin are most likely to travel overnight.

“TAMS is an excellent example of how tourism organizations and provinces can work together to help grow the industry,” adds Richard. “Without a national partnership, projects of this size would not be possible.”

TAMS was a partnership of the following organizations:
Alberta Economic Development
Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
Canadian Tourism Commission
Department of Canadian Heritage
The Government of Northwest Territories
The Government of Yukon
The Ontario Ministry of Tourism
The Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership
Parks Canada
The Quebec Ministry of Tourism
Statistics Canada
Tourism BC
Tourism Manitoba
Tourism Saskatchewan 

To view the full TAMS reports, visit www.tourismbc.com/research or call Tourism BC’s research Info line at 250-387-1567.