Virginia State Tourism Plan Virginia Tourism Corporation March 2013
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Virginia State Tourism Plan Virginia Tourism Corporation March 2013 PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Table of Contents Volume 1: Virginia State Tourism Plan Page Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………....................…………………..................................................1 Where Are You Today?.........................………………………………………………….........………………….…..……………............................................5 Where Do You Want To Be?.............................……………………....……………..……………………………………...................................................16 How Do You Get There?................................…………………………………..……………………………………..........................................................18 Outcome 1 - Products.............................……………………………………..…………………………………….........................................................23 Outcome 2 - Pillars................................…………………………………..…………......……………………...........................................................108 Outcome 3 - Partnerships............................……………………………………..……………………………………..................................................129 Outcome 4 - Promotions......................……………………………………..……………………….........……..........................................................142 Outcome 5 - Policies....................................……………………………………..……………………......…………...................................................157 Volume 2: Regional Sections Volume 3: Appendices Introduction PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP ("PwC") was engaged by the Virginia Tourism State Tourism Plan Features: Corporation ("VTC") to develop a statewide tourism plan that will guide the development of Virginia's tourism industry and serve as a blueprint for Five-year blueprint for tourism direction in the communities to develop products that will provide a competitive edge while also Commonwealth with a regional focus preserving the authenticity of its regions and the Commonwealth. The plan enables communities to build upon Virginia's diverse tourism assets and success as a Direction that will provide competitive edge and destination while preparing it to compete in the global economy. Ultimately, the increase economic development through tourism plan is designed to increase economic development through tourism. Built upon the vision and input of Virginia's tourism This plan identifies a vision for the Commonwealth's tourism industry and industry stakeholders establishes a set of desired outcomes, objectives, and strategies for both the public Tourism strategy, not a marketing plan with and private sectors to achieve this vision. This direction for tourism identifies the advertising and slogans key lures or areas of focus for tourism products on statewide and regional bases to increase competitiveness. It also sets a framework for the tourism infrastructure, partnerships, promotions, and policies needed to support tourism growth. Why Virginia Needs the State Tourism Plan? Virginia is highly diverse in its tourism experiences, yet focus is needed to enable growth. Virginia is committed to tourism; and future efforts to grow tourism need to be strategically planned in a cohesive manner. Virginia needs to build on its tourism asset base and its successes, yet continue to be innovative and competitive. Global competition for tourists continues to increase; and a plan is needed to ensure Virginia remains competitive. Virginia has the opportunity through this plan to unite as a state and chart its path towards being a world-class place to visit and live. What is the State Tourism Plan? This state tourism plan is a blueprint that identifies areas of development and growth for the tourism industry. The blueprint is an overall plan for the state that will also provide focus to Virginia’s nine regional tourism areas. The plan looks at where the tourism industry needs to go over the next five years to provide a competitive edge and increase economic development through tourism. The plan is industry driven, built on the vision and input gathered from more than 1,300 of Virginia’s tourism stakeholders. 1 Methodology PwC developed and implemented a customized approach to develop a statewide plan with a regional focus, built on input from a broad group of Where are Where do How do tourism stakeholders. The plan process focused on studying three critical you you want you get areas: 1) Where are you today? 2) Where do you want to be? today? to be? there? 3) How do you get there? Within these three areas, analyses of the industry and market were conducted along with a visioning process where stakeholder input was gathered to ultimately prepare the tourism strategic plan. Research was a critical step in developing the plan. PwC undertook an extensive research effort involving two key areas: the first involved primary research through personal visitor experience and reaching out to tourism stakeholders in Virginia to understand the current state of tourism in Virginia, including regional lures, challenges, and desired vision for the next five years; and the second involved an analysis of the tourism industry on a global, national, and state level basis, including trending visitor volume, spending, tourism funding, traveler preferences, competitive comparisons, and tourism assets inventory. These research and analysis efforts were conducted in parallel to each other, whereby PwC analyzed the results of each effort to develop the basis for the tourism development plan. PwC gathered input from industry stakeholders through a variety of methods, Stakeholder Input: including an on-line survey, group workshops, and individual discussions, which covered the diversity of the industry from each region. Stakeholders included Input from more than 1,300 Virginians representatives from VTC, state agencies (Department of Conservation and Workshops - 180 participants in 10 sessions Recreation, Department of Transportation, Department of Game and Inland Individual Discussions - 140 Fisheries, Virginia Economic Development Partnership, and others), Survey – More than 1,000 completed responses representatives of the State General Assembly, destination marketing organizations (DMOs), tourism associations, regional/local government leaders, tourism attraction management (wineries, theme parks, parks, agri-tourism, etc.), hoteliers, meeting facilities, arts & cultural organizations, national parks, developers, airport & transportation entities, corporations, colleges/universities, tour companies, event organizers, sports organizations, sports venues, and others. Stakeholder input and market and industry analysis established a comprehensive view of Virginia's diverse tourism industry, allowing PwC to gain an understanding of the tourism market, socio-cultural character, and its key issues related to tourism products, infrastructure, partnerships, promotions, and policies of the Commonwealth and its regions. These elements culminated into the tourism development plan for the Commonwealth. 2 With input from primary and secondary research, including tourism industry stakeholders, numerous factors formed the basis of the State Tourism Plan for Virginia, including the tourism industry’s own vision for the region, an inventory and analysis of the tourism assets currently offered, input and analysis of visitor information, and an analysis of the competitive environment. These four key areas are further described below: Industry Vision: The industry vision served as the foundation for the State’s tourism strategy, based on input from approximately 1,300 responses statewide. Tourism Assets: Virginia’s tourism assets were analyzed by the study team. This included the current mix of tourism products such as attractions, visitor activities, hotel inventory, natural assets and topography, industry base, and socio-cultural character. The strengths and challenges of the state’s current characteristics such as infrastructure, road/air accessibility, partnerships, policies, and promotions were also discussed with numerous key stakeholders and assessed. In addition to the study team’s personal experience throughout the state, other input contributed to an understanding of the existing tourism assets, including input from tourism stakeholders, VTC databases, local tourism marketing information/promotional information from destination marketing organizations, existing tourism plans from numerous destinations throughout the state, tourism industry associations, tourism industry resources, PwC resources, and others. Consumer Perspective: Research was analyzed on a global, national, state, and regional level. This research included visitor trends, activities, perceptions/preferences, performance indications, and emerging elements. Macro trends impacting tourism such as population and demographic trends, GDP/GSP, unemployment rates, consumer prices, personal consumption spending, gas prices, and other factors impacting tourism in a broad sense were also analyzed. Sources of research related to Virginia compiled by the VTC were analyzed, which included profiles of past visitors (by traveler type, geography, season, and activity), traveler attitude studies, and other data. Profiles of past visitors (statewide) showed activities engaged in which are offered in the state, seasonality, party size, spending, demographics, income levels, travel distance and patterns, duration of trip, travel party origin, and other relevant information. Attitude studies of past and prospective travelers provided additional insight