Visitor Survey Report 2013 Contents 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................1 2. Methodology ..............................................................................................................2 2.1 Questionnaire design ..................................................................................................2 2.2 Method .......................................................................................................................2 2.3 Sample size .................................................................................................................3 2.4 Data analysis ...............................................................................................................3 2.5 Limitations ..................................................................................................................3 3. Key findings ................................................................................................................4 3.1 Trip pattern .................................................................................................................4 3.2 Transport use ..............................................................................................................12 3.3 Awareness of the Northumberland Coast AONB .......................................................16 3.4 Activities .....................................................................................................................25 3.5 Satisfaction .................................................................................................................30 3.6 Supporting sustainable tourism ..................................................................................33 3.7 Visitor profile ..............................................................................................................36 4. Conclusion ..................................................................................................................40 5. Appendices .................................................................................................................42 5.1 QA Research questionnaire ........................................................................................42 5.2 Comments verbatim ...................................................................................................52 Table of Tables Table 1: Number of respondents .............................................................................................3 Table 2: Overnight visitor by type (Q3a) ..................................................................................5 Table 3: Party size – adults (Q1)...............................................................................................7 Table 4: Party size – children (Q1) ...........................................................................................7 Table 5: Do you have a dog with you? (Q2b) ...........................................................................10 Table 6: Number of repeat visits (Q7a and Q7b) .....................................................................11 Table 7: Are you aware that you are in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty? (Q6) ............16 Table 8: Unavailable activities (Q8b) .........................................................................................29 Table 9: Improvements respondents would like to see made (Q9b)........................................31 Table 10: Likelihood of future visits (Q10) .................................................................................32 Table 11: Likelihood of recommending a visit to the Northumberland Coast (Q11) ..................32 Table 12: What time(s) of year would you consider visiting? (Q13a) .........................................33 Table 13: Willingness to support sustainable tourism activities (Q14) .......................................34 Table 14: To what extent would you be willing to..? (Q14) .........................................................35 Table 15: Region of origin for visitors (Q16) ..............................................................................37 Table 16: Region of origin day trip vs. overnight stays (Q16) ....................................................38 Table 17: Breakdown of spend per visitor type (Q15) ...............................................................39 Table of Charts Chart 1: Type of visit (Q3a).......................................................................................................4 Chart 2: Short and long stays (Q3c) .........................................................................................5 Chart 3: Number of nights stayed within the AONB (Q3c) ......................................................6 Chart 4: Party type (Q2a) .........................................................................................................9 Chart 5: Breakdown of party type (Q2a) ..................................................................................10 Chart 6: Kinds of transport used (Q4i) .....................................................................................12 Chart 7: Breakdown of transport used (Q4i) ............................................................................13 Chart 8: Main kind of transport used (Q4ii) .............................................................................14 Chart 9: Breakdown of main kind of transport used (Q4ii) ......................................................15 Chart 10: Sources of information used pre-trip (Q5ai) ...............................................................17 Chart 11: Breakdown of sources of information used pre-trip (Q5ai) ........................................18 Chart 12: Main source of information used pre-trip (Q5aii) .......................................................19 Chart 13: Breakdown of main sources of information used pre-trip (Q5aii) ..............................20 Chart 14: Sources of information used today (Q5bi) .................................................................21 Chart 15: Breakdown of sources of information used today (Q5bi) ...........................................22 Chart 16: Main source of information used today (Q5bii) ..........................................................23 Chart 17: Breakdown of main sources of information used today (Q5bii) .................................24 Chart 18: All activities undertaken (Q8ai) ...................................................................................25 Chart 19: Breakdown of all activities undertaken (Q8ai) ............................................................26 Chart 20: Main activity undertaken (Q8aii) .................................................................................27 Chart 21: Breakdown of main activities undertaken (Q8aii) .......................................................28 Chart 22: Satisfaction with facilities and services (Q9a) .............................................................30 Chart 23: Visitor age (Q17) .........................................................................................................36 Chart 24: Resident age (Q17) .....................................................................................................36 Table of Figures Figure 1: Map of survey location areas ......................................................................................2 1. Introduction This document reports the main findings from the Northumberland Coast AONB Visitor Survey which was conducted from March-August 2013. The aim of the survey was to increase understanding of visitor activity within the AONB and provide an informed base from which to manage tourism in a more sustainable way. Individual objectives within the survey were to establish: 1. Trip pattern 2. Transport use 3. Awareness of the Northumberland Coast AONB 4. Activities 5. Satisfaction 6. Support for sustainable tourism 7. Visitor profile The results have been used to help inform the Northumberland Coast AONB Partnership’s Sustainable Tourism Strategy. 1 2. Methodology 2.1 Questionnaire design The last visitor survey carried out by the AONB was in 2005. This survey ran for 12 months and was also used to inform the AONB’s previous Sustainable Tourism Strategy. To allow results to be compared back to this earlier survey, the 2013 questionnaire is largely based on the 2005 design. A copy of the questionnaire used can be found in Appendix 5.1 2.2 Method Face to face interviewing was the main method used to determine the activities and opinions of visitors. Different interview sites were used in order to try and make the sample as representative as possible. Due to limited AONB staff time, QA Research were contracted to carry out most of the face to face interview work. This allowed for a much greater sample size to be achieved and increased the robustness of the results. The same interview location points as the 2005 survey were used to ensure a good geographical spread of responses was obtained (Figure 1). There were five main surveys areas, with several sub-locations within each: Area A - Berwick-upon-Tweed, Spittal, Cocklawburn, Budle Bay Area B - Holy Island Area C - Bamburgh, Seahouses and Beadnell Area D - Low Newton-by-the-Sea, Embleton, Dunstan, Craster, Howick and Boulmer Area E - Alnmouth, Warkworth and Amble As well as face to face interviews, self-completion questionnaires were used to capture the