Montana Travel and Tourism: Trends, Outlook, and Resident Attitudes

1
Montana Travel and TourismTrends, Outlook, and
Resident Attitudes
2005 Governors Conference on Tourism and
Recreation

• Jim Wilton, Assistant Director
• Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research
• University of Montana Missoula
• March 21, 2005

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Montana Travel Trends and Outlook
2005 Governors Conference on Tourism and
Recreation
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Nonresident Travel Impacts for Montana

• 1.93 billion in direct expenditures
• 2.62 billion combined economic impacts
• 27,600 direct jobs 36,900 combined jobs
• 513 million in direct income
• 135 million in state/local taxes
• Vacationers spend 142/day

4
Nonresident Visitation 94-04
0.3
ppreliminary
5
National Park Visitation 95-04
-5
22
ppreliminary
6
Montana Airline Deboardings
5
ppreliminary
7
2004 Deboardings by City

• Helena 11.6
• Bozeman 9.7
• Kalispell 6.9
• Missoula 5.9
• Great Falls 5.8
• Billings 4.6
• Butte 3.7

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Hotel Accommodations
4.6
-0.4
preliminary
Source Smith Travel Research
9
Ski Area Visitation
6
10
Recent Best Ski Seasons

• 03-04 Lookout Pass
• Great Divide
• 01-02 Blacktail
• Marshall
• Snowbowl
• Turner
• 00-01 Big Sky
• 99-00 Lost Trail

97-98 Red Lodge 96-97 Maverick 95-96
Discovery 94-95 Big Mountain Bridger Bowl 93-94
Showdown Teton Pass
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Lewis and Clark Events
12
Lewis and Clark Visitation
13
Local Lewis and Clark Visitation
-3
14
National Travel Outlook
Source TIA
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Tourism Business Owners

• 2004 Visitation
• Increased 49
• Decreased 23
• Same as 2003 28
• 2005 Visitation Outlook
• Increase 67
• Decrease 7
• Same as 2004 26

• Perspectives on Taxes
• Nonresidents pay their fair share
• Do not believe a sales tax would deter visitation
• Sales tax would benefit Montanas economy
• Support a sales tax
• Support local option sales tax

67
72
63
54
42
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2005 Outlook for Montana

• 2 increase over 2004
• Weakening dollar, more Canadian travelers
• 2/3s of tourism business owners expect increases
• Lewis and Clark events

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2004 Montana Resident Attitude Survey
2005 Governors Conference on Tourism and
Recreation
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Survey Overview

• Pre-survey notification letter to random sample
• 1st round of questionnaires with cover letter
• Reminder/thank you postcard
• 2nd round of questionnaires with new cover letter
• Survey period Sept. - Dec. 2004

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Response

• Original sample size 1000
• Undeliverable questionnaires 125
• Deliverable questionnaires 875
• Completed questionnaires 410
• Response rate 47

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Respondent Characteristics

• Average age (mean) 48
• Age range 23 96
• Female 45 Male 55
• Born in Montana 52
• Years in Montana 33
• Urban 66 Rural 34
• Employed 68 Retired 20
• Homemaker 7 Unempl. 6

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Household Employment Type

• Professional 30 Restaurant/bar 8
• Health care 23 Trans/comm/util 8
• Education 16 Clerical 7
• Services 16 FIRE 6
• Retail/whlsl trade 15 Forest products 4
• Agriculture 12 Armed services 3
• Construction 12 Travel industry 3
• Manufacturing 8 Other 21
• Mean household employment 1.5 persons

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Interaction with Visitors

• Frequent contact 10
• Somewhat frequent contact 23
• Somewhat infrequent contact 36
• Infrequent contact 31

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Attitudes Toward Tourists

• Enjoy meeting and interacting
• with tourists 63
• Indifferent about meeting and
• interacting with tourists 34
• Do not enjoy meeting and interacting
• with tourists 4

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Description of Job

• My job provides
• the majority of its products or services
• to tourists or tourist businesses 6
• at least part of its products or services
• to tourists or tourist businesses 30
• none of its products or services to
• tourists or tourist businesses 36
• I currently do not have a job 28

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Tourisms Role in Local Economy

• No role 3
• A minor role 23
• A role equal to other industries 58
• A dominant role 16

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Desirability of Economic Development Options

• 1. Services 3.12
• 2. Technology 3.30
• 3. Agriculture 3.73
• 4. Manufacturing 4.28
• 5. Retail/wholesale trade 4.34
• 6. Tourism/recreation 4.44
• 7. Wood products 5.86
• 8. Mining 6.72

Scale 1 (most desired) 8 (least desired)
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Perceptions of Population Change

• Population is not changing 10
• Population is increasing 76
• Population is decreasing 14
• Rate of Population Change
• Too fast 50
• About right 44
• Too slow 6

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Quality of Life - Current Condition

• Emergency services 1.17
• Overall community livability 1.14
• Parks/recreation areas 1.14
• Safety from crime 1.01
• Overall cleanliness/appearance .90
• Education system .74
• Infrastructure .72
• Museums/cultural centers .71
• Condition of roads/highways .18
• Traffic congestion -.05
• Cost of living -.13
• Job opportunities -.53

Overall mean .58 (2001.63)
Scale -2 (very poor condition) to 2 (very good
condition)
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Quality of Life - Tourisms Influence

• Museums/cultural centers .89
• Job opportunities .61
• Education system .58
• Parks/recreation areas .43
• Overall cleanliness/appearance .25
• Overall community livability .22
• Emergency services .17
• Condition of roads/highways .01
• Infrastructure -.04
• Cost of living -.08
• Safety from crime -.12
• Traffic congestion -.60

Overall mean .19 (2001.12)
Scale -1 (negative influence) to 1 (positive
influence)
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Tourism Support

• Benefit financially with more tourism
  -.58
• More tourism increases income/security
  -.53
• More tourism increases quality of life -.24
• Jobs in tourism offer advancement opps -.04
• Tourism helps growth in right direction .48
• Tourism benefits outweigh impacts .62
• Area good for investing in tourism .57
• Support continued tourism promotion .79
• Meet new people/cultures thru tourism
  .94
• Promotion benefits area economically
  .81
• Index of Tourism Support .28 (2001.25)

Scale -2 (strongly disagree) to 2 (strongly
agree)
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Tourism Concern

• Tourists limit my recreation access -.42
• MT overcrowded because of tourists -.36
• Too many tourists move to MT .10
• Tourists dont pay their fair share .34
• Tourism jobs pay low wages .89
• Index of Tourism Concern .11 (2001.15)

Scale -2 (strongly disagree) to 2 (strongly
agree)
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Community Attachment

• Sorry if I had to leave my community .82
• Rather live here than anywhere else .79
• Future of community looks bright .45
• Index of Community Attachment .69 (2001.60)

Scale -2 (strongly disagree) to 2 (strongly
agree)
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Land Use Issues

• Support land use regulations to
• manage growth .83 (.68)
• Concerned about disappearance
• of open space .41 (.37)
• There is adequate undeveloped
• open space .23 (.21)

2001
Scale -2 (strongly disagree) to 2 (strongly
agree)
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Tourism Decision-Making

• Tourism decisions are best left to
• private sector -.54 (-.50)
• Important for resident involvement
• in tourism decisions 1.30 (1.24)

2001
Scale -2 (strongly disagree) to 2 (strongly
agree)
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Thank you.
2005 Governors Conference on Tourism and
Recreation

• www.itrr.umt.edu