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Information on this page is provided by Purdue Tourism & Hospitality Research Center (PTHRC) and Hamilton County Convention & Visitors Bureau. Permission to use the information, partially or in whole, can be obtained by contacting PTHRC.
DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF HAMILTON COUNTY VISITORSDemographically,
the majority of visitors to Hamilton County are in the 25 to 49 year age
group, are managers and executives, and work in professional/technical jobs,
have college degrees, and reside in the East North Central census region (IN,
MI, OH, IL, and WI). Although this general profile tends to apply throughout
the year, there are some noticeable exceptions by season. In the following
paragraphs, the highlights of this analysis for 1993-94 and by season are
presented. Age
Groups
In 1993-94, about 74 % of respondents were aged 35 or more. By season,
this proportion of over 35s did not deviate from the annual weighted
average, ranging from a low of 71.8% in Winter '94 to a high of 78.3% in
Spring '94. Only 8.7% of 1993-94 respondents were under the age of 25. When
looking at the age compositions of entire travel parties, some interesting
seasonal variations were noted. The percentage of teenagers and younger
children was at its highest in Fall '93 (49.9% of all travel party members)
and at its lowest in Summer '94 (24.5%). The proportions of 55 or older
persons were at their highest in Summer '94 (24.5% of all travel party
members) and Spring '94 (11.5%).
For the year of 1993-94, 60.3% of respondents and 41% of all travel
party members were aged between 25 and 54. The largest single age bracket of
respondents was those visitors between 35 and 44 at 29.8%. For all travel
party members, it was the ages between 5 and 12 at 26.8%. The statistic for
this young group was skewed due to its high proportion (37.9%) in Fall '93. Educational
Backgrounds
Overall, the 1993-94 visitors to Hamilton County appeared to be more
highly educated than the average U.S. traveler. More than 76.9% of all
respondents had some college experience. Approximately 54% of the respondents
had earned college degrees, while 21.3% of the total sample had postgraduate
degrees. The smallest proportion with earned college degrees was noted in Fall
'93 (49.4%) and the highest in Winter '94 (58.6%). Occupations
The majority of Hamilton County's visitors were from three occupational
groupings professional/technical (32.7%), manager/executive (19.6%), and
retired (13%). There were also smaller, but nevertheless significant, portions
of skilled/unskilled workers (9.4%), and homemakers (8.6%). The distributions
of occupational groupings were consistent from season to season, except in
Winter '94 when the proportion of clerical and sales people was higher at
12.6%. Household
Incomes
Visitors to the Hamilton County area in 1993-94 had high household
incomes compared to the average U.S. traveler. While 20.1% of the respondents
were not willing to divulge income range information, the remaining 79.9%
did. Approximately 57.7% of all respondents indicated that their household
incomes were $40,000 or more. This group represented 72.2% of those who
provided the income data. About 33% of all respondents -- and 41.7% of those
providing income data -- reported incomes of $60,000 or more, with some 18.1%
of all respondents having incomes in the $80,000 and over range. Only 5% of
all the visitors interviewed claimed annual, before tax household
incomes below $20,000. The three most frequently encountered income brackets
in $10,000 increments were $30,000-$39,999 (10.8%), $50,000-$59,999 (12.7%),
and $80,000 and over (18.1%). This pattern held true in each of the four
seasons of 1993-94, except in Spring '94 when the $60,000-$69,000 range
replaced $30,000-$39,000 bracket in the top three.
The majority of respondents in four of the five interviewing periods
were female, at 52.2%. The female to male ratio was highest in Spring '94 at
5.6:4.4 and lowest in Winter, when there were more male (54.6%) than female
respondents. GEOGRAPHIC ORIGINS OF VISITORSIn
1993-94, the majority (81.0%) of Hamilton County's U.S. visitors were from
five states; Indiana (55.8%), Ohio (9.8%), Illinois (7.3%), Michigan (5.0%),
and Kentucky (3.1%). The leading census region was East North Central (IL, IN,
MI, OH, WI), accounting for 78.8% of all U.S. visitors, or 76.8% of all
visitors. Only two other census regions generated what could be considered a
significant volume of visitors -- South Atlantic (5.6%) and East South Central
(3.5%). Only 2.4% of all respondents were from outside of the United States.
The
average travel party size for 1993-94 was 5.4 persons. About 68.8% of all
respondents were return visitors to Hamilton County, while only 31.2% were
visiting for the very first time. 44.3% of visitors were on short duration
trips of between one and four nights, while another 46.5% were on day trips
only. Size
of Travel Parties
Travel party sizes ranged from just one traveler to one group of 200
visitors. The average party size of 5.4 persons was upwardly skewed due to the
larger party size in Fall '93 (7.9 persons). The majority (78.7%) of visitors
to Hamilton County in 1993-94 were in party sizes of 4 persons or less. The
most frequently encountered party sizes were two persons (31% of respondents),
followed by 4 persons (17.4%) and solo travelers (17.3%). However, a
significant 21.3% of all respondents were in groups of five or more people.
There was also considerable variation in party size by season. For example,
the estimated average travel party size reached a high of 7.9 persons in Fall
'93 but fell to a low of 2.8 persons in Winter '94. Type
of Travel Party
The majority (68.5%) of Hamilton County's 1993-94 visitors were
traveling as families, with or without friends. Solo travelers were the next
largest group at 19.5%. The next largest party type was group of friends
(7.9%). There were marked differences in travel party compositions by season.
While 74% of the respondents in Fall '93 were with their families with or
without friends, this proportion fell to 61.5% in Winter '94. In contrast, in
that season solo travelers reached a high of 29.3% of respondents, but
represented only 11.7% in Fall '93.
When combining this party composition data with the age information
discussed earlier, the inference is that Fall is the season when the largest
proportion of families with younger children (5-12) tend to visit Hamilton
County. During Spring, the largest proportion of families visiting Hamilton
County tend to include both teenagers and younger children. During the rest of
the year, the average party size drops as do the amount of family travel and
the number of travelers below 20 years of age. Trip
Purposes
Approximately 72% of all Hamilton County's 1993-94 visitors indicated
that their main trip purpose was pleasure (i.e., vacation). Business travelers
accounted for about 19% and visitors traveling for personal reasons for 8.9%.
As might be expected, there were significant differences in trip purposes by
season. Spring '94 had the highest proportion of pleasure travelers at nearly
80%. Fall '93 had the next highest proportion of pleasure travelers at close
to 77%, while Winter '94 had the lowest percentage at 64%. The proportions of
business travelers to total travelers were highest in Winter '94 (27.6) and
Summer '94 (24%). Business travelers were at their lowest relative level in
Spring '94 (12.8%) and Fall '93 (14.2%). Persons traveling on personal
business reached a high of 11.2% in Summer '94.
The most frequently cited specific trip purposes were visiting a
specific attraction (29.9%), vacationing in Hamilton County (18.9%), visiting
friends and relatives in Hamilton County (14.8%), attending special
event/festival (8.6%), attending a convention, conference, meeting, or trade
show (7.8%), visiting local office of own organization (3.9%), making sales
call on local business (3.5%), attending wedding (3.3%), and fishing/boating
(3.0%). Other trip purposes in the questionnaire were mentioned by very few
people. Number
of Previous Visits to Hamilton County
As was mentioned earlier, the majority (68.8%) of respondents in
1993-94 had visited Hamilton County on at least one previous occasion. In
fact, some 54.7% had visited the area at least twice previously. Generally,
this pattern held in each of the four seasons, except in Winter '94, where
return visitors made up of 78.1% of all respondents, and Summer '94 where
first time visitors reached a high of nearly 40%. Final
Destinations and Prior Travel Stops
Some 84.1% of all the 1993-94 respondents stated that Hamilton County
was their final destination on their current trip. The remaining 15.9% had
other final destinations. This relationship held stable for Fall '93 and
Summer '94, but there was a marked difference in Winter '94, when nearly 90%
indicated Hamilton County as their destination, and in Spring when the
percentage lowered to 80.6%.
Those respondents with final destinations other than Hamilton County
were primarily headed for other places in Indiana (69.5% ). On the top of the
other Indiana destinations was Indianapolis (41.7%). The other 30.5% were
headed for other states, with close to 5% for Illinois and 8% for Kentucky. A
similar pattern was noticed for those providing information on places visited
before arriving in Hamilton County. Again, these tended to have been in
Indiana, with Indianapolis being cited most frequently. Modes
of Transportation
Given Hamilton County's location and transportation facilities, it
could be expected that the visitor's predominant mode of transportation would
be the automobile. In fact, 89.4% of all respondents indicated that private or
rented vehicles were used. The only other significant transportation mode used
was commercial airline at 10.9%. The patterns were consistent throughout the
year. There was some seasonal variation in other transportation mode usage.
Motor coach usage reached 5% in Fall, but none in Winter. Taxi was used by
2.6% of the respondents in Summer. There was little taxi usage in other
seasons. 2.3% of the respondents came to Hamilton County using limousine
service in Winter. The limousine usage in other seasons was little. Lengths
of Stay
As mentioned above, trips to Hamilton County tended to be of relatively
short duration; 46.5% of the respondents were on day trips involving no
overnight stays, while one and two night stays accounted for
another 31.9% of the respondents. The average length of stay of those
respondents staying overnight in Hamilton County is estimated to be
approximately 1.51 nights. The highest proportion of stays of two or more
nights was noted in Summer '94 (53.5% of respondents); and the lowest
proportion in Fall '93 (28.7%). Accordingly, the average length of stay was
longest in Summer '94 (2.23 nights), and shortest in Fall '93 (1.1 nights).
Winter lengths of stay (1.32) and Spring '94 (1.45) were in between. Accommodation
Usage
The majority of 1993-94 visitors to Hamilton County who remained
overnight (83.4%) stayed in local hotels and motels. The other major type of
accommodation was the home of a friend or relative at 13.6% of those remaining
overnight. The patterns remained stable except in Winter '94, when close to
94% of overnight visitors chose hotels for accommodation. The hotel
accommodation use by overnight visitors was lowest in Summer (75.4%). The use
of friends and relatives' homes was at a low of 6.2% in Winter. The specific
hotels by respondents were as follows:
Other lodging places, including those in Indianapolis, were mentioned
by less than 10 visitors who remained overnight while visiting Hamilton
County. Visitor
Expenditure Patterns
Respondents were given the alternative of estimating their travel
expenditures in Hamilton County for themselves only or for their travel
parties as a whole. For respondents only, some 80.4% expected to spend less
than $250, while the remaining 19.6% (50 respondents) expected to spend $250
or more in the community. For those estimating for their whole travel parties
as a group, 72.2% expected to spend less than $250 and the remaining 27.8% to
spend $250 or more. The largest single expected spending categories were under
$100 (59.7% and 49.2% for individuals and groups respectively), $100 to
$249.99 (20.8% and 23.1%), and $250 to $399.99 (10.1% and 14.9%).
Although smaller in relative proportions, there was a significant
number (5.5%) of respondents who themselves expected to spend $400 to $749.99.
The group spending estimates in the $400-$749.99 bracket were 9.3%. Of the
respondents themselves, 3.8% expected to spend $750 or more in Hamilton
county, the percentage was 3.9% for group estimates.
Once again, there was considerable seasonal variation in this spending
estimate data. The highest proportion of spending estimates below $100 for
respondents was in Spring '94 (72.4%); that for groups was 58.4% in Fall '93.
Spending estimates appeared to be higher in Fall '93 (14.4% at $350 and above)
for respondents, and in Summer '94 (18.4% at $350 and above) for entire travel
parties.
MEDIA AND TRAVEL INFORMATION USAGE
For advertising and marketing purposes, it was felt to be important to
ask respondents about their media habits. Therefore, the questionnaire
included questions on usage of magazines, newspapers, and radio stations. Magazines,
Newspapers, Radio Stations
The popular magazines read by what could be considered a significant
proportion of respondents were Reader's Digest (22.1%), Newsweek (18.9%),
Better Homes and Gardens (16.4%), People (14.6%), National Geographic (13.8%),
Sports Illustrated (12.8%), Country Living (12.4%), Business Week (8.6%),
Midwest Living (8.2%), Time (6.8%), U.S. News & World Report (6.7%),
Indianapolis Magazine (6.3%), and Redbook (6.0%) . Among newspapers, the most
frequently mentioned were the Indianapolis Star (34.4%), USA Today (21.9%),
Wall Street Journal (13.7%), Indianapolis News (8.4%), and the Chicago Tribune
(7.1%).
Radio station listening patterns were more dispersed than for magazine
and newspaper readership. Although 12 stations were mentioned by 3% or more of
all the respondents, only one station (WFBQ FM 94.7) had an above 10% audience
of all the respondents. Travel
Information Sources Given the very high proportion of repeat visits noted earlier, it is not surprising that a large proportion of the 1993-94 respondents did not actively seek travel related information for their current visits. In fact, 64.9% of all the respondents indicated that they "didn't look for or receive any information" or they "already knew about Hamilton County." The only significant information sources used were friends or relatives at 10.9% of respondents, and the AAA travel guides at 6.8%. Also, nearly 3% of the respondents sought information through the Indiana Tourism Division. All other information sources were used very infrequently.
VISITS, AWARENESS, AND RATINGS OF HAMILTON COUNTY'S ATTRACTIONS AND FACILITIES To
get some idea of the respondents' usage and ratings of local attractions,
events, and facilities, they were asked if they had visited specific locations
and, if so, to rate them on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being their highest
possible rating. The results discussed below give an indication of the most
popular attractions and events and, in addition, may indicate where some
Given the large proportion of return visitors among the respondents,
the previous visitation to most local attractions was relatively low
indicating that more needs to be done to convince Hamilton County's visitors
to visit its attractions and events when they are in the community. For
example, the highest single percentage of previous visits to any individual
attraction or event within Hamilton County stood at 36.8% for Conner Prairie.
The next highest within-county attractions was Deer Creek Music Center at
23.1%. Other attractions and places were previously visited by less than 20%
of the respondents. 37.5% and 28.9% of the respondents did indicate that they
had been to Hamilton County's restaurants and hotels respectively on previous
trips. However, these aggregate statistics do not apply to any specific eating
place or lodging property.
Some attractions and places in neighboring communities were scored
higher than the within-county attractions in terms of previous visitation.
47.6% of the respondents had visited Union Station prior to the current trip
to Hamilton County. The percentage was 43.2% for Castleton Mall, 41.9% for
Indy's Children's Museum, 39.7% for Keystone at the Crossing Fashion Mall ,
37.8% for Indy 500 Motor Speedway Museum, 37.5% for Indianapolis Zoo, and
27.8% for Zionsville.
When asked about visitation to local attractions and places on
current trips, except for Conner Prairie (23.5%), other individual
within-county attractions and places had been or were to be visited by fewer
than 10% of the respondents. In contrast, larger proportion of the respondents
indicated that they were aware of these attractions and places but had not
visited nor intended to visit them. Taking into consideration the statistics
on both previous and current visitation, this awareness information suggests
two possibilities: 1) The visitors were aware of an attraction, but were not
interested to visit it. An example would be Indiana Transportation Museum.
While only 9.5% of respondents had visited it on previous trips to Hamilton
County, and only 3% had visited it on current trips, nearly 14% of all the
respondents indicated their awareness of this place but had not visited or
intend to visit it. 2) The visitors were aware of an attraction or place, but
had no intention to return. An example would Downtown/Historic Noblesville.
19% of the respondents had been there on previous trips, but only 7.5% had
visited it on current trip. And, its awareness was relatively high at 11.5%.
Generally, the respondents gave fairly high ratings to Hamilton County
and neighboring attractions, events, facilities, and services. The highest
ratings were attached to :
Expecting
a tendency
for
respondents
to grade
favorably,
say at
least at
7.5 out of
10, it is
suggested
that any
scores
averaging
less than
7.5 and
especially
those with
sizable
percentages
of ratings
of less
than 5
should be
of concern
to the
involved
organizations
and HCCVB.
These
would
include
the
following:
Fifteen
Likert-scale
questions
were
included
to
get
an
idea
of
visitors'
perceptions
of
various
aspects
of
Hamilton
County
as
a
travel
destination.
Respondents
were
also
asked
to
make
their
own
suggestions
on
what
could
be
added
or
improved
in
Hamilton
County
to
make
it
a
more
attractive
destination
for
visitors.
2.
No
future
business
expected, 3.
No
family
and
friends
to
visit, 4.
Too
far,
and 5.
People
not
friendly. |
For comments or questions regarding this web contact PTHRC
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