Beach Recreation Visitors Survey: Tourist

OMB Control Number: 0710-CBRS

OMB Expiration Date: XX/XX/XXXX

Caribbean Visitor Survey

Hello,

My name is Bynum Boley and I am an Associate Professor within the Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management program at the University of Georgia. We are conducting a survey on behalf of the US Army Corps of Engineers within the Department of Defense to determine travel habits and interest in visiting the Caribbean. This information will ultimately be used to determine the recreational value and benefits of beach nourishment projects. This survey has been approved under the OMB Control Number of 0710-CBRS.

The public reporting burden for this collection of information, 0710-CBRS, is estimated to average 15 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding the burden estimate or burden reduction suggestions to the Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters Services, at [email protected]. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number.

Your participation in this survey is entirely voluntary and all of your responses will be confidential. You may refuse to participate or stop participating at any time without adverse effects. The following paragraphs provide information about the study. Please read them carefully. You must be 18 or older to participate.

Activities and Time Commitment:

This survey that will take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete. The survey includes questions about travel habits and perceptions of the Caribbean as a travel destination.

Benefits and Risks: Your participation in this study may help tourism organizations and businesses better understand potential visitors to the Caribbean. There are no known risks to participating in this study.

Privacy and Confidentiality: There will be no identifiable information associated with your responses. All responses will be transferred to the software Statistical Packages for the Social Science (SPSS) with no identifiable material before review by those within the University of Georgia and Department of Defense. Internet communications are insecure and there is a limit to the confidentiality that can be guaranteed due to the technology itself. However, once the materials are received by the researcher, standard confidentiality procedures will be employed.

Voluntary Participation: Your participation in this project is completely voluntary and you may choose not to participate or to stop at any time without penalty or loss of benefits to which you are otherwise entitled.

Questions: If you have any questions about this study, please call or email Dr. Bynum Boley at 706- 583-8930 or [email protected]. If you have questions about your rights as a research participant, you may contact The Chairperson, University of Georgia Institutional Review Board at (706) 542-3199 or [email protected]. Also, send comments regarding the burden estimate or burden reduction suggestions to the Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters Services, at [email protected].

By completing the questionnaire, you are agreeing to participate in the above-described research project.

Thank you for your assistance,

Dr. Bynum Boley

BEACH RECREATION VISITORS SURVEY: TOURIST

Hello, I’m ___________________. We’re conducting a survey on behalf of the US Army Corps of Engineers and the University of Georgia about your use of beaches in Puerto Rico. Are you a resident of Puerto Rico? No

Are you here for vacation/recreation or something else? Only complete for RECREATIONAL VISITORS

This is part of a research study to determine economic value of public beaches. Your participation is entirely voluntary, and all of your responses will be confidential. The survey will only take about 10 to 15 minutes. Will you be willing to answer a few questions?

Date of Interview: ________________________ Starting Time: _____________________________

Interview Location (Section): _________________________________________________________

The Office of Management and Budget Control (OMB) number for the study is OMB-710-___________

Section A: Beach Quality

Please circle one response for each question.

A1. How would you rate the overall quality of your beach experience today?

Category	Very Poor	Poor	Fair	Good	Excellent
Rating	1	2	3	4	5

A2. How likely are you to return to Puerto Rico in the future?

Category	Very unlikely	Unlikely	Not sure	Likely	Very Likely
Rating	1	2	3	4	5

A3. How likely are you to recommend others to visit Puerto Rico?

Category	Very unlikely	Unlikely	Not sure	Likely	Very Likely
Rating	1	2	3	4	5

A4. How likely are you to post about your experience in Puerto Rico on social media sites?

Category	Very unlikely	Unlikely	Not sure	Likely	Very Likely
Rating	1	2	3	4	5

A5. How important are the following beach attributes to you?

Category	Not Important				Very Important
Water Quality/Cleanliness	1	2	3	4	5
Litter (Beach Cleanliness)	1	2	3	4	5
Parking Availability	1	2	3	4	5
Cost of Parking	1	2	3	4	5
Availability of showers and restrooms	1	2	3	4	5
Quality of showers, restrooms, and other beach facilities	1	2	3	4	5
Congestion on the beach	1	2	3	4	5
Beach Quality and Erosion	1	2	3	4	5
Weather	1	2	3	4	5
Availability of Lifeguards	1	2	3	4	5
Social scene	1	2	3	4	5
Surrounding amenities (i.e. restaurants)	1	2	3	4	5
Scenic beauty	1	2	3	4	5

A6. How would you rate the performance of this beach on the following characteristics?

Category	Very Poor				Very Good
Water Quality/Cleanliness	1	2	3	4	5
Litter (Beach Cleanliness)	1	2	3	4	5
Parking Availability	1	2	3	4	5
Cost of Parking	1	2	3	4	5
Availability of showers and restrooms	1	2	3	4	5
Quality of showers, restrooms, and other beach facilities	1	2	3	4	5
Congestion on the beach	1	2	3	4	5
Beach Quality and Erosion	1	2	3	4	5
Weather	1	2	3	4	5
Availability of Lifeguards	1	2	3	4	5
Social scene	1	2	3	4	5
Surrounding amenities (i.e. restaurants)	1	2	3	4	5
Scenic beauty	1	2	3	4	5

Section B: Recreation Trips

B1. What is your city and country of origin? Country: __________________; City: _________________

B2. How did you travel to Puerto Rico?

• Airplane – airline: ___________________

• Cruise ship – cruiseline: ________________

• OTHER (Please describe __________________________________________________________)

B3. How long are you staying Puerto Rico? ______ days

B4.Are you visiting other Caribbean destinations on your visit? If so, which ones? (Mark all that apply)

• Anguilla

• Antigua/Barbuda

• Aruba

• Bahamas

• Barbados

• Belize

• Bermuda

• Bonaire

• British Virgin Islands

• Mexico Yucatan Peninsula (e.g. Cancun/Cozumel, Playa del Carmen, Tulum)

• Cayman Islands

• Cuba

• Curacao

• Dominican Republic

• Dominica

• Grenada

• Guadeloupe

• Guyama

• Haiti

• Jamaica

• Martinique

• Montserrat

• Puerto Rico

• Saba

• St. Eustatius

• St. Kitts/Nevis

• St. Lucia

• St. Maarten

• St. Vincent/ Grenadines

• Suriname

• Trinidad/Tobago

• Turks/Caicos

• US Virgin Islands

• Other ___________

B5. What is the total length of your vacation/trip? _______ days

B6. What was the approximate total cost of your trip?

• Less than $1000 (Euros)

• $1001 - $3000

• $3001 - $5000

• $5001 - $8000

• $8001 - $10,000

• $10,001 - $15,000

• $15,001 - $20,000

• $20,001 - $25,000

• $25,001 - $30,000

• $30,001 - $40,000

• More than $40,001

B7. How many people are you travelling with? ________ people

B8. Please indicate the types of beach activities in which you plan to participate in during your visit. Pick all that apply

• Sunbathing

• Swimming

• Running/Jogging/Walking

• Beach Sports such as Volleyball

• Fishing

• Wildlife Viewing

• Water-related activity (kayaking, paddle boarding, etc.)

• OTHER (Please describe __________________________________________________________)

B9. When you consider travel destinations, how important are the following attributes? Not Important to Very Important: Likert 1 - 5

• Safety (1)

• Shopping opportunities (2)

• Nightlife & entertainment (3)

• National Parks (4)

• Notable history (5)

• Material for social media posts (6)

• Price (7)

• Interesting small towns/rural countryside (8)

• Friendly people (9)

• Quality of accommodations (10)

• Quality food (11)

• Outstanding scenery (12)

• Inexpensive travel to the country (13)

• Inexpensive travel within the country (14)

• Availability of pre-trip information (22)

• Availability of in-country information (23)

• Transportation infrastructure (24)

• Sporting events (25)

• Wineries (26)

• Breweries (27)

• Cosmopolitan cities (28)

• Beaches (29)

B10. Based on your image of Puerto Rico as a travel destination, how does it perform on the following attributes? Very Poor to Excellent: Likert 1 - 5

• Safety (1)

• Shopping opportunities (2)

• Nightlife & entertainment (3)

• National Parks (4)

• Notable history (5)

• Material for social media posts (6)

• Price (7)

• Interesting small towns/rural countryside (8)

• Friendly people (9)

• Quality of accommodations (10)

• Quality food (11)

• Outstanding scenery (12)

• Inexpensive travel to the country (13)

• Inexpensive travel within the country (14)

• Availability of pre-trip information (22)

• Availability of in-country information (23)

• Transportation infrastructure (24)

• Sporting events (25)

• Wineries (26)

• Breweries (27)

• Cosmopolitan cities (28)

• Beaches (29)

Section C: Environmental Management in Puerto Rico

C1. How important are the quality of beaches in your decision to visit Puerto Rico?

Category	Not Important	Somewhat Important	Very Important
Rating	1	2	3

B eaches provide for storm protection, coastal recreation, and ecological habitat. Natural and man-made forces have contributed to the chronic erosion of Puerto Rico’s coastal beaches, reducing space for beach activities, increasing the potential for coastal storm damages, and reducing habitat.

Currently, the width of the dry sandy beach width in San Juan ranges between 3 and 30 meters at high tide, with an average of 18 meters.

C2. How would you rate the current beach width in San Juan?

Category	Very Poor	Poor	Neutral	Good	Very Good
Rating	1	2	3	4	5

Continued erosion in San Juan could further reduce beach width in the years to come. Suppose beach width decreased from an average of 18 to 10 meters.

C3. Would you have made this trip to Puerto Rico if average beach width were reduced from 18 to 10 meters?

• Yes, definitely

• Probably

• Not sure

• Probably not

• No, definitely not

Section D: Future Caribbean Trips

Consider a future Caribbean trip; for this trip, you can either fly to a single destination or you can take a cruise ship that will stop at multiple destinations. Each trip will be characterized by a number of attributes:

• Number of Days: 5 or 7 days

• Amenities: 5-star or standard quality

• Beach congestion: High or Low

• Beach Quality: High or Low

• Shoreline Armoring: Yes or No

• Total cost (per person) for travel and accommodations: $1500, $2200, $3000, $4000

• Hurricane Insurance: Yes or No

For the following questions, please indicate which trip you would pick for a Caribbean vacation, or whether you would prefer to take no Caribbean trip (stay home or do something else).

CONSEQUENTIAL TREATMENT (only shown to approx. half respondents): As you answer these questions, keep in mind that the Caribbean tourism industry will be using this information to design tourism products. The tourism industry has been adversely affected (as have many other businesses) during the COVID-19 pandemic. As you answer these questions, please be as honest and accurate as possible. This information will be shared with tourism businesses, and they will use it to make costly investment decisions. If your responses are not honest and accurate, it may lead them to lose further money.

D1. First Trip Question: Which option would you prefer?

	Air	Cruise	No Trip
Days	5	5	-
Amenities	common	5-star	-
Congestion	low	high	-
Beach Quality	High	Low	-
Shoreline Armoring	Yes	No	-
Hurricane Insurance	No	Yes	-
Total Cost (per person)	$2200	$3000	$0
			

D2. How certain are you of your response?

1. Very Certain

2. Certain

3. Somewhat Certain

4. Somewhat Uncertain

5. Uncertain

6. Very Uncertain

D3. Second Trip Question: Which option would you prefer?

	Air	Cruise	No Trip
Days	5	7	-
Amenities	5-star	5-star	-
Congestion	high	high	-
Beach Quality	low	Low	-
Shoreline Armoring	No	Yes	-
Hurricane Insurance	Yes	No	-
Total Cost (per person)	$3000	$4000	$0
			

D4. How certain are you of your response?

1. Very Certain

2. Certain

3. Somewhat Certain

4. Somewhat Uncertain

5. Uncertain

6. Very Uncertain

D5. Multi-dimensional scale of Caribbean tourism destinations

• Top 15 Countries to evaluate. Could divide into 3 groups of 5. If our sample size is 1000, then that would be 333 perceptions per a county. We could merge that data back in later. Another option would be to limit it to the top 10 or some smaller number and remove those more obscure.

• Top 15 Combined air and cruise

1. Bahamas

2. Cozumel

3. Puerto Rico

4. Jamaica

5. Cayman Islands

6. Dominican Republic

7. US Virgin Islands

8. Aruba

9. Belize

10. Turks & Caicos Islands

11. St. Maarten

12. Saint Lucia

13. Barbados

14. Antigua & Barbuda

15. Bermuda

• Attributes

  1. Social Media Potential

  2. Cost

  3. Beauty

  4. Quality of Beach

  5. Unique Culture

  6. Food

  7. Entertainment options

D6. Do you agree or disagree with the following statements about Puerto Rico?

Social media posts of Puerto Rico make…	Strongly Disagree	Disagree	Neutral	Agree	Strongly Agree
…the traveler look cool	1	2	3	4	5
…the traveler more popular	1	2	3	4	5
…the traveler stand out	1	2	3	4	5
…the traveler look unique	1	2	3	4	5
…the traveler look savvy	1	2	3	4	5
…me envious of the traveler	1	2	3	4	5

D7. Do you agree or disagree with the following statements about Puerto Rico?

Travel to Puerto Rico would be…	Strongly Disagree	Disagree	Neutral	Agree	Strongly Agree
Enjoyable	1	2	3	4	5
Pleasant	1	2	3	4	5
Worthwhile	1	2	3	4	5
Satisfying	1	2	3	4	5
Fascinating	1	2	3	4	5
Authentic	1	2	3	4	5
Scary	1	2	3	4	5
Uncomfortable	1	2	3	4	5
Risky	1	2	3	4	5

D8. Do you agree or disagree with the following statements about Puerto Rico?

	Strongly Disagree	Disagree	Neutral	Agree	Strongly Agree
If I wanted to, I could visit Puerto Rico in the near future	1	2	3	4	5
If I wanted to trvel to Puerto Rico in the near future, I could	1	2	3	4	5
It is mostly up to me whether or not I travel to Puerto Rico in the near future	1	2	3	4	5

D9. Do you agree or disagree with the following statements about Puerto Rico?

Most people who are important to me would…	Strongly Disagree	Disagree	Neutral	Agree	Strongly Agree
…approve of me traveling to Puerto Rico	1	2	3	4	5
…expect me to travel to Puerto Rico	1	2	3	4	5
…visit Puerto Rico themselves	1	2	3	4	5

Section E: Demographics

E1. What is your gender?

Female

 Male

 Other

E2. What is your ethnic background?

 Hispanic or Latino

 Not Hispanic or Latino

E3. What is your race? (Please mark all that apply)

 American Indian or Alaskan Native

 Asian

 Black or African American

 Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander/White

 Hispanic

 White

E4. What year were you born? ___________ (year)

E5. What is the highest level of education you have completed?

 Less than high school	 High school or GED	 Technical, vocational or trade school	 Some college (includes jr. college)
 Bachelor’s degree	 Master’s degree	 Ph.D./Professional degree

E6. What is your approximate annual household income before taxes?

 Less than $25,000	 $25,001-$50,000	 $50,001-$75,000	 $75,001-$100,000	$100,001-$124,000
$125,001-$150,000	$150,001-$175,000	$175,001-$200,000	$200,001-$250,000	 $250,001 +

2. Please share any additional comments about Puerto Rico beaches:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for completing the survey!

If you have any additional questions, please contact Dr. Bynum Boley at the University of Georgia.

*[email protected] *706-389-0226* 180 E. Green St. Athens, GA 30602