09 Oct Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism Conducts Local Tourism Impact Survey
The Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism is seeking feedback from residents and business owners within Essex and Hamilton counties, along with the villages of Tupper Lake and Saranac Lake, regarding their perception of how tourism affects the region.
The survey will be distributed to business owners and local residents through email and social media; with responses collected throughout October. A link to the survey can be found here.
The survey will capture business owners’ and residents’ perceptions and opinions about a number of topics as they relate to tourism within the region. The goal of the survey is to gather insights from locals about how tourism influences both the economy and the social fabric of the region.
According to ROOST COO Mary Jane Lawrence, the organization is committed to continuously enhancing processes and expanding its scope of work to foster communities that benefit from the tourism economy; it conducts and analyzes tourism- and recreation-focused research to inform its efforts. “ROOST is focused on creating a sustainable tourism economy that is beneficial economically, socially and environmentally,” she said. “We actively seek community input on a regular basis to assess our efforts, measure success, and identify opportunities for ongoing improvement. Understanding local sentiment is key to balancing tourism’s impact with community needs. This annual survey helps identify areas of concern, allowing us to manage tourism more effectively and plan for the future.”
The survey will uncover local perception regarding tourism’s relationship to housing, employment, population, and the impact of marketing to outside regions. It will also pose questions that elicit information about which local residents appreciate the benefits of the local tourism economy with regard to local services, business success, job creation and overall quality of life. Many questions are structured to elicit an “agree” or “disagree” response to gauge overall opinion. The final survey questions are open-ended, offering an opportunity to share important information that may not have been included within the survey.
According to Layne Dowdall, data analyst at the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism, ROOST is hoping that as many local residents will complete the survey as possible. “Overall community sentiment is more easily gauged by a larger sample size; quite simply, if a large number of people complete the survey, that will provide a much more accurate idea of community sentiment,” she said. “We are encouraging those who receive the survey link to share it with family and friends in their local community.”
The 30-question survey takes approximately 10 minutes to complete. Those who take part will be registered for a chance to win a VISA gift card, valued at $100.
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