The Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage is a 180 mile swath of land that runs from Gettysburg, Pa to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in Charlottesville, Va.
Waterford, VA (PRWEB) August 21, 2015
The results of a new national travel study suggests that three out of every four participants said they were interested or very interested in visiting the Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area, a 180 mile swath of land that runs from Gettysburg, PA to Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello in Charlottesville, VA. In fact, over one quarter of those surveyed have already visited the Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area within the past five years according to a report recently issued by Destination Analysts, a tourism research and marketing company based in San Francisco, California.
When asked to describe the Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area, more than half of the survey respondents said the region was historic, educational, scenic, interesting, and patriotic. Over two-thirds of respondents agreed that every American should visit the Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area at least once.
The Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership retained Destination Analysts to conduct brand research for The Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area and Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Scenic Byway. The study included an online national survey of 614 adult American travelers that looked into the many facets of the JTHG brand and its appeal to various segments. It was nearly an identical survey to one conducted for the Journey Through Hallowed Ground in 2008. For this project Destination Analysts used the panel of a trusted partner, Survey Sampling International. The survey invitation was sent to a representative sample of residents of the Eastern United States. In order to take the survey one must have been an adult and have taken at least one leisure trip of at least 50-miles one way in the past 12 months.
Destination Analysts then followed up the online survey by conducting one-hour in-depth interviews with 20 traveling consumers and 20 members of the travel trade and travel media. Destination Analysts is a team of travel industry experts with extensive, hands-on experience working with some of the world’s greatest tourism brands and Destination Marketing Organizations. Widely known for their pioneering, customized travel and tourism research that is second to none, the company assists clients with the interpretation of their research results and the execution of strategy based on that research. Their annual travel studies are standards in the industry. Additional survey results uncovered that:
-Nearly two-thirds of respondents said they were either interested or very interested in visiting places of American historic interest.
-Over seventy-two percent were interested or very interested in visiting the Mid-Atlantic region.
-Half of survey respondents expressed increased interest in visiting a region designated as a National Heritage Area and nearly three out of five expressed increased interest in visiting a region designated as a National Scenic Byway
-As the Centennial of the National Park Service nears, which is in 2016, it was good to hear that three quarters of those interested in scenic activities expressed a high level of interest in visiting National Parks, particularly since there are thirteen National Parks within the Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area
-Survey respondents also reported an average anticipated budget of $1,024 to spend over the course of a three-day trip to the Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area.
-Enjoying scenic beauty and visiting distinctive small towns, visiting historic sites, visiting National Parks, traveling on the National Scenic Byway, enjoying wineries or vineyards, and visiting presidential and historic sites all ranked extremely high in terms of interest level among potential travelers.
The average survey respondent was 45.8 years old with a household income over $80,000 with over 60% of them being married and having earned a bachelor’s degree. Funding for the research study came from the Virginia Tourism Corporation, Visit Loudoun, Discover Prince William and Manassas, Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Destination Gettysburg. For more information about the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership, visit http://www.hallowedground.org.