Page 142 - Tourism The International Business

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Type of method Design Usefulness Cost Administration

E M D L M H L M H E M D
Informational surveys X X X X

Suggestion boxes X X X X
Direct observation X X X X

Counting methods X X X X
Registration X X X X

Questionnaires

Telephone X X X X
Self-administered X X X X

Face-to-face X X X X

E = Easy; M = Medium; D = Difficult; L = Low; H = High.
Source: The University of Missouri, Assessing Your Product and the Market, Tourism USA., Volume II:
Development (Washington, D.C.: United States Department of Commerce, 1978), p. 9.

Exhibit 48: Methods of collecting tourism data.

Study questions
➢ Describe Plog's life cycle of a destination.

➢ What are the stages of the product life cycle curve?
➢ Why is integrated planning important to a destination?
➢ What are the components of an integrated tourism plan?
➢ What are the characteristics of a short-term plan?
➢ What are the characteristics of a long-term plan?

➢ List the barriers to planning.
➢ What are the common forms of primary research?
➢ Identify some guidelines to improve survey research.
➢ List the various methods of survey research.

Discussion questions
➢ Discuss why a plan is necessary for the development of tourism.
➢ What are the components of a tourism plan for a destination? Why are they important?

➢ Compare and contrast secondary and primary tourism research.
➢ Evaluate the design, usefulness, cost, and administration of the various methods of collecting
tourism data.

Tourism the International Business 142 A Global Text