Ocean No. 1 activity site
Travel magazines give Maui top scores on a consistent basis but according to 2004 survey conducted by the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism, our island has fallen slightly behind Kauai in getting “excellent” ratings from most visitors. The difference was just a couple of percentage points, and Maui’s “above average” ratings were higher than Kauai’s but behind the Big Island’s.
The DBEDT’s report includes a wealth of numbers and percentages based on asking tourists how they rated the islands and what they did once they got here. The results were broken down by the origin of the tourists.
How tourists liked to spend their time should be of special interest to local government and local businesses. Without getting into all of the subcategories of origin, the most popular American activity on Maui – as it was on all islands – was shopping, followed by sightseeing and recreation.
The favorite kind of store for Maui visitors was a supermarket followed by convenience stores. The Maui supermarket rating was the highest in the state.
Self-guided sightseeing tours (rental cars) were the most popular by a wide margin, followed by getting out on the ocean.
On Maui, the ocean dominated recreational activities. Eighty percent of the American tourists polled listing swimming and sunbathing as their favorite. The next most popular (53.1 percent) was snorkeling and scuba diving. Maui’s visitors are a pretty athletic bunch, putting fitness running and walking in third spot (34.7 percent) followed by surfing and bodyboarding (24 percent), golf (15.6 percent), gyms and spas (15.1 percent), backpacking/hiking/camping (14.2 percent), jet skiing/parasailing/windsurfing (6.4 percent, but higher for Japanese and European tourists) and sports events (1.8 percent).
One conclusion that could be drawn from the survey is that the ocean is a major tourist lure and that preserving Maui’s marine resources should be a priority. That means protecting reefs, the stocks of fish on those reefs and keeping the water clean. It’s only good business.
The DBEDT’s report includes a wealth of numbers and percentages based on asking tourists how they rated the islands and what they did once they got here. The results were broken down by the origin of the tourists.
How tourists liked to spend their time should be of special interest to local government and local businesses. Without getting into all of the subcategories of origin, the most popular American activity on Maui – as it was on all islands – was shopping, followed by sightseeing and recreation.
The favorite kind of store for Maui visitors was a supermarket followed by convenience stores. The Maui supermarket rating was the highest in the state.
Self-guided sightseeing tours (rental cars) were the most popular by a wide margin, followed by getting out on the ocean.
On Maui, the ocean dominated recreational activities. Eighty percent of the American tourists polled listing swimming and sunbathing as their favorite. The next most popular (53.1 percent) was snorkeling and scuba diving. Maui’s visitors are a pretty athletic bunch, putting fitness running and walking in third spot (34.7 percent) followed by surfing and bodyboarding (24 percent), golf (15.6 percent), gyms and spas (15.1 percent), backpacking/hiking/camping (14.2 percent), jet skiing/parasailing/windsurfing (6.4 percent, but higher for Japanese and European tourists) and sports events (1.8 percent).
One conclusion that could be drawn from the survey is that the ocean is a major tourist lure and that preserving Maui’s marine resources should be a priority. That means protecting reefs, the stocks of fish on those reefs and keeping the water clean. It’s only good business.
posted by ams at 3:47 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home