Travel Intentions to a Major Canadian Tourist Destination : The Results of a Web-Based Survey

Travelers decide on a travel location based on destination awareness and the traveler's perception of the destination. Marketing campaigns are used to create awareness and increase the purchase intentions of a relevant target market. Tracking intentions to visit is an important measure of the effectiveness of a destination's marketing strategy. This paper reports on one such study for Prince Edward Island (PEI), a major Canadian tourist destination. This study uses a sample of 53,807 responses to a travel intentions study. The results indicate that intentions to visit PEI are highly related to how potential travelers learn about the Visitor's Website and the ability to recall the media sources seen or heard. Visitor awareness of PEI, measured through exposure to one or more forms of media, has a pronounced impact on the intention to visit