Purpose:
The Beaches of Fort Myers and Sanibel desired research that would determine economic impact of visitors to Lee County, including total visitor spending and total economic impact, spending per travel party (categorized and total), spending per travel party for visitors who stayed in paid accommodations vs. visitors who stayed in unpaid accommodations vs. visitors who did not stay overnight, room nights generated, dollars saved per Lee County household, and return on investment of marketing dollars spent by Lee County.
Research Methods:
We interviewed over 3,800 visitors to The Beaches of Fort Myers and Sanibel during their visits using a multi-stage stratified random sampling process, where the first stage of strata are areas of The Beaches of Fort Myers and Sanibel, and the second stage of strata are specific interview locations at public and private entities such as hotels, parks, attractions, public squares, beaches, etc.
Results:
We report on a quarterly basis to the Tourist Development Council and function as a strategic consultant on tourism issues. The Beaches of Fort Myers and Sanibel and its advertising agency, MMGY, use our results to plan marketing strategy and to document the impact of tourism on the economy.
