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By Edward D. Murphy Tuesday, October 24, 2006

For an industry as large and as important as tourism, Maine has remarkably little information on how it operates.

But that may change over the next few months, as new data should provide a clearer picture of the industry, which pumped $6.2 billion into the state economy in 2004 and supported nearly 180,000 jobs.

"We would hope to confirm people's suspicions and beliefs where it's warranted and, where it isn't, I would expect to challenge the conventional wisdom," said Harold Daniel, director of the Center for Tourism Research and Outreach, which is a joint operation of the University of Maine and the University of Southern Maine.

The state doesn't have enough information on why people come to Maine and what they do when they get here, Daniel said. Most of the information the state has on tourism is derived by studying tax receipts -- because lodging and meals are taxed separately and at a higher rate than other sales, it's easy to compile statistics on how much is spent and where.

But tax receipts alone don't provide enough information on what visitors are doing and no sense at all of whether people are enjoying their stays, Daniel said.

This summer, CENTRO began a pilot program at two campgrounds to survey guests about what they did, both at the campground and beyond, and whether they had a good time.

The campgrounds will get a report next month, Daniel said, and the hope is to expand the Web-based survey to other places where visitors stay in the future to provide information to more lodging establishments.

The surveys conducted this summer gathered information on demographics, such as where the visitors came from and their ages. It also asked questions designed to divine personality types and the size and composition of groups of visitors.

CENTRO officials, who are meeting today with an advisory committee to discuss future research plans, also are trying to get deeper information on regional tourism developments. Daniel said the tax data "works well at the state level," but combining it with surveys and information provided by consultants to the state's Office of Tourism will help CENTRO paint a picture of regional tourism that could be used to hone marketing strategies.

Daniel said CENTRO also will be looking at emerging travel trends to help the industry adapt to changing demands.

For instance, he noted that younger visitors are more interested in active vacations than their elders and, even within that group, some are looking for "soft adventures" and others for "hard adventures" in terms of how much activity they want.

More travelers also are taking last-minute vacations, which means they often don't have firm plans on what they will do when they arrive, Daniel said. That means more visitors are looking for hotels, motels and campgrounds with wireless Internet access so they can check out area attractions and decide what they will do the next day.

"Many of those travelers are making it up as they go," he said. "It's the totally unplanned vacation."

Daniel said there are enough fertile areas for research that CENTRO is going to have to pick and choose what it studies, but there's one overriding theme.

"Challenging the conventional wisdom is really what we should be doing to see where tourism in this state is headed," he said.