Microsoft Word 2007 ichrie conference Proceedings Final-Final 06-06-07. doc

 
Survey Instrument 
A questionnaire was developed that contained five topical areas: visitation status, image measurement, 
future visitation intentions, media exposure, and demographics. The survey also included a few open-ended 
questions regarding general images, perceptions, and future travel intentions regarding New Orleans. The pre- and 
post-Katrina image section consists of eight select image and three select perception items and respondents were 
asked to rank their level of agreement using a five-point scale. A comprehensive review of the relevant literature 
yielded in a parsimonious yet robust listing of attributes that this research used to operationalize and measure 
destination, including: 1) scenery, 2) historical sights, 3) culture, 4) nightlife/entertainment, 5) hotel 
accommodations, 6) restaurants, 7) access, 8) value, and 9) the friendliness of locals 
Sample 
The University of New Orleans (UNO) Hospitality Research Center (2005) recently conducted a 
benchmarking study which permitted a comparison: of a few measures: repeat visitation, point of origin and few 
other demographics. Study findings of visitation patterns were relatively close to the benchmarking data. 
Specifically, this study recorded 63.5 percent repeat visitors compared to UNO’s 65.5 percent while first-timers 
accounted for 34.4 percent of UNO’s sample compared to this research consisting of 20.6 percent first-timers to 
New Orleans with the remaining 16 percent never having visited the city. Both studies reported major visitation 
from Texas followed by Louisiana, Florida and Mississippi. Similar key feeder cities were also on record in both 
studies: Houston, Baton Rouge, and Dallas.
The respondents to this survey had an average age of 48 and for the most part tended to be female (64.5%) 
compared to (35.5%) male, which was again similar to the benchmarking study. They more often than not visited 
New Orleans pre-Hurricane Katrina (49.1%) followed by those who had been to New Orleans both before and after 
the storm (26.1%), and (8.9%) indicating that their only visit occurred after the storm. Over half (51.0%) of the 
respondents indicated that they were very or somewhat likely of to choose New Orleans as a vacation in the future 
compared to (26.0%) that reported that they were not very or at all likely of choosing the city in the future, and the 
remaining (23.0%) were neutral. The age data were recoded to permit a comparison to the UNO benchmarking 
study. Study findings compared to the UNO benchmark data did illustrate a few noteworthy shifts in visitation after 
the storm. Specifically, a drop in visitation from the 18-24 aged segment (e.g. from 5.4% to 1.5%) and the age 65 
and over segments (e.g. from 11.6% to 6.4%).
Three major hypotheses were tested, using SPSS for the data analysis. Initially, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov 
statistic with a Lilliefors significance level for testing normality was used and tests indicated that the data were not 
normally distributed. This data characteristic combined with other methodological aspects dictated that a more 
conservative approach be adopted so nonparametric statistics were utilized for statistical testing.