The Australian Tourist Commission (ATC) was planning a marketing research study within the United States. The plan had originated in the home office in Melbourne and was sent to regional offices for comment before soliciting bids. These regional offices were located in London, Frankfurt, New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Auckland. Visitor traffic to Australia from the United States had grown at a slower rate than other major market areas. It was apparent that marketing strategies were needed to increase the number of American visitors to Australia. Before developing a new marketing plan, it was felt that a study should be conducted within the United States to identify target markets.

Objectives had been identified for the study:

1. To identify and quantify groups in the U.S. population with the highest potential for holidaying in Australia.
2. To investigate in detail the factors that determine holiday destination choice among the high-potential groups.
3. To provide information indicating the types of holiday products, taking into account time and cost factors, which would satisfy the holiday needs of the high-potential groups.
4. To investigate the awareness of and preferences for alternative destinations.
5. To provide information to guide publicity agencies as to the type of creative approaches that will appeal to and motivate the high-potential groups.
6. To provide a guide to media patterns that will enable efficient communication to the high-potential groups.
7. To identify the best distribution modes for holiday products aimed at the high-potential groups (e.g., airlines, travel agents, bank travel departments).
8. To investigate the role of the travel trade and its importance in determining holiday destination choice.
9. To determine past and intended future holiday behavior among the high- potential groups and to describe them in socioeconomic terms. Detailed information must be collected on the destinations visited on past trips and the sequence of these visits.

In addition to the objectives, the ATC felt that the study should be designed with the following purposes in mind:

• To enable the development of a comprehensive understanding of the destination selection processessential if Australia is to be marketed more successfully in the United States.
• To enable the design of products of greatest appeal to the high-potential groups, in terms of cost, length of holiday, preferred standard of accommodation, and domestic transportation.
• To enable Australia to be promoted in a way that will capitalize on its perceived strengths, overcome its perceived weaknesses, and compete more effectively with the strengths and weaknesses of competing long-haul destinations.
• To provide an adequate measurement of the extent of awareness of and interest in various Australian features (e.g., the Barrier Reef, the outback, Sydney Harbour).
• To provide detailed knowledge of the holiday planning process, including the time involved and the sources of information used.
• To enable more efficient communication and distribution of available products to the high-potential groups.

Proposed Methodology

It was the opinion of the ATC that the study should be divided into two stages. The first would be of a "qualitative" nature for the purpose of developing personality and attitudinal questions that would then be used in the second quantitative phase. The general opinion was that face-to-face interviews of 30 to 35 minutes each would be needed for both parts of the study. The use of telephone interviews was considered but rejected because it was feared that they could not provide the depth of answers needed, particularly as "tradeoff" questions were being asked.

Due to the high cost of field research in the United States, it seemed imperative to minimize the sample size. Consequently, a total of a thousand face-to-face interviews during the primary research were considered to be sufficient to provide good precision for estimates from the total sample and from the various subgroups.

The ATC felt that respondents should be selected on the basis of four criteria: (1) past travel experience, (2) future travel intentions, (3) travel desire, and (4) interest in Australia. Those who should be interviewed would include people who had never traveled and had no intention or desire to travel. The termtravelwas defined as long-haul international travel for pleasure purposes, excluding Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean. In addition, people with immediate family living in Australia were to be excluded.

In the interests of efficiency, it was felt that the sample should overrepresent key markets; hence, a screening process was to be used in the interviews. The screening questions were to be administered in sequential fashion, with the first criterion being "past travel experience." The sample structure emphasized those with extensive travel experience, as research indicated that this was a prime market for Australia. The recommended structure was as follows:

1. Past travelers: Traveled in the last five years to a long-haul destination for pleasure, with or without a stated intention to travel.
2. N=600
3. N=600broken down as:
4. a.At least 200 "experienced travelers"
5. b.At least 200 with "stated travel intention"
6. c.At least 200 with "interest in Australia"
7. Potential travelers: Stated intention to travel in the next three years to a long-haul destination for pleasure, without past travel experience.
8. N=300
9. N=300broken down as:
10. a.At least 100 whose primary intended destination is not UK/Europe
11. b.At least 200 with "interest in Australia"
12. Non/latent travelers:
13. a.N=600
14. N=600comprising persons with no past travel experience and no stated intention to travel, but who:
15. b.Have an expressed desire to travel (to a long-haul destination for pleasure purposes)
16. c.Express an interest in visiting Australia

Although a random sampling technique was desired, the sample was to be heavily biased toward upper-income groups and not representative of the general mix of the U.S. population. Further sampling restrictions that were felt to be necessary included the following:

1. No interviews from persons who lived in rural areas or small urban centers.
2. Under sampling from the East Coast, with the exception of New York.
3. Under sampling from the southern states, with the exception of Florida.
4. Oversampling from California, Hawaii, New York, Texas, and Florida. The reason for this was an observation of incidence patterns based on data generated from past international visitor surveys by the ATC.
5. Use of a form of multistage sampling in which cities would be the primary unit. For reasons of cost, no more than 20 cities should be selected. This selection of cities should not be "purposive"; however, it should be a random selection of cities within the constraints specified next.

1. What is your opinion of the research objectives and purposes for the study?
2. What is your opinion of the proposed methodology?
3. Why do you suppose that travel to Australia from the United States was lower than desired? In answering this question, consider the cost of travel, time required, and other factors.
4. In your opinion, will information from the survey permit the ATC to address the issues raised in Question 3?