Travel Model Blind Spots: Importance of Understanding Special Markets Related to Visitors

In many small and medium-sized communities, the need to reflect the unique characteristics of travel by special markets is an important consideration. Visitor travel is a special market for many communities that enjoy the benefits of being a destination for visitors from outside the region. Visitor travel can affect the transportation system in a community as well as benefiting the economy. Visitor travel is often not modeled explicitly because of the cost associated with collecting behaviorally rich survey data to support model development. This paper presents a low-cost option for collecting travel behavior data for special markets through the administration of a small-sample intercept survey of persons staying in recreational vehicle (RV) campgrounds in the French Broad River region of North Carolina. Analysis of the survey data showed that travel by these surveyed RV households was different from both retired and seasonal part-time resident households, captured in the region’s household travel survey. Development of a special market model to address travel by RV visitors in the region is also discussed.