In article <[log in to unmask]>, John Martinson <[log in to unmask]>
writes:

>When a "guest" comes to your museum, how do you tell if they
>are a "visitor" or a "tourist" since a tourist could be a visitor?
>Is there a good definition for a visitor and/or a tourist -- and are
>they one and the same?
>

Here are the definitions I use in doing museum market studies, museum
audience studies and museum economic impact studies.  In practice, these
definitions have worked well over the years.

Visitors are all persons visiting the museum.  They are divided into two
groups--local residents and travelers.

If the museum is located in a metropolitan area, "local residents" are
often defined for convenience as residents of that area.  This definition
also permits a comparison with demographic data available from the Census
or various services.

Travelers are divided into two summary categories based on the *primary*
purpose of their trip--tourists (leisure travelers) and business
travelers.  (However, writers in the tourism and visitor attractions
industry often use the word "tourists" as shorthand for all travelers, so
one has to read with caution.)

Travelers are also divided into two principal categories based on duration
of trip--daytrippers (from outside the local area) and overnight
travelers. In practice, information on these two subcategories is usually
easier to obtain than the subcategories based on primary purpose of trip
(leisure traveler vs. business traveler.)

All of the above groups represent potential candidates for visiting a
museum.   Some are much better candidates than others.

Hope the above is helpful.


John K. Haeseler