HRDC to do tourism study

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

March 30, 1997

By Devlyn Brooks

Staff Writer

In an effort to update the region's tourism information -- last surveyed in 1987 -- the Headwaters Regional Development Corporation will begin an 18-month tourism study this spring.

Diane Morey, who will coordinate the study for the HRDC and its partners, said Friday the study will be broken into two segments -- one surveying area tourists in the spring and summer months of this year and the second surveying tourists in the fall and winter months.

Funds contributed by the Northwest Minnesota Initiative Fund, Minnesota Office of Tourism, HRDC and area tourism-related organizations will be used to survey the four counties of Beltrami, Hubbard, Clearwater and Mahnomen.

"The problem initially came to our attention last fall when a number of tourism-related organizations asked the HRDC if we had current tourism information," Morey said. "Well, we had some information from 1987, but the Minnesota Office of Tourism says this type of information does get dated. Things change; it doesn't last forever."

HRDC is asking resorts, motels, hotels, campgrounds and bed and breakfasts in the four counties to participate in the survey by giving the HRDC information about guests who stay there.

HRDC will then send a 14-question survey to those guests, asking for information that includes the number of the party that stayed in the area, the total amount expended on the trip, activities they party participated in and if they were satisfied with them, what improvements need to be made to the area, and what new attractions and activities could be added to the area.

"We're going to pack a lot in that piece of paper," she said.

The state's Tourism Office will assist in the study to assure survey methods will result in information that is "statistically meaningful," a recent HRDC newsletter states.

In return for participating in the study, businesses will receive individual breakdowns of the information gained from the tourists from their business.

After the spring/summer information is tabulated, Morey said written reports are scheduled to be completed next January or February, and the HRDC will present workshops in each of the four counties participating to present the data from the spring/summer months.

The data from the fall/winter months will be tabulated and compiled in written forum by July or August of next year, and HRDC will present the information to the counties in September or October.

Morey said the HRDC hopes to survey 3,000 people during each of the two segments of the study for a total of 6,000 people.