Accounting for Tourist Demand

Many site selection analysts continue to cling to using the total population within an expected trade area as the primary indicator of likely demand at a location. In our view, this often introduces error in forecasts because total population is rarely the best...

Summer at the Lake

Tourism can have significant impacts on retail sales, especially those related to convenience goods and food services. Over the years, many retail models have been built that use only the demographics of local residents while ignoring entirely the impacts that...

Beaches and Bridges

Some of the best summer beach vacation spots are also known for summer traffic. Friday night coming in, Sunday afternoon going out to be home in time for work on Monday. On the Atlantic coast, it seems that the best beach towns are located on offshore barrier islands,...

Where Did Everybody Go?

In Toronto, where I grew up, the summer ritual for many middle-income families included the trek from the city to cottage country every weekend from Victoria Day (May 24th) to Labor Day. The weekly migration of the herds could have easily been a National Geographic...

Spring Break Travel

It’s that time of year, when everyone seems to get an itch to go to the beach, go skiing, or go see family just to get out of the house. Spring Break is back, and maybe bigger than ever. According to a survey by Vacasa, a travel website, 56% of Americans are planning...