Annual Visitor Sample Survey
Author:
Abstract:
The Visitor Sample Survey (VSS) is a personal interview of visitors who have completed their visit and are about to depart from the Philippines. It is conducted at the pre-departure area of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA, formerly Manila International Airport). The survey aims to generate quantitative as well as qualitative information on visitor characteristics to serve as inputs in tourism development planning and policy formulation. The sampling methodology used for the survey includes the grouping of all regular weekly international flights departing from NAIA into six (6) groups, taking into account the day, time, and flight or destination. A random allocation of the six (6) flight groups from January to June 1992, and the conduct of personal interviews for one week each month was done. Week to be covered during each month was picked at random. Then, a random selection if respondents were done with a target sample size of 500 per month or 6,000 per year. The January to December 1992 Sample Survey involved 5,661 respondents, 97% of which were foreign visitors, while the remaining 3% were overseas Filipinos. American nationals represented the largest proportion of foreign visitors, followed by the Japanese, the British, and the Chinese/Taiwanese. The survey also showed that 35% of the respondents came to the Philippines for pleasure/vacation, 27% came for business or professional work, and the other most mentioned purpose is to visit friends and relatives. This paper will discuss further the summary of the survey results including the demographic profile, the travel characteristics, and the attitudes toward the visit to the Philippines of the respondents further.
Keywords: