Market Economic Contributions of Recreating Users of the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center and Alpena Shipwreck Tours in Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary: Volume 1 (2018)

This report is part of a series of reports that focus on the use of two recreational venues associated with Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Data were collected from June 2018 to October 2018. Respondents were intercepted at the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center, the sanctuary’s visitor center, and Alpena Shipwreck Tours, a glass- bottom boat that operates in the sanctuary. Users were residents of the region (defined as Presque Isle, Alcona, and Alpena counties) as well as visitors to the region. The users were intercepted at both locations and asked to participate in an on-sight screener survey that recruited them into a longer survey. The longer survey focused on the importance and satisfaction of various characteristics related to their experience, their expenditures, and the activities they did while in the region. In total, 992 people were intercepted and 90% of them agreed to take the survey in the on-site screener survey. The response rate for the longer survey of those who completed the screener was 34.8%. This report, Volume 1, overviews person-day estimates, expenditure profiles, and economic contributions from user visitor expenditures. Volume 2 addresses the visitors’ importance-satisfaction ratings for natural resource attributes, facilities, and services. Volume 3 in this series presents a socioeconomic profile of those recreating at Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, including demographic profiles (e.g., age, gender, race- ethnicity, household size, household type, etc.), use, top recreation activities/points of interest, and additional detail on comparative person-days. Volume 4 is a technical appendix that explains the survey sampling methodology and the methods of estimation for volumes 1-3.

Key Words

Coastal recreation, Great Lakes, marine recreation, Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, jobs, sanctuaries, shipwrecks, expenditures, output, economics, IMPLAN

Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary Visitor Study Infographic — Sanctuary attractions like the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center and Alpena Shipwreck Tours raise awareness about protecting the Great Lakes and attract new visitors to the region. View the sanctuary visitor study infographic (PDF).