Number of years for this business:

6	first year (answer question 4, then skip to question 8)
9	2-3 years
3	4-6 years
5	7-10 years
22	more than 10 years

PART ONE: Considering the summer season of 2004 (Memorial Day - Labor Day):
1. Compared to last year, were your sales for this period:
_____ up _____ down _____ about the same

6 of 11 Retail businesses were up; 5 were down
6 of 9 Lodging businesses were up; 2 were down; 1 was same
9 of 11 Food businesses were up; 1 was down; 1 was same (all snacks/candy up)
6 of 9 Other businesses were up; 3 were same

8 of 9 "2-3 year" businesses were up; 1 was down
3 of 3 "4-6 year" businesses were up
2 of 5 "7-10 year" businesses were up; 2 were down; 1 was same
14 of 22 "10+ year" businesses were up; 5 were down; 3 were same

1b. Indicate percentage if up or down: ________ (if known)

Averages per type of business varied; what is meaningful are four facts:

2. Compared to two years ago, _____ up _____ down _____ about the same
Generally speaking, if business was UP in 2004 from 2003, they were also UP from 2002, and the same can be said for DOWN businesses.

3. What percentage are your summer season's sales of your total year's sales?
Lodging - 65% average, 40% low, 99% high
Food - 52% average, 35% low, 70% high
Retail - 47% average, 30% low, 60% high
Other - 53% average, 25% low, 90% high

4. What is the ratio of tourist sales to local's sales during this period?
Lodging - 97% average TOURIST, 90% low, 100% high
Retail - 79% average TOURIST, 55% low, 99% high
Food - 76% average TOURIST, 10% low, 95% high
Other - 65% average TOURIST, 0% low, 100% high

If you are a lodging facility
5a. What was your average occupancy rate for this period: ______ percent
86% was average for all, however:

5b. Compared to last year, was your average occupancy rate for this period: _____ up _____ down _____ about the same
5 were up; 2 were down; 2 were same

Indicate percentage if up or down: ________ (if known)
Average rate up was 32%; average rate down was 6%

PART TWO: Internal considerations - indicate any changes in the following in your operation in the following areas that could have affected sales: 6a. Changes in merchandise/products:   15  yes    24  no
Retail more likely to change merchandise/products vs. all others.

6b. Changes in store layout/physical plant:   9  yes    30  no
Most changes in store layout/phys. plant was from "other" category (no food changes)

6c. Changes in hours of operation:   5  yes    34  no
Retail more likely to change hours vs. all others.

6d. Changes in advertising:   11  increase    5  decrease    25  no change

6e. Changes in pricing:   13  increase    0  decrease    25  no change
Retail less likely to increase prices vs. all others. And as stated before, about HALF of UP businesses indicated PRICE INCREASE this year.

PART THREE: External considerations -

7a. In your opinion, COMPARED TO LAST YEAR, was the number of DAYTIME visitors to Seaside during the summer season:
17  up    15  down    8  about the same    6  don't know
Retail slightly more likely to say DOWN; Others slightly more likely to say UP.
10 years more likely to say UP; more than 10 years more likely to say DOWN or SAME.

7b. In your opinion, COMPARED TO LAST YEAR, was the number of OVERNIGHT visitors to Seaside during the summer season:
13  up    12  down    10  about the same    11  don't know
No business-type group was statistically different than any other, and length of time in business also did not affect response.

8. Were you aware of any increases in competition that may have affected your sales for the period?
17  yes    26  no
No business-type group was statistically different than any other.

9. Were there any other external factors that may have affected your sales for the period?
31  yes    9  no
Most mentioned - weather, economy, lack of advertising, Trendwest. Most responses are in the "can't control it" category (rain, bad economy, etc.)

10. What ONE THING could be done to increase tourism in Seaside?

Most mentioned:

11. What ONE THING could be done to BETTER SERVE tourists visiting Seaside?

Most mentioned:

9. Were there other external factors that may have affected your sales for the period? Nice weather.

Moved into public works contracting.

Weather; type of weekend activities. Hood-to-coast participants mostly unavailable for our services - good people, though.

Bridge construction blocked access.

National economic uncertainty affects "big ticket" items negatively.

Cost of fuel, uncertainty about economy, and a lot of people remember Seaside as "run-down" type of town. We need to reintroduce them to Seaside.

Marketing for the facility where my shop is located. I don't have any ideas of how the % of my rent fees were spent in marketing, and how effective it was.

Economy, rediscovering Seaside and beautify Oregon coast.

Off of the main street and the fact that we are new, so not much word of mouth yet.

Excessive rain in August

Price of gas, lack of adv. For Seaside in Portland media

I feel our overall traffic seemed to be up, but I expected June and July to be better. I feel our biggest external factor would be cheap airfare and people returning to air travel compared to high gas prices for land travel.

Weather in late August, economy.

Trendwest adds 1000 more bodies to street/day.

I believe the new restaurants in the area have certainly given the dining tourist more options, especially when there are waiting lines in town. Weather in August contributed to declining sales.

More localized vacations - more return customers.

Improving economy moved some would-be Seasiders to higher-end vacations (cruise ships in Seattle to Alaska - up 200%, Hawaii +30%, Disneyland +20%) in last year.

More visitors to Seaside this year.

Alternate sites built, Hood-to-Coast - free showers, not necessarily a room.

Believe bad economy means less spendable money. Reservations made greatly decreased; walk-ins moderately increased.

Number of holiday weekends in a month, number of weekends/month

Weather and economy.

New wholesale accounts

Trendwest

Decline in aggressively promoting Seaside. If businesses continue to open or expand, we have to see more SPENDING people.

Rain/weather

Doing classes at Trendwest.

10. What ONE THING could be done to increase tourism in Seaside?

More advertising in the media in Portland, Eugene, Washington, NoCal. Promotions committee seems to think Seaside is "events" destination. I think large % of guests come here to "get away" and prefer quiet times.

The Chamber and SDDA could work at doing an extensive survey to plot demographics of our current tourist base. We could then have a true pulse of: who, from where, how many, hold old, how long they stay, what they come for, how they spend�

Traffic control.

More Portland area advertising about "Things to do in Seaside."

More advertising in Seattle and Portland areas.

Improved highway signage.

I think Seaside is doing the right things to attract tourists. I do like the idea of cleaning up the beach; machine? I think having teenagers pick up garbage on the beach, Prom, etc. everyday in summer would be great.

Promote the unknown events better (kite festival, etc.)

More Parking - more attractions - more street events.

Adequate parking and less rude parking enforcement officers.

Don't let ODOT put highway through.

Use local merchants more for events at the beach and downtown.

Events

Coordinate (and increase communication for) all promotion, events, etc. so everyone knows who is in town, what's going on, etc.

I think the only way to increase tourism is to offer more events to draw people to the community. I really like the car shows and especially when Broadway is closed and it becomes a pedestrian mall. We as a community are doing a great job of customer service, which will increase.

Highway bypass for trucks, etc.

Quality multiple day events.

Parking is NOT a problem. Do you need to increase the number of people when they stand in line for 2 hours to eat or be serviced? Increased numbers is not an issue�

More events.

Increased convention center group activity

A strong presence and vitality of the VCB and Chamber of Commerce; SDDA seems very viable, but localized.

Friendly service - it's a must.

Have local Seasiders to be more enthused and motivated about receiving out-of-towners.

I believe offering motel specials, especially during the off-season. Also, Seaside motels charge way too much.

Build a wharf and amusement park, get more activities brought into Seaside.

More advertising in Portland and Seattle Metro areas.

Throw out Trendwest

A farmers market, perhaps at Quatat Park once a week. This could bring more locals to downtown also.

Advertise!

More parking. Be sure ODOT doesn't hamper the traffic flow by providing GOOD bypass routes during the upcoming construction.

We need a proactive Convention Center that is agressively using every avenue including videos and website to market Seaside and Conv. Center. Replace lost events and replace with events that bring in much higher attendance numbers. Smaller events should run simultaneously.

Better distribution of advertising dollars to a wider variety of target markets, not just Seattle.

Get rid of Hood-to-Coast

Seaside should take a more active part in shaping its image in the press. Write its own press releases, etc.

11. What ONE THING could be done to BETTER SERVE tourists visiting Seaside?

Better signage (or maybe get them to follow the ones that exist!)

Build the new highway

Hospitality.

Extend bus routes to extreme North and South ends of town.

Improve parking.

Parking improvements, if possible. Hwy 101 is a must - we cannot afford to mess up this opportunity.

Develop a master plan for parking and shuttle service to bring people to Seaside.

Educate residents on the economic benefits of tourism. Make highway more attractive�some businesses run down, lots are weed filled - tourists may think all of Seaside is that way.

Information officers giving information, not tickets.

If a business is not doing well on Broadway in Seaside, it's the business' problem, not the town's.

Offer a map with services downtown.

Build parking garage.

Get rid of chalk-marker people who antagonize people. Push for the parking garage to be accomplished.

PARKING. We really need to concentrate on building a multi-level parking facility at the public lot (next to Conv. Center). If I was a tourist I would gladly pay $5 a day for centralized parking near downtown.

More themed businesses - most shops and restaurants just don't get it.

PARKING. The parking enforcement officers were 2 of the rudest people I have EVER met that were placed in a position of dealing with visitors.

More amenities like parking, restrooms, benches, and signage for same.

I believe we do a fairly nice job of it, making sure our city is clean, restrooms, prom�beach is probably the most important and actually the easiest to address.

More restrooms - or better signage.

Better equipped information officers.

Service station attendants MUST KNOW where to direct people - they need to be clean, neat, and smile. Also, some motel attendants seem like customers are a bother. They need to be bright, cheery, and dress neatly.

Clean up the beach and city sidewalks.

Need a better welcome sign to Seaside coming from the North�and South!

Of course, better parking facilities.

Close Broadway (Columbia to the Turnaround) to traffic. More parking.

Parking.

Guest service training. Better policing of skateboards and bikes around Prom.

Tear down Trendwest

I think that customer service really lacks in this wonderful town. People just aren't happy to greet the guest or willing to go the extra mile. This is so sad.

More parking.

More parking and better directions to existing parking.

Build parking garage.

More parking.

Educate Seaside residents in the economics of tourism. Once this is understood, there would be a trickle down effect in the appreciation of those who visit Seaside as well as improved customer service and a genuine pride in sharing our town.

Get rid of Ruth-less the meter maid. Tone down (enforce the noise law) on the Candyman and keep him off the street. Pedestrian control at the 4-corner intersections. Keep the Chamber out of Local Government's business.

I would like to consider how to better serve local residents to increase off-season sales

A walking map so they can easily find the types of shops and restaurants they like.

2004 "How's Business?" Survey - Summary and Suggestions

• Consider a greater, coordinated promotion and advertising effort. There's been a suggestion tossed about (privately) about combining the Convention Center and Visitors Bureau, as is done in other cities. All I know is that we're too sub-divided - SDDA and the Chamber both are involved in tourism, and frankly, we should only be supporters, not coordinators. There is no "Head" of Tourism, and when there's no head, you're left with�the other end. Lewis and Clark will soon be history (no pun), and we need to think NOW about a cohesive, comprehensive, integrated marketing strategy for 2006 and beyond.

• Consider events, but always keep in mind that events can have many purposes. Drawing people to town is great, unless they're headed here anyway. Off-season events can be wonderful, but they also can be expensive to operate, and they need to have "significant draw" to lure out-of-towners here. It can be done, but again, there is no coordinating entity to lead the way�

• Consider a program to better educate the citizens of Seaside on the history and importance of tourism on this community. The museum has a wonderful collection of photos of how own town grew into a resort community, and they have displays and materials that also show this progression from Daddy-Train to today. It's our heritage, it's our economy, and we all should know it and love it. Do the school kids tour the museum to learn this? They should.

• NOW is the time to consider the future of traffic flow and parking in our town. No matter what you think of the 101 issue, the downtown core is in need of improved parking facilities, better signage for parking, and perhaps, a better/different traffic pattern. We should continue the Parking Information Officers, but "refine" the system a bit�some sort of visitor shuttle or other transportation coordination can also be looked at.

• The need for "great customer service" should be a given in this town, and yet�several respondents mention that we can do better. With all of the other competition for the tourism dollar, "great customer service" can be the ONE factor that keeps 'em coming back here.

• Finally, all of this won't happen without greater involvement from the businesses both in the downtown core and throughout Seaside. I wanted to thank those of you who participated in the survey, and I want to encourage the rest of you to be involved, in some way, shape or form, in the future of tourism in our town. Today, the tourism industry talks about the need for "great experiences" in "great destinations." These things won't happen if you sit on the sidelines.

• I would ask everyone to consider how to create "great experiences" for our visitors, and help in making Seaside a "great destination."