Travel statistics from Huntington Beach, Orange County, Santa Cruz and State of California.

Huntington Beach did it. So did the Big Orange, Orange County or The OC. Santa Cruz Boardwalk has been doing it for 20 years. The State of California has been doing it for a very long time with the help of Travel Industry Association.

As more and more California destinations get on the bandwagon to acquire visitor data, the numbers reveal interesting trends about who's visiting, where they are from and where they received information about the location they chose. Below is statistical information from recent surveys.

Orange County, California--If you picked a trip to Disneyland to visit Mickey Mouse and his friends, you are among the majority of visitors to Orange County's Anaheim, city of Disneyland, Disney's California Adventure and Downtown Disney. Those three attractions came in as top Orange County attraction choices, according to a survey from Prism Parntership, LLC. Fourth was Knotts Berry Farm in Buena Park and the fifth most visited attraction was the Huntington Beach Pier in Huntington Beach.

Huntington Beach, California--A Visitor Kiosk was launched at the Huntington Beach in July 2004 with the goal of not only assisting visitors but obtaining data about Surf City California's guests. Over 7,000 people dropped by the booth and requested free information such as travel guides and maps. Visitors asked questions about public facilities, dining opportunities and event schedules and what there is to do in Huntington Beach. The program was such a success that it will be repeated in 2005, beginning on Memorial Day weekend in May.  Source: Huntington Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau

Santa Cruz County, CA –Nearly every year for the past 20 years, Santa Cruz Boardwalk has surveyed its guests to determine who they are and why the visit. Conducted over an eight week period in Summer 2004, Boardwalk staff spoke to 1,100 guests and found that 75% came specifically to experience the Boardwalk. Out-of-state and foreign guests accounted for 11% of the total surveyed and the majority came from the San Francisco Bay Area.  Residents make up 14% of the Boardwalk traffic currently. The average adult visitor is 35 and average youth is 11 years old.

More than 33 % of guests stayed overnight in the area and 40% surveyed ate a meal locally, they said.

Results of advertising efforts seemed successful, with 87% of visitors seeing billboard ads in places such as Highway 101 near Moss Landing.

Look to the Internet for traffic—the action on the world wide web now surpasses all non-broadcast forms of media for Santa Cruz Boardwalk with over 33% of guests visiting the venue’s website.

Source: Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk News / October-December 2004 Edition

Visit a Beach Factoid: Beaches are one of the most popular travel activities. One in ten person-trips (10%) includes going to a beach, equating to 109.5 million domestic person-trips taken in the U.S. in 2003.  Long trips are popular with beach-goers as 36 percent of beach person-trips last a week or longer. Among household trips including beaches, 41 percent include children. (Source: Domestic Travel Market Report, 2004 Edition.)