ROYAL NAVY SUBMARINE MUSEUM – SELF-COMPLETION SURVEY
01 BACKGROUND
·
This report presents the findings of
a yearlong self-completion survey of visitors to the Royal Navy Submarine
Museum. The survey ran between October
2001 and October 2002. This survey
was commissioned by the Royal Navy Submarine Museum and undertaken by the
Southern Tourist Board Research Service.
·
A short self-completion survey was devised
to capture information on visitor profile, origin, characteristics and opinions
on different elements of the Museum.
·
The sample for this survey was set at
400 although this was exceeded. The final sample achieved was 498.
i)
Visitor Profile
·
51% of visitors surveyed were on a day
trip, and the remaining 49% were staying visitors.
·
44% of respondents were adult(s) with
one or more children, 38% were adult only groups and 18% were solo adult visitors.
·
7% of all respondents in the survey were
part of an organised group or coach party.
ii)
Origin of visitors
·
94% of visitors surveyed were domestic
and 6% from overseas.
·
Domestic visitors were from Hampshire
(26%), Surrey (6%, 30 respondents) and West Sussex (5%, 23 respondents).
·
Overseas visitors accounted for 28 (6%)
of the visitors surveyed, 8 of these visitors were from the U.S.A (2%), 5
from Canada (1%) and 3 from France (1%) with the remainder split between Rep.
of Ireland, Australia, Germany, Italy, Spain, Hong Kong, New Zealand, South
Africa and Malaysia.
iii)
Visitor Type
·
At least 70% of staying visitors were
based in Hampshire. The most popular
staying towns were Portsmouth (45 respondents), Southsea (35 respondents),
Gosport (30 respondents), Fareham (16 respondents) and Hayling Island (10
respondents).
·
40% of day visitors were from Hampshire,
9% from West Sussex, 9% from Surrey and 7% from Dorset.
iv)
Characteristics of visit
·
75% of respondents travelled to the Submarine
Museum by car, 11% had used the Gosport Ferry, 4% (22 respondents) travelled
by train, and another 4% (19 respondents) walked or cycled.
·
Although 50% of respondents had not been
to any other Portsmouth Harbour attractions during their visit, 34% of respondents
had been to the Historic Dockyard, 24% had been to Gunwharf Quays, 15% had
visited Explosion! and 10% had visited Action Stations. 9% had visited ‘other’ attractions.
·
67% of respondents spent more time visiting
the Submarine Museum than they had anticipated. 23% spent about the same amount
of time there as they had expected to. 3% of visitors spent less time inside
the museum than they had originally expected to. 7% were unsure.
·
17% of respondents were repeat visitors.
11% of repeat visitors had been to the Submarine Museum once before, 4% had
visited twice and the remainder had visited more than twice.
v)
Marketing Effectiveness
·
Sources of information about the museum include 31% via the
Submarine Museum leaflet, 22% through personal recommendation, 17% through
local knowledge, 13% from previous visits, 9% from passing by, 8% from another
leaflet, brochure or guide and 8% from a Tourist Information Centre.
·
32% of respondents had obtained the leaflet
through a Tourist Information Centre, 31% mentioned a Hotel or other accommodation
provider, 6% in the Historic Dockyard and 4% at a camping/caravan site.
vi)
Visitors Opinions
·
97% of respondents were of the opinion
that the overall enjoyment of visit for adults was either very good
(66%) or good (31%).
·
93% of respondents considered that the
overall value for money of their visit was either very good (59%) or
good (34%). 7% of respondents rated
the overall value for money as average.
·
87% of respondents considered the overall
enjoyment of visit for children to be very good (51%) or good (36%), with
11% considering it to be average.
·
95% of all respondents rated the overall
helpfulness of staff as very good (63%) or good (32%).
·
83% enjoyed the HMS Alliance the most, 20% found that
the museum displays provided the greatest enjoyment and 13% enjoyed
the Holland I experience the most.
·
94% of respondents rated the quality
of information provided on the walking tour of HMS Alliance
as very good (66%) and good (28%).
·
88% of those respondents that had been
on the guided tour believed the volume to be very good (49%)
or good (39%), with 9% rating the volume as average.
·
88% rated the length of the tour
as being very good (55%) or good (33%). 9%
believed the tour to be only average.
·
93% of respondents rated the information
and help provided by staff as very good (64%), or good (29%) and 6%
considered it to be average.
·
94% of respondents were of the opinion
that the availability of car parking was either very good (57%) or
good (37%).
·
90% of respondents considered the quality
of overall presentation to be very good (44%) and good (46%).
·
90% of visitors considered the warmth
of welcome to be very good (63%) or good (37%)
·
89% of respondents thought that the range
of things to see and do inside the Museum was very good (42%) or good
(47%). 11% rated it as average.
·
91% of respondents considered the availability
of toilets to be either very good (52%) or good (39%). 9% felt that the availability was average.
(91% VG or G; 9% ave)
·
Cleanliness of toilets received significantly positive scores with almost all respondents rating
the cleanliness as either very good (64%) or good (30%).
·
88% of visitors rated the explanation
of the exhibits as very good (46%) or good (42%).
·
87% of visitors rated the exhibition
signage as very good (44%) or good (43%). 11% rated it as average.
·
86% of visitors rated the display
maps and information boards as good (44%) or very good, (42%). 12% rated
them as average.
·
77% of respondents considered the quality
of the multi media film show quality to be either good (46%) or very
good (30%). 20% rated the quality
as average.
·
69% of visitors considered the quality
of the computer interactives to be very good (26%) and good (44%). 21% gave a rating of average and 9% believed
the quality of the interactives to be poor or very poor.
·
74% of respondents who had used the shop
considered the range of goods to be good (48%), with 26% rating
it as very good and a further 23% considered the range to be average.
·
81% of visitors rated the quality
of presentation in the shop to be good (52%) or very good (29%) and a
further 19% believing the quality of presentation to be average.
·
60% of respondents were of the opinion
that the value for money of goods within the shop was good (39%) and
very good (21%). 37% were of the opinion
that the shop goods value for money was average.
·
59% of respondents rated the admission
charges as average, 27% as inexpensive, 5% as very inexpensive and 3%
as expensive or very expensive. 6%
did not pay to enter.
·
34% of respondents considered the signposting
to the Submarine Museum to be good and 24% as very good. 20% felt the
signage to be only average, 22% rated it as poor (13%) or very poor (9%).