Spatial patterns of leisure travel by trip purpose reply to Mitchell

We s i n c e r e l y t h a n k Dr. Mi tche l l for h i s c o n s t r u c t i v e c r i t i c i sm (Annals 1 3 : 1 0 6 107 ,1986) of ou r a r t i c l e " S p a t i a l P a t t e r n s of Le i su re T rave l by T r ip P u r p o s e . " Our a i m s in w r i t i n g t h e a r t i c l e were to p r e s e n t i n f o r m a t i o n on c o n d u c t i n g s e c o n d a r y a n a l y s e s of t he 1977 Na t iona l T rave l S u r v e y (NTS) a n d to p r e s e n t n e t t r ave l flow d a t a for i n t e r r e g i o n a l a u t o m o b i l e t r a v e l by t h e four l e i su re p u r p o s e s ident i f ied in t h a t d a t a set . We a p p r e c i a t e t h e r e c o g n i t i o n f rom a g e o g r a p h e r of Mi t che l l ' s s t a t u r e t h a t " t h e a u t h o r s a c h i e v e d t h e i r two p r i n c i p a l p u r p o s e s a n d h a v e a d d e d s u b s t a n t i a l l y to t he g e n e r a l u n d e r s t a n d i n g of t he s p a t i a l p a t t e r n s of t o u r i s m f lows ." S e v e r a l of Mi t che l l ' s c r i t i c i s m s a r e va l id a n d ref lec t bo th on our a r t i c l e and , in s o m e cases , on t h e g e n e r a l s t a t e o f t h e a r t of t o u r i s m r e s e a r c h . As a l so r ecogn ized by Mitchel l , some of h i s c r i t i c i s m s were t e c h n i c a l l y b e y o n d t h e l imi t s of our s tudy . C o n s e q u e n t l y , ou r r e p l y to t h o s e c r i t i c i s m s is l imi ted to a d i s c u s s i o n of r a t i o n a l e for t h e d e c i s i o n s we m a d e in c o n d u c t i n g the s t u d y a n d to our p e r c e p t i o n s of t h e t o u r i s m r e s e a r c h n e e d s a n d p r o b l e m s ident i f ied by Mi t che l l ' s c o m m e n t s . Spec i f ica l ly , we ag ree w i t h t h e q u e s t i o n b e i n g r a i s e d c o n c e r n i n g t h e val id i ty of u s i n g t h e TIA t r ave l r eg ions to p r e s e n t r eg iona l t r ave l flow da ta . As o r ig ina l ly deve loped by t h e Discover A m e r i c a T rave l O rga n i z a t i on , t h e p u r p o s e of t h i s c l a s s i f i ca t i on s y s t e m w a s to iden t i fy r e g ions on t h e b a s i s of g e o g r a p h i c images . T h e s u i t a b i l i t y of t h e s e r eg ions for s t u d y i n g t o u r i s m m i g r a t i o n h a s no t b e e n e s t a b l i s h e d . T h i s r eg iona l c l a s s i f i c a t i on s y s t e m is, however , w ide ly a c c e p t e d for p r e s e n t i n g r eg iona l t r a v e l da t a , no t on ly by t h e B u r e a u of t h e C e n s u s in t h e 1972 a n d 1977 NTS repor t s , b u t a l so by t h e p r i m a r y s o u r c e of m o r e r e c e n t t r ave l da t a , t h e U.S. T rave l Da t a Cen te r . S i n c e we were c o n d u c t i n g a s e c o n d a r y a n a l y s i s of t h e 1977 NTS a n d were p r e s e n t i n g d a t a f rom t h a t s u r v e y w h i c h a r e no t a v a i l a b l e in t h e p u b l i s h e d repor t , we fel t t h a t u s i n g t h e TIA r eg iona l c l a s s i f i ca t i on s y s t e m w a s a p p r o p r i a t e . We e n c o u r a g e a n d s u p p o r t f u r t h e r r e s e a r c h efforts a i m e d a t eva lu a t i n g t h i s c l a s s i f i c a t i on s y s t e m a n d / o r d e v e l o p i n g a b e t t e r s y s t e m . O u r r a t i o n a l e for s e l ec t ing t h e four t y p e s of l e i su re p u r p o s e s (v is i t ing f ami ly a n d f r i ends , ou tdoor r e c r e a t i o n , s i gh t see ing , a n d e n t e r t a i n m e n t ) r e p o r t e d in t h e a r t i c l e w a s a f u n c t i o n of t h e d a t a set . S i m p l y s t a t ed , t h o s e a r e t h e four p u r p o s e s r eco rded in t h e d a t a file. T h e specif ic q u e s t i o n on t h e NTS i n t e r v i e w form a s k s " W h a t w a s t h e r e a s o n for t h i s t r i p ? " a n d p r o v i d e s t e n a l t e r n a t i v e r e s p o n s e s , i n c l u d i n g t h e four l e i su re p u r p o s e s we e x a m ined. T h o s e i n d i v i d u a l s w h o a n s w e r e d m o r e t h a n one r e a s o n , we re a s k e d " W h a t r e a s o n b e s t d e s c r i b e s t h e m a i n p u r p o s e of t h i s t r i p ? " . Mi tche l l is r a i s i n g a ve ry va l id p o i n t in t h e s e n s e t h a t d i f fe ren t r e s p o n d e n t s m a y de-