VISITORS’ SURVEY FOR KYIV CITY STATE ADMINISTRATION

Goals and objectives of organization

The full title of organization is (according to http://www.kmda-invest.gov.ua/en/profile.html, accessed at December 5th, 2003): Kyiv City State Administration, Chief Department of Foreign Economic Relations and Investments .

This department of Kyiv City State Administration was founded in early 90s to promote Kyiv-based companies and organizations as the objects for foreign investments. Since then the goals of this Chief Department include:

-Forming and realization of common policy in the sphere of external economic relations and investment activities on the city level;
-Ensuring obligations fulfillment under international contracts of Ukraine within the territory of Kyiv;
-Developing of international investment and external trade cooperation, namely assisting Kyiv companies in presenting their investment and export proposals to potential foreign partners;
Kyiv export potential development;
-Foreign capital attracting to priority sectors of the city economy;
Preparing and signing cooperation agreements with foreign partners in the sphere of their competence;
-Promoting custom service and frontier bodies activities, creation conditions for their proper functioning;
-Introducting proposals about foreign investments attraction to appropriate bodies for development of Kyiv economic potential; -Promoting proper conditions for representation offices of foreign countries and international organizations, foreign scientific, educational, culture and sport institutions to be situated in Kyiv under the legislation;
-State registration of foreign investments;
-Promoting preparation and realization of investment projects with foreign capital and foreign economic cooperation projects.

In my research I am going to focus on such industry, as tourism. According to different estimates, over two million tourists visit Kyiv annually (http://www.zerkalo-nedeli.com/nn/show/360/32218/, accessed at Dec. 5th, 2003).

Kyiv is a beautiful, ancient city with a long history (it was founded in 5th century A.D.). Once proclaimed “The mother of Russian cities,” the Ukrainian capital is not only sanctuary for all Orthodox Christians, but also a modern, rapidly-growing business center of Eastern Europe.

However, as most capitals of countries of former Socialist bloc, Kyiv has a lot of problems (crime, poverty, public transportation, housing, waste management) which may hold perspective tourists off. Thus, this survey is designed to obtain as much data about international visitor’s profile and understand the needs of tourists better.

Goals and objectives of survey

As a tourist spot, Kyiv doesn’t have its own face yet. On the one hand, more than a thousand-year history and tons of historical buildings and sites make Kyiv look like typical ‘cultural city’: Florence, Prague, or Athens. On the other hand, vulnerable Kyiv economy (Gross Added Value, the macro parameter measuring long-scale economical processes, increased by 7.1% in first half of 2002 – (http://www.kmda-invest.gov.ua/en/econreviews.html; accessed at December 7th, 2003) makes Kiev attractive place for business investments.

We already have some secondary data, received from flight companies (the number of people that use Kyiv international airports), from hotels (the number of international visitors that stay there). However, all data that had been received tat way, have some disadvantages:

-all data are quantitative;
-methods used to receive that those data were not designed for this research (say, people arriving by international flights not necessarily international visitors, some number of international guests in the hotels may be residents not tourists etc.);
-data might be outdated.

The proposed survey involves visitors’ opinions, and designed to provide key visitor profile information, particularly, following data:
-trip purpose
-amount of expenditure
-visited attractions (or activities taken part)
-the ratio of return visitors
-positive and negative impressions from visiting Kyiv, demographic - demographic information about visitors
- tourist image of Kyiv

Population to be surveyed

Survey covers all international visitors departing from both Kyiv international airports (Zhulyany and Boryspil) and by international trains from Kyiv-Passazhyrs’kyy railroad station. The population surveyed includes international visitors aged 18 and older, regardless of the purpose of their visit, gender and party size.
This population is about to represent the whole target publics – ALL Kyiv visitors.

Explanation of sampling procedures

The sample is selected from departing visitors at Kyiv’s two largest international airports (Kyiv-Boryspil and Kyiv-Zhulyany) as well as in Kyiv’s international railroad station Kyiv-Passazhyrs’kyy. Interviews are conducted on a representative selection of days per month throughout the whole year.

The total number of visitors, annually coming to Kyiv, is more than two million visitors. Thus, we can assume that our population size is infinite. So, to get 95% sampling confidence and no more than 5% measurement error, we need at least 384 interviews (Stacks 2002, p. 167). The survey should not, however, be limited by this number. Rather, this is the minimal number of interviews we are about to take. Statistically, the bigger number of the interviews taken will not contribute vastly to the statistical significance, but time is not the matter in this survey – actually, interviews are about to be taken during certain number of days throughout the whole year.

The goal of this tool is to eliminate the factor of season: the period from April to October attracts more tourists than the period November to March – these data can be obtained from the statistical data from Tourist Board. Thus, the number of interviewing days in each month should be calculated on the month’s ratio.

Interviews should be distributed equally between the weekdays and week-ends, to eliminate factor of “week-end tourism.”

The method for this survey is face-to-face interviews with the representative sample of the departing visitors. The type of sampling is simple random sampling, as far as we are dealing with all population (I remind, we don’t have the idea what the profile of the typical visitor is like). The point of interviewing is located next to the Customs Control gates (at the railroad station – near International Tickets Office). Each interviewee is asked some screening questions to make sure that the visitor is international (some Ukrainians may travel abroad) and then asked to answer some short questions.

Survey Instrument

As a survey instrument, face-to-face survey was chosen. Even though it’s the most expensive type of research (Stacks 2002, 177), this type of survey is the most convenient for gathering this kind of data. Telephone survey would be much more expensive (because of international calls), mail survey would be slightly less expensive (if would), but the response rate is about to be less for sure, and sampling error is about to be much higher. Besides that, it’s almost impossible to create a database of international visitors who have been to Kyiv for sampling. Internet is useless on the same reason.

On the other hand, person-to-person survey not only allows reaching higher response rate, but also gives an opportunity to conduct this survey during the calendar year (to track season trends in replies).

Instruction for interviewers

First of all, interviewer should make sure that person at the departure point or at the tickets’ office IS international visitor. Interviewer should approach person and ask some brief screening questions:

Excuse me, have you been visiting Kyiv or you live here?
And, if the reply to the first part of the question is positive, ask again:
Are you older than 18? (if it’s not obvious).

Then interviewer should recommend him/ or herself as follows:
Hello, I am representative of [company which conducts survey], we are conducting survey on international visitors for Kyiv City State Adminstration. I would like to ask you some questions concerning your stay in Kyiv, if possible.

If some questions or doubts are raised, the interviewer should explain that survey is anonymous and data will be used only in aggregated form. If respondent is not willing to participate, the interviewer should propose to fill the questionnaire later and send filled questionnaire in the prepaid mailing envelope. See cover letter for the mailing survey below.

Cover letter
(mailed to those ones who is not willing to participate in face-to-face interviews).

Dear International Visitor,

We are writing to you about a research survey we are conducting at Kyiv City State Administration. The purpose of the survey is to study international tourists visiting Kyiv. In a changing world, the survey will provide current information about the profile of Kyiv tourist, his/her habits, needs and problems, and how Kyiv City State Administration can improve their services to you. Your response is important and appreciated.

If you are willing, please complete the enclosed questionnaire and return it to us in the addressed, stamped envelope by [date] (if you wish, you may fax your response to us at [phone number]. We estimate this will require [time] your time.

Participation in this survey is voluntary. You may choose not to respond to the questionnaire, or to answer only some of the questions. If you do not respond to the questionnaire, we will call you to remind you of the survey and ask you to participate. You may tell us if you do not want us to contact you again.

The information we need can only come from you. All the responses you give will be kept confidential. All individual information will be kept in a secured, limited access location. Results will only be presented in an aggregated form. Your identity will not be revealed in any publication or presentation of the results of this survey.

A postage-paid reply envelope is enclosed for your response. Please direct any questions about the survey and its purpose to (contact) at (phone number) or send e-mail to: survey@kyiv.gov

Thank you for your cooperation.
Sincerely,
(Full Name)

Questionnaire:
Before asking following questions, interviewer should make sure that interviewee is not a Kyiv resident and older than 18 years (see instructions above).

Objective 1. Demographic

Question 1. What is your age?
___18-25 ___26-35 ___36-45
___37-46 ___47-55 ___older than 56

Question 2. What is your gender?
___ Male ___ Female

Question 3. Please select the country you are the citizen of:
___ Russia ___another CIS country ___Poland
___ EC ___United States ___Canada
_________________________________Other (please, specify)

Question 4. Do you speak any of the following languages (multiple choice):
___ Ukrainian ___ Russian ___English
___ Polish ___German ______Other (please, specify)

Objective 2. To find out whether visitor was return visitor

Question 5. Is this your first trip to Kyiv?
___ Yes ___ No ___ Not sure

Objective 3: To learn about traveling conditions

Question 6. How did you get to Kyiv?
___ Plane ___ Car ___ Bus ___ Train ___ Other

Objective 4: To learn about housing conditions

Question 7. How long did you stay in Kyiv?
___ Overnight ___ 2-6 days
___ 7-14 days ___ more than 14 days

Question 8. Where did you stay in Kyiv?
___ Hotel ___ Rented Apartment ___ Friends or Relatives Home
___ Own Home ___ Other

Objective 5: To learn about the purpose of visit

Question 9. Was Kyiv your destination on arrival?
___ Yes ___ No

Question 10. What was the purpose of your visit to Kyiv?

___ Business ___ Leisure ___ Personal
_______________________________________ Other (specify what)

Objective 6: To learn about the attractions visited

Question 11. Can you specify which tourist attractions have you been visited on this trip (multiple choice)?
___Pyrohovo Outdoor Museum of Folk Art ___ Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra
___ Dnipro Riverboats ___Andriyivsky Uzviz
___ St. Sophia’s Cathedral and St. Michael’s square
___ Other (please, specify) ___N/A

Objective 7: To learn about the party size.

Question 12. Please specify the number of people traveling with you:

	the number of male travelers	the number of female travelers
<10 yrs
11-17 yrs
18-25 yrs
36-45 yrs
45-56 yrs
>56 yrs

Objective 8. To find out which was the amount of expenditures spent on the trip

Question 13. How much money did you and your party spent while in Kyiv in total?

	$
Airfare
Lodging
Transportation
Entertainment
Food
Shopping
Other

Objective 9. To receive a feedback from international visitors about Kyiv

Question 14. Please evaluate your impression from Kyiv on a scale 1-5 where 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest:
GRADE
Tourist attractions 1 2 3 4 5
Lodging 1 2 3 4 5
Transportation 1 2 3 4 5
Local people 1 2 3 4 5
Food 1 2 3 4 5

Objective 10. To gather impressions about Kyiv

Question 15. Using following scales, how would you characterize Kyiv? (mark on the scale in the place that best describe your opinion):
MODERN…………………………..ANCIENT
Cozy…………………………….….Crowded
Hot………………………………….Cool
Tiny…………………………………Big
Dark………………………………..Light
Young………………………..……Mature

Check instruments & Quality Control
To provide evidence that interviews had really been taken, each interviewee must fill the following log sheet:

Face-to-face interview log sheet

Date	Time	Length	Result of interview	Time length

In the column ‘Results of interview’ reviewer is supposed to mark if interview was taken and left field blank if not. In the next column the interviewer record the time when the attempt was made. This is made in order to track his/her time and for future adjustments in survey techniques.

Bibliography

Brennan; Holdershaw, Mike. 1999. The effect of question tone and form on responses to open-ended questions: Further data. Marketing Bulletin, Vol. 10, p57-64.
McFarlane, Bruce; Garland, Ron. 1994. A comparison of mail and face-to-face survey methods: New Zealand health professionals. Marketing Bulletin, Vol. 5, p71-81.
Robison, Edward J. 1969. Public relations and survey research; achieving organizational goals in a communication context. NY: Appleton-Century-Crofts
Stacks, Don W. 2003. Primer of Public Relations Research. NY: The Guilford Publications. 318 pp.
Suchman, Lucy; Jordan, Brigitte. 1990. Interactional troubles in face-to-face survey interviews. Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 85, Issue 409, p232-241.
http://www.kmda-invest.gov.ua/en/profile.html, available at December 5th, 2003
http://www.kmda-invest.gov.ua/en/econreviews.html; available at December 7th, 2003
http://www.zerkalo-nedeli.com/nn/show/360/32218/, available at Dec. 5th, 2003