We have always known from anecdotal evidence and common sense that there would be huge demand for a beach vacation that allowed travelers to also support a great, sustainable local cause. A Booking.com study on sustainable travel released in April 2018 month to honor Earth Day confirmed identified five obstacles to more sustainable travel: high cost; lack of information; lack of time; unappealing destinations; lack of luxury and comfort. The BeachCorps model truly does resolve ALL these pain points.
But we have good reason to be EVEN more sure that there is demand out there for BeachCorps vacations. A 2018 survey of 2000 respondents by market research firm Survata confirmed strong demand for a BeachCorps vacation that, for the first time ever, combines a beach vacation with support for a nonprofit cause. Among US respondents, more than half were “Extremely” or “Very Interested” and more than a third “Somewhat Interested” after watching a 90 second video on BeachCorps, with only 6.9% not showing interest. The survey also showed strong support for BeachCorps plans to expand volunteering beyond manual labor to include people-to-people engagement activities like musicals and baseball and also our Dynamic Donor program promoting donations of school supplies and used items. With approximately 30 million people traveling to the Caribbean each year and about half of travelers in major markets like the USA open to volunteering, the survey confirms the potential target market for a BeachCorps vacation in the tens of millions. The survey confirms Facebook ad manager market analysis that shows a potential market in the USA alone of 26 million Facebook users.
When respondents learned that 1) BeachCorps will cost less than typical volunteer vacations that fail to include beach lodging chosen by the traveller and a reputable, independent nonprofit cause, but 2) more than a typical excursion like zip-lining, 29% said they were “More Interested” in BeachCorps and 52.3% said they had “The Same Level of Interest,” while only 18.7% failed to show interest. On the key question of whether a respondent would be willing to donate extra to the nonprofit cause in addition to paying for their excursion and vacation, 84.2% said yes. Canadian survey results were strongly similar to the USA results.
To see the full survey: http://www.beachcorps.com/survata-survey-beachcorps-model-compressed/
