About

Summary

The Tourism Recovery Incentive Programme (TRIP) was part of the Falkland Island Government’s (FIG) solution to supporting both the tourism sector and residents of the Falkland Islands during the COVID-19 lockdown season of October 2020 to May 2021.

The aim of this study was to investigate the level of resident engagement with TRIP and find out how much extra travel it encouraged residents to do, compared to normal.  It also researched sentiment about potential future TRIP schemes, as well as other effects it might have such as boosting domestic tourism in future years even without the scheme.  Finally, it also assessed the impact of the scheme on the well-being of Falkland Islands residents, and how it might have changed their perceptions of tourism in their own country.

The TRIP scheme was such a success that it was entered into the Green Destinations Top 100 Sustainability Stories competition. Acorn was responsible for collaborating with the Falkland Islands Tourist Board to compile the story and enter it into the competition.

Our Approach

We developed a survey for residents that involved the development of a questionnaire and training of staff within the Falkland Islands Tourist Board to undertake the data collection.  All interviews were carried out using telephone surveys with a total sample of 200 interviews, which represented around 7% of the Falkland Islands population.

For the competition entry we developed a story based on the findings of the survey as well as additional data, including consultations with local tour operators, in depth interviews with residents, and Falkland Islands Government data relevant to TRIP.

Outcome

The study found that there were three key success areas:

• Acceptance and Uptake of the Scheme: 95% of the population registered for TRIP.  Of those who did not register, the majority felt they would not have time to travel or could not travel for health reasons.  Only 1% of the population did not agree with the scheme or felt it was not right to spend FIG money on personal leisure.
• Economic Benefits: research showed that the length of domestic trips increased three-fold, as did the number of people taking a tour, compared to the previous season without the TRIP scheme.  Self-catering accommodation occupancy was 12.5 percentage points higher than in the previous season.  Whilst the room occupancy rate of serviced accommodation outside of Stanley was down 8.1% compared to the previous season, the level of bookings exceeded that achieved in 2017 (just 3 seasons earlier).
• Creating Awareness of Domestic Tourism: 61% of persons who registered for TRIP said that they had such a good time they “would travel again in the Falklands next season, even without TRIP”.  24% said that they “would travel again, but only if TRIP was available”.  Only 15% said that they “wouldn’t take a holiday in the Falklands next season”.