Rhode trip?

RI ranked worst state for a road trip, but tourism numbers show much different picture

By Ethan Hartley
Posted 6/20/18

By ETHAN HARTLEY The sun is out, and with many schools set to close for summer vacation this week it's the perfect time for families to start thinking about vacations of their own. While trips by plane are the most time-efficient means of travel, there

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Rhode trip?

RI ranked worst state for a road trip, but tourism numbers show much different picture

Posted

The sun is out, and with many schools set to close for summer vacation this week it’s the perfect time for families to start thinking about vacations of their own. While trips by plane are the most time-efficient means of travel, there are few images more iconic to the American experience than packing up the family station wagging and hitting the open road.

Unfortunately, not too many families seem inclined to take a road trip to Rhode Island, at least according to one study recently published by finance and analytical research company WalletHub, which ranked the Ocean State as the worst road trip destination in the country.

The study examined three key dimensions from each state – costs, safety and available activities – and scored them based on 31 relevant metrics, such as cost of gas and tolls, quality of roads and bridges and the volume of desirable attractions such as national parks and shoreline in order to assess a rating to each state.

Rhode Island wound up with just a 38.58 rating according to the graded metrics assessed by WalletHub research, which utilized data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Council for Community and Economic Research, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Park Service, among other organizations and companies, to guide their research.

According to the study, the top five best states for summer road trips were Wyoming (number one), followed by North Carolina, Minnesota, Texas and Florida.

Rhode Island suffered most in its 48th ranking in terms of the costs associated with a road trip, such as high gas prices and, by the study’s determination, the second highest prices for car repairs in the nation (ahead of only Connecticut). Rhode Island also ranked 49th in the activities rank, despite having a high percentage of mileage along the ocean shoreline and scenic roads throughout its span.

Little Rhody stays true to its name in terms of national park space, as it ranked next to last in terms of having the second lowest percentage of its land be designated as National Parkland. Rhode Island only has two official national parks: The Blackstone River Valley National Historic Park and the Roger Williams National Memorial, which has the distinction of being one of the smallest national parks in the country officially described as being about four and a half acres big.

However, Rhode Island also ranked sixth best in the nation in terms of safety for travelers to the state. The state has fared well in previous studies regarding safety, and Warwick was recently named the third safest city in the country by WalletHub last year. This bright spot, however, clearly did not outweigh the low scores from the other two examined dimensions.

Commerce Corporation disagrees

As with any study, it is especially important to be wary of how data is examined and the conclusions that are made. It should be noted that the study did not seek to identify which states attract the most people from road trips, or which states bring in the most tourists, but rather analyzed criteria that they felt would contribute negatively or positively to a road trip during the summer and assessed rankings based on these relatively arbitrary attributes.

For example in this study, it should be noted that Hawaii ranked as the 47th best place to take a road trip, ahead of places like Rhode Island, Connecticut and Delaware – despite, obviously, being completely inaccessible in the traditional sense of a road trip.

“It's a little misconstrued,” said Lara Salamano, Chief Marketing Officer for the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation, in response to the study. “They don’t always seem to take into account the full truth of the situation.”

The truth from the Commerce Corporation’s perspective, as analyzed via the most recent 2017 economic impact visitors study from Tourism Economics (an Oxford Economics company who prepares annual reports for them and many states and countries around the world), is that Rhode Island’s tourism industry and booming and not showing any signs of slowing down.

“All trends say we are growing double digits to date from last year...We know we're seeing great growth,” she said.  “We know the people are coming and want to visit Rhode Island.”

Salamano reported that Rhode Island had 24.6 million visitors in 2017, 7.6 million of which stayed overnight. In total, the state’s “travel economy” (an all-encompassing number that takes into consideration all the businesses and economic factors influenced by tourism in the state) reached 6.5 billion people – a 5.4 percent increase from 2016 and a 23 percent increase from just five years ago.

To defend her position, Salamano reported how a new advertising campaign, which dubs Rhode Island as “fun sized,” has already generated about $1.9 million in hotel revenue from just under $700,000 spent on short, 10-second digital advertisements that are specifically targeted to areas within driving distance of Rhode Island, such as Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York.

Salamano was curious as to how Rhode Island could rank so low in the study in terms of the amount of available attractions, as she feels the state contains a wide variety of opportunities all within a short distance from one another – a kind of unilateral accessibility not many states can boast. This is, in fact, the crucial focus of the online advertising campaign, which shows everything from surfing in Narragansett and dining in Providence to snowboarding and hiking elsewhere in the state.

“That's the whole concept of being fun sized,” she said. “On Saturday we went to beach and on Saturday night my husband and I came to Providence and had an amazing meal. There’s everything from nature walks to big city living and dining all within 30 minutes.”

Additionally, Salamano was puzzled by the assessment that Rhode Island was too expensive for a road trip.

“We have so many beaches and almost free, beautiful attractions here,” she said, mentioning free walking tours of scenic locations such as Newport and trails throughout the state, which she said was 59 percent forested. “Many of these things don’t cost money to travelers.”

Despite the negative findings of the study, Salamano said there was no cause for concern for the tourism industry in Rhode Island.

“I think Rhode Island is a great state, we're seeing visitors coming and tourism is up,” she said. “We're so accessible, we've got great ports and great beaches, great greenery and trails, great attractions, great food, great children’s activities. We have a little something for everybody.”

Comments

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  • richardcorrente

    The mass exodus out of Rhode Island seems to have leveled off but the number of taxpayers leaving Warwick continues year after year. It's clear to me that Warwick NEEDS to reclaim some of the 5,800 taxpayers that have left our city in the last ten years (according to the U.S. census). It's not rational to believe Warwick will attract them from out-of-Rhode Island. Therefore we need to concentrate on gaining new taxpayers from within our state. Marketing our beautiful beaches to other cities and towns, marking streets with "Beach" signs, creating a "Welcome to Warwick" magazine paid for by the advertisers inside it, (at NO COST to the taxpayers) and installing "Welcome to Warwick" signs on our borders will be a few of the ideas that should help. We have an excellent tourist department that can come up with other, new ways of attracting tourists, and new tourists become new homeowners and new taxpayers. It's time to market the great values Warwick has to offer to the rest of the state. If we got those 5,800 taxpayers back, they would pay millions in new tax revenue, allowing taxes to go DOWN on the rest of us!

    Here's an example:

    Say each new taxpayer pays $4,000 a year in all taxes. (real estate, car, tangible, etc.) I believe it's more than that but let's use $4,000 as an example. 5,800 new taxpayers paying $4,000 each is over $23 MILLION DOLLARS! That's $23 million dollars of taxes that Warwick DOESN'T NEED TO COLLECT FROM THE PRESENT TAXPAYERS. It's basic economics. Either collect MORE MONEY from the present taxpayers (as Warwick did for 18 years in a row), or collect MORE TAXPAYERS!

    I have always supported the second option. It will help Warwick "Cut Taxes - Cut Spending". A catch phrase that has made good common sense for several years now.

    Happy Summer everyone.

    Rick Corrente

    The Taxpayers Mayor

    Thursday, June 21, 2018 Report this

  • CrickeeRaven

    The make-believe mayor continues in his attempts to lie to voters. This link provides the Census data at the top of a Google search: https://bit.ly/2slKIKd

    It shows a 2007 population figure of 85,085, or 4,215 more than the 2017 Census figure -- not 5,800 as the make-believe mayor claims.

    Honest, taxpaying voters expect better accuracy than the fake data peddled by the make-believe mayor, and his fake story about his losing 2016 campaign motto making "common sense."

    His refusal to understand this fact will be among the many reasons why he will be overwhelmingly rejected again this year.

    Friday, June 22, 2018 Report this

  • richardcorrente

    Dear CrickeeRaven,

    You anonymous coward of a critic!

    I presented the U.S. Census report directly to the Warwick Beacon and they verified it BEFORE they printed my findings. I even gave The Beacon the name and phone number of the guy I spoke to at the U.S. Census. My numbers are 100% accurate. But even if we use your number, that means 4,215 citizens are no longer living in Warwick. That means the tax revenue of those 4,215 or 5,800 people left our city as well. That's millions of tax dollars! I want to get those taxpayers BACK. It will lower the tax needs on the rest of us. I have stated many programs in my platform to accomplish that. You haven't mentioned one! Why don't you? And while you're at it use your REAL name. Fair enough Mark?

    Fake news. Fake sources. Fake people. Fake names.

    Happy Summer Bob.

    Happy Summer CrickeeRaven, you anonymous coward.

    Happy Summer everyone.

    Rick Corrente

    The Taxpayers Mayor

    Friday, June 22, 2018 Report this

  • CrickeeRaven

    Once again, instead of correcting his false statements, the make-believe mayor attacks other commenters and engages in name-calling and other juvenile behavior.

    "My numbers are 100% accurate."

    No, they are not. They are from an anonymous "guy at the U.S. Census" -- and yet he continues to complain about the use of screen names as allowed by this website.

    This is yet another example of the double-standards that the make-believe mayor holds: He can post false and misleading information and use a fake title, but others who use screen names and post direct links to verifiable data should not be believed.

    "Fair enough Mark?"

    The make-believe mayor is engaging in a conspiracy theory first offered by Bob Cushman, again showing his incapacity for original thought. As suggested to Bob, the make-believe mayor should speak to the person he believes is using this screen name.

    Monday, June 25, 2018 Report this