Business Plan Questions-Profile of the Hostel User and Competitive Analysis

Good Day, Forum!
I am located in a city that doesn't have hostels (USA). I'm hoping to start one in the next two years and am trying to write an airtight plan for funding. I'm pretty confident a hostel will thrive here. So here are my questions:

1.) My Convention and Visitors Bureau and Chamber of Commerce don't have any data about the type of people that would patronize a hostel (eg; How many single travelers visit, age breakdowns of visitors, etc.) so I have to make one. For those of you who have faced a similar situation, how did you get around this?

2.) Feeding off the first, how did you write an analysis showing that your hostel can compete against a motel/hotel situation? Bonus points if you used a SWOT method.

I have started writing this out, but I would like to see how others successfully did it. There is some interest from investors and an entrepreneur fund in my city, but I want to give this every chance to succeed and am not to proud to ask for help.

Thanks!

P.S. you don't have to be USA specific. I am quite certain hostel owners in other countries have faced a similar hurdle and your advice would be welcome as well.