An Empirical Study of the Influences of Recreational Park Visitation: The Case of US National Park Service Sites

Abstract

The authors examine which variables influence recreational visitation at 353 US National Park Service (NPS) sites. The paper provides evidence that variables other than lagged visitation, including various site designators, various regional dummies, lagged RDPI (inferior), alternative sites (complementary effect), the regional 9/11 terrorist attacks variable and the regional terrorism threat level variable (increase in threat level decreases visitation) are statistically and economically significant. Generally, the statistical significance and magnitude of the variable's influence increases as site visitation increases. These results should be of interest to planners and policy makers in general, and specifically to NPS planners in charge of a US$2.2 billion budget.