Seasonal Spatial Activity Patterns of Visitors with a Mobile Exercise Application at Seoraksan National Park, South Korea

Jinwon Kim,Eunjung Yang,Seongsoo Jang,Brijesh Thapa

doi:10.3390/su10072263

Abstract

Visitors’ behavior in national parks can be influenced by seasonal variations in climate and preferred activities. Seasonality can produce different space consumption patterns, and impact visitor experience and natural resource use. The purpose of this study was to explore the seasonal spatial patterns of visitors’ activities using a mobile exercise application within the context of Seoraksan National Park in South Korea. A dataset composed of 5142 starting and ending points of 2639 activities (hiking and walking) created by 1206 mobile exercise application users (January–December 2015) were collected from a leading mobile exercise application operator. GIS-based spatial analytical techniques were used to analyze the spatial patterns of activity points across seasons and days (weekdays/weekends). Results indicated considerable seasonal and daily variations in activity distribution and hot spots (i.e., locations of potential congestion or crowding). The findings enable park managers to mitigate negative impacts to natural resources as well as enhance visitors’ experiences. Also, it allows potential visitors to decide when to visit certain sites via mobile application to ensure optimal conditions. Furthermore, the GPS-based exercise mobile application can be used as a new methodological approach to understand spatio-temporal patterns of visitors’ behavior within national parks and other natural protected areas.

Highlights

It is a global trend that natural protected areas, including national parks, have become major tourist attractions with eight billion annual visitors [1]
With increasing demand and continual influx, park management agencies are faced with challenging options to develop more specific and measurable indicators that are central to management frameworks, and to ensure sustainable use that includes optimal visitor experience and resource protection (VERP) [4,5,6,7]
This study provides several important implications to visitor experience and resource protection framework (VERP) that is essential for sustainable park management

Summary

Introduction

It is a global trend that natural protected areas, including national parks, have become major tourist attractions with eight billion annual visitors [1]. Tourism and recreational activities in national parks are seasonal phenomena due to climate variability that influences visitation [10,11,12]. In Australia, Hadwen et al [14] identified key factors of seasonal visitation to 23 protected or natural parks across all six climate zones. They indicated that seasonal visits in equatorial, tropical, desert, grassland, and temperate zones were driven by climate, while visits to alpine and sub-alpine areas were influenced by natural and institutional factors (i.e., holiday periods)

Objectives

Results

Discussion

Conclusion