Abstract
Understanding the relationship between national park characteristics and the number of visits is crucial for the planning and management of parks. Visitation, the number of visits to the park, has a key role to play in assessing the social and economic impacts of new and existing parks. This study examines how the natural characteristics of a national park, the recreation services inside it and tourism services in the surrounding communities are related to the number of visits. Parks are classified according to these three dimensions and the numbers of visitors are compared within the three types. 35 national parks in Finland form the data of the study. The results indicate that the number of visits is associated with the main nature type, implying a continuum from the highest numbers visiting mountainous (i.e. fell) parks to the lowest visiting mire parks. A high number of visits is associated with a good provision of both recreational facilities inside and tourism services outside it. In water-based parks, in particular, the effect of services on park visits is considerable.
Published Version
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