Revisiting the importance of visitation: Public perceptions of park benefits

Abstract

The personal and community-wide benefits of parks are well documented in previous studies. Despite a strong recognition of park benefits in the literature, there has been limited inquiry focused on the relationship between visitation and perceptions of the personal and community-wide benefits of parks. Consequently, this paper revisits the influence of visitation, as well as other key variables, on public perceptions of the benefits of parks. To achieve this objective, a survey was administered to 1584 participants from Australia. Overall, the Australian public was quite positive about the benefits of parks. Results revealed a strong association between visitation, age, gender and public perceptions of park benefits. Residing in an urban or regional location had little effect on perceptions of park benefits. Future research and management attention should be directed towards improving non-visitors', young people's and males' perceptions of the benefits of parks.