Relationship between Visitors’ Sense of Place, Recreation Behavior, and Acceptability of Resource Allocation Strategies at a Reservoir Facing a Water Crisis

Municipal drawdowns at public reservoirs can negatively impact recreational uses on site. Therefore, sustaining recreation requires understanding how users relate themselves with the reservoir and the resource therein, and how they will respond to circumstances and policies impacting the resource. Researchers use placedbased theory, particularly sense of place (SOP), to assess the user community’s perspective on the natural resource or recreation site of interest. This study utilized visitor survey data (n=282) from Canton Reservoir in Oklahoma to assess visitors’ sense of place (SOP), and to evaluate the relationship of SOP with their acceptability of alternative water allocation strategies and future intention of visiting the reservoir under depleted water conditions. Visitors had a high level of SOP with the reservoir and supported protective water allocation strategies that either favor the retention of water on-site or ensure a fair distribution between recreation and municipal use. Results suggest a positive relationship between visitors' SOP and their intended trips to the reservoir even under depleted water conditions. The findings highlight the psychological, functional, and emotional benefits associated with the recreational use of the Canton Reservoir, which will in turn help managers make more informed and balanced decisions about water conservation and allocation. Insights from this study will also contribute in literature on the sense of place and protective norms and offers several implications for the management of public reservoirs.

The Participation of Small Museums in Visitor Research

<p>Visitor research appears to be a practice which currently has limited application in New Zealand, especially within small museums. There are challenges in undertaking such research, which have led to an emphasis placed upon collecting visitation numbers. Visitor research is a practice which can be used by museums for a range of purposes, such as improving exhibitions, future planning, or for funding bids. In this way, promoting a range of visitor research methods can enhance the overall value of data gathered. Using Museums Aotearoa’s National Visitor Survey as a starting point, this research explores the needs of small museums with regard to visitor research, and also looks into the ways in which these needs might be met. Seven face-to-face interviews were conducted with key people in small museums and galleries. Diversity within the research sample ensured opportunities for comparison, building a picture of differences and similarities in their perceptions of visitor research. The interview responses generated themes around current and ideal practice, funding and management, and community value and involvement. Many reasons emerged as to why small museums and galleries do not carry out visitor research. Shortages of money and staff were two of the main barriers identified. These and other limitations, such as a lack of experience with implementation and analysis, need to be addressed before an institution can seriously undertake valuable visitor research. The findings suggest that within this group of small museums and galleries there is generally a limited understanding about visitor research and the usefulness of the collected data, often restricting practice. There are a number of benefits which would result from access to experts to educate and support visitor research practice. However, there is also the need for funding, possibly in the form of “start up” grants. If more visitor research was undertaken using such support mechanisms, it could ultimately improve the operation of small museums, by creating benchmarks for reporting and potentially increasing funding.</p>

The Participation of Small Museums in Visitor Research

<p>Visitor research appears to be a practice which currently has limited application in New Zealand, especially within small museums. There are challenges in undertaking such research, which have led to an emphasis placed upon collecting visitation numbers. Visitor research is a practice which can be used by museums for a range of purposes, such as improving exhibitions, future planning, or for funding bids. In this way, promoting a range of visitor research methods can enhance the overall value of data gathered. Using Museums Aotearoa’s National Visitor Survey as a starting point, this research explores the needs of small museums with regard to visitor research, and also looks into the ways in which these needs might be met. Seven face-to-face interviews were conducted with key people in small museums and galleries. Diversity within the research sample ensured opportunities for comparison, building a picture of differences and similarities in their perceptions of visitor research. The interview responses generated themes around current and ideal practice, funding and management, and community value and involvement. Many reasons emerged as to why small museums and galleries do not carry out visitor research. Shortages of money and staff were two of the main barriers identified. These and other limitations, such as a lack of experience with implementation and analysis, need to be addressed before an institution can seriously undertake valuable visitor research. The findings suggest that within this group of small museums and galleries there is generally a limited understanding about visitor research and the usefulness of the collected data, often restricting practice. There are a number of benefits which would result from access to experts to educate and support visitor research practice. However, there is also the need for funding, possibly in the form of “start up” grants. If more visitor research was undertaken using such support mechanisms, it could ultimately improve the operation of small museums, by creating benchmarks for reporting and potentially increasing funding.</p>

A natural history museum visitor survey of perception, attitude and knowledge (PAK) of microbes and antibiotics

A kiosk-based survey at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City in 2016–2018 allowed us to assess public knowledge of antibiotics and public attitudes toward microbes in museum goers. Over 22,000 visitors from 172 countries and territories answered several carefully designed questions about microbes and antibiotics. These visitors also entered age, gender, and country demographic data that allowed for stratification along these demographic and geographic divisions. Because museum goers are likely to be better informed about these and other science-based topics, the results described here can set a potential upper bound for public knowledge on these topics. Surprisingly, the results of our analysis of museum goers’ answers about microbes and antibiotics indicate a substantial lack of familiarity with both topics. For example, overall only about 50% of respondents can correctly identify penicillin as an antibiotic and less than 50% of museum visitors view microbes as beneficial. The results described here suggest that we are perhaps off target with our educational efforts in this area and that a major shift in approach toward more basic microbial topics is warranted in our educational efforts.

Destination Marketing: Optimizing Resource Allocation Using Modern Portfolio Theory

Despite the significant contribution that tourism generates for national economic health, the tourism industry is challenged by seasonal and periodic volatility in arrivals. This volatility causes inefficiencies in the allocation of a destination’s resources. Policy makers and operators prefer a steady and constant inflow of tourists. Though prior studies have applied a portfolio optimization approach to inbound tourism flows, this study is the first to consider the destination’s marketing budget and each tourism markets’ heterogeneous marketing expenditure–demand elasticity. Our model provides destination marketing organizations with direct guidance as to how to allocate their marketing budget to facilitate portfolio profiles that are efficient from a risk-reward perspective, and that are attainable given budget constraints and known marketing expenditure–demand elasticity patterns. Using Tourism Research Australia International Visitor Survey data, we find that variability in tourism fluctuations can be reduced and inbound tourism numbers/spending significantly increased by implementing smarter (data-driven) marketing budget allocations.

Heritage event as tourist attraction: the case of Dymarki Swietokrzyskie, Poland

While previous research has focused on heritage visitor attractions few studies have examined visitation to and experience of ancient industrial sites as geographical tourist spaces. This article profiles visitation to Dymarki Swietokrzyskie, a heritage reenactment of past events and ancient industrial traditions of iron smelting held in the Polish town of Nowa Slupia. Visitor survey analysis showed visitors perceive the event is a significant tourist attraction. It attracts tourists, is an element of the local heritage industry and contributes to the development of tourism services as part of the heritage tourism sector. The event in Nowa Slupia forms a tourist attraction based on heritage used for creating a contemporary heritage event, evoking specific tourist behaviors and therefore bringing economic profits. Creating the heritage tourism experience here was possible due to the influence of the mix of the elements in a heritage tourism behavioral model consisting of: politics, conservation, authenticity, impact management and interpretation. Examination of the event confirmed the validity of this framework for the analysis of heritage site visitation as well as providing practical insights for both site managers and future researchers.

Promoting elephant-friendly tourism.

The village of Sauraha in Nepal is a principal entry point to Chitwan National Park and has been influenced by multiple events over the past few years, affecting the local tourism dynamics and specific tourism products like elephant-back safaris. The global debate on animal welfare visibly influences the local market dynamics for elephant safaris. At the same time, there are other local factors at play that may be of stronger influence. The destination has been affected by local political and economic challenges that have increased cost of operations, intensified competition and challenged potential visitors. Furthermore, Sauraha is attracting emerging markets with different values and expectations in comparison with the traditional markets and which are charged lower prices for services. This chapter explores the impact of these recent events facing the destination Sauraha and reveals how understanding this is key to informing a tailor-made strategy to improve welfare for captive elephants. This research was conducted in the context of an ongoing partnership between World Animal Protection and the Elephant Owners' Association of Sauraha, and involved interviews with stakeholders in Sauraha and Kathmandu, as well as a visitor survey. Findings show that there is an increasing interest among private elephant owners to consider alternative management styles, especially to alleviate personal liability.