Examining the Agency-Foundation Relationship in Local Park and Recreation Services

Local park and recreation agencies supply a variety of community-based services, often at little or no direct cost to users. To supplement tax-based allocations, many agencies rely on partnerships with park foundations, nonprofit organizations that directly support park and recreation service delivery. Despite their prevalence and importance, there is a lack of empirical evidence about the agency-foundation (AF) relationship; this project begins to address this need, and seeks to inform the efforts of professionals navigating these partnerships. Results from a survey of National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) member agencies (n = 235) illustrated that these partnerships are generally viewed as close, effective, and strong, and of particular value relevant to “big picture” agency activities such as fundraising and community engagement. A comparison of communities indicates that the AF relationship is more common in larger communities, and among larger and more complex agencies. Practical implications for practitioners and potential directions for future research are discussed.

Landscape Dynamics Improved Recreation Service of the Three Gorges Reservoir Area, China

Spatio-temporal variations of recreation service not only could help to understand the impact of cultural services on human well-being but also provides theoretical and technical support for regional landscape management. However, previous studies have avoided deeply quantifying and analyzing it or have simply focused on assessing recreational service at a single period in time. In this study, we used the InVEST model to evaluate the spatio-temporal variations of recreation service in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area and demonstrated the impact of recreation service on landscape dynamics. The results demonstrated that recreation service increased significantly and presented a significant spatial heterogeneity. Although afforestation and urban expansion both could significantly increase recreation service, the recreation service proxy of the non-vegetation landscape is far higher than that of the vegetation landscape. This finding indicated that human landscape is more attractive to tourists than the natural landscape, so we recommend to strengthen the infrastructure construction for enhancing the accessibility of natural landscapes. Moreover, we propose other constructive suggestions and landscape-design solutions for promoting recreation service. This study shifted the static environmental health assessment to the analysis of recreation service dynamics, bridging the regulatory mechanisms of ecosystem services involved in cultural services.

Understanding the Agency-Foundation Relationship: The Role of Nonprofit Foundations in Delivering Local Park and Recreation Services

Inadequate funding is a common and longstanding concern for local public park and recreation agencies. Traditionally, these services are funded predominantly through tax-based allocations, supplemented by other streams such as earned revenue, dedicated levies, and sponsorship agreements. Cost-cutting measures such as outsourcing, overall staffing reductions, and an increasing reliance on a parttime workforce have also become increasingly common in the context of local park and recreation service delivery. Partnership with nonprofit organizations represents another potential strategy to adequately fund local park and recreation services.Partnerships between local park and recreation agencies and nonprofit park and recreation foundations have a long history, and help support local park and recreation agencies in a variety of capacities. Their importance may also be growing as a function of the decline in tax-based support and earned revenue due to both the Great Recession and the global COVID-19 pandemic. Such partnerships are not unique to local parks and recreation however, and are common—and widely studied—at the national and transnational level. Despite their importance to local park and recreation service delivery, and the established body of knowledge examining these partnerships at the national and transnational level, the local agency-foundation relationship remains understudied. In this manuscript we begin to address this gap by providing a clearer picture of the agency-foundation relationship, and identifying strategies for how local park and recreation agencies can most effectively leverage these partnerships. To do so, we employ a qualitative research method, interviewing leaders from both local public park and recreation agencies and nonprofit park foundations. Results illustrate a variety of motivations for initiating an agency-foundation relationship (funding/capacity, deteriorating conditions, and equity), as well as a number of distinct benefits of such a partnership (increased operational capacity, advocacy and outreach, expertise, and non-governmental status). Respondents also identified various characteristics of a successful agency-foundation relationship (effective communication, clear roles and responsibilities, strong connections, and flexibility/responsiveness), and challenges to success (competition for scarce resources, and equity). Based on these results, we propose several strategies to help local park and recreation agencies maximize these partnerships (communicate frequently and with purpose, build relationships, formalize ties, and strive for equitable outcomes).

Economic valuation of sportfishing in the surroundings of Cerralvo Island, Baja California Sur, Mexico using the travel cost method

Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, Mexico, is a reference for sportfishing (SF). In this vein, a significant number of artisanal fishers from the communities surrounding Cerralvo Island-located 215 km from Los Cabos-have opted to offer SF as a tourist service in recent years. The SF has generated unevaluated economic activity in the area. Thus, stakeholders need to know this value to improve their management decision making. Therefore, this research aimed to make a valuation of the recreation service and factors that influence the demand of SF in Cerralvo Island and surrounding areas using the indirect travel cost method (TCM). For this purpose, 275 surveys were performed at the boat ramps in nearby towns. The estimated consumer surplus (EC) was USD 1,886 per visitor. Approximately 28,864 annual recreational sportfishing trips were recorded, so the total annual surplus was USD 54,437,504. The EC outperformed other national sites and was ≈140% higher than the highest valuation made for Los Cabos, which presumably derived from the differences in costs (v. gr., fishing charter, lodging). These values suggest the opportunity for the development of this activity in the study area.

Evaluation of a Campus Service Quality Recreational Scale

In the past two decades, several researchers have applied service quality frameworks in sport-related domains in measuring service quality among participants. However, university campus recreation has been scarce as compared to organised sport at local, regional and national levels, which often depends on a limited tenure linked to their membership as a registered student at a university. The purpose of the study is to investigate service quality dimensions as perceived by university leisure and recreation students. A cross-sectional survey was undertaken among 301 university students using a non-probability purposive sampling. Variables that constituted campus recreation service quality were operationalised through a literature review, including sport and recreational scales. Through factor analysis, seven distinct dimensions of campus recreation service quality were established. These factors were labelled: people interaction, facility design, sociability, physical change, equipment, ambience and program range. Item total correlations show satisfactory convergence of the items within their relevant constructs. This study complements the existing recreational sports body of knowledge by exploring campus recreation service quality. These dimensions may assist campus recreation mangers to understand the dimensions that are pertinent among students within a university context better. Recreation managers, in their periodic measurement of service quality, can incorporate these dimensions.

Determining the benefits of adventure tourism from a providers’ perspective in Fethiye

There has been a significant growth in adventure tourism globally in recent years including Turkey. Fethiye is a good example of this trend as the resort has great potential for adventure tourism. Adventure tourism helps holiday destinations to attract sustainable tourism management in comparison with the traditional sea, sun and sand form of tourism. The specific aim of this study is to reveal the benefits of adventure tourism for the adventure traveler and for the providing organization too. Questionnaire technique was used to gather data. The questionnaire was directed and employed towards the service providers. Data was collated between May and October 2014 and 161 questionnaires were completed via face to face survey methodology. Adventure travel/ traveler benefits were ascertained from enquiries appertaining to: experience, activity, environment and other miscellaneous factors. Findings of the survey identified that the greatest benefits of adventure tourism for the providing organizations were 'self actualization' and 'supporting culture and environment' both of which, from statistical analysis, appeared to have a direct impact on increased business opportunity and growth market potential. As a result of this study, it is surmised that the provision of serving such destinations with adventure tourism should be of significant benefit to travelers and service providers alike. Keywords: adventure tourism, benefits of adventure tourism, adventure-based leisure/recreation, service providers.