May 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 54

TOURISM

When park departments do count
tourists, the data is usually limited
to a few high-profile parks. Central
Park, for instance, is thoroughly
documented, thanks to the work of
the Central Park Conservancy. The
most heavily used park in the U.S.,
it received 37.5 million users in
2009, 31 percent of whom were not
residential taxpayers.
Also in New York, Bryant Park
is another closely monitored
location. Based on 700 demographic
interviews, researchers found that
51 percent of Bryant Park visitors
are from New York City, 20 percent
are from surrounding states and 29
percent are overnight tourists from
more distant locations.
Similarly, in San Diego's popular
Balboa Park, a 2007 study funded
by the Legler Benbough Foundation
revealed that 65 percent of all August
visitors were first-time park users
- in other words, overwhelmingly
tourists. (The average San Diegan
visits the park six or more times a
year.) Even more impressive, the
survey found that fully 20 percent

of tourists to San
Diego said they
came to the city
so they could go
to Balboa Park,
and 75 percent
of the tourists
in the park said
that Balboa was the
primary reason or one of
several reasons for coming
to the city. In the mind of
the tourist, San Diego and
Balboa Park are almost
inseparable.
Even much less famous
parks can still be heavily impacted
by tourists and commuters. San
Francisco's Alamo Square
is not world-famous, but
the iconic row of " Painted
Ladies " Victorian houses
is, and they are best
viewed from the park
across the street, which is
what always keeps Alamo
mobbed with people.
Perhaps the most thorough
systemwide
data
collection

Why Are the Numbers so Sketchy?
The question seems simple enough: How many out-of-towners (tourists plus
suburban commuters) are on the streets of each of America's major cities on an
average day? To control for different-sized cities, we sought the ratio of visitors to
residents.
Urban commuting data, compiled by the Census Bureau, is thorough and easy to
obtain. Not so with urban tourism data. Unlike virtually every developed nation in
the world, no government organization collects national numbers on leisure and
business travelers. (The Department of Commerce tracks top U.S. destinations for
international visitors, but that provides only a small piece of the picture.) Instead,
tourism data is self-reported by each city's destination marketing organization, and
research methodology varies wildly. San José tracks only visitors arriving through
its airport, Long Beach counts attendees at paid entertainment events, and a dozen
other cities collect only economic impact data or hotel occupancy information.
Some cities count only overnight stays, not day visitors. In some places " city " means
city, whereas in many others it means metropolitan area, such as the eight counties
around Pittsburgh or the 15 counties around Cincinnati.
Until there is a more unified and rigorous regimen for measuring urban tourism
numbers and motivation, it will be difficult to fully understand the impact - or lack
of impact - the park system has on the number of visitors a city receives.

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Parks & Recreation

| M AY 2 0 1 4 | W W W. N R PA . O R G

takes
place
in
Minneapolis
and
St. Paul, thanks to
a requirement by the
Metropolitan Council
in order to receive funding.
There they find that 45 percent
of regional park users come from
a different nearby jurisdiction - in
other words, they are day visitors.
About seven percent of visitors
visit from outside the metro area
- overnighters. Sadly, few other
park agencies amass this kind of
important information.
Not surprisingly, the visitation
level is not simply incidental - the
agencies work hard to achieve it.
The Minneapolis Park Board, whose
motto is " A City by Nature, " hosts
major attractions like the Lifetime
Fitness Triathlon, the National
Pond Hockey Championships and
the Luminary Loppet, as well as
concerts and festivals. St. Paul hosts
a large Winter Carnival in and
around Rice Park.
While some park agencies
struggle to stretch their regular
budgets to meet the burden of
tourists and commuters, others
have managed to generate earnings
from special events. The San
Francisco Recreation and Parks
May 2014 - Parks & Recreation

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