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Abstract
Research on the advance-booking behavior of park visitors found that 72% of reservations were made before arrival at the park, indicating substantial demand for the booking system. The length of the booking period peaked for groups of 6 (70 days) and declined according to group size. It is probable that as the number of travellers in a group increases, the complexity of making travel arrangements also increases, encouraging trip planning further in advance. Competition amongst park visitors is highest for developed sites with infrastructure such as cabins and yurts, or for locations designed to cater to large recreational vehicles, suggesting higher demand than supply. Sites with minimum levels of infrastructure (i.e., those without electricity) have shorter mean booking lengths, probably due to the large supply of these types of sites. Visitors using less complex equipment (i.e., tents instead of trailers) also exhibited lower mean booking lengths. This study highlights connections between booking activities, visitor motivation, and visitor behavior in camping in parks.
Notes
Will Wistowsky, the socioeconomic analyst for Ontario Parks, was very helpful in providing the data and commenting on an earlier version of the article. Anne Craig of the marketing department of Ontario Parks facilitated us in obtaining the data. Professor Steven Mock of the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies of the University of Waterloo provided statistical advice.