Advance Booking Behavior Of Park Visitors: Ontario Provincial Parks

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.

Plan quality and plan detail of visitor and tourism policies in Ontario Provincial Park management plans

“…Parks have noise restrictions for all parks, with a minimum fine of $150.00 (Ontario Parks, 2013), but this fact is not mentioned in the plans. Ontario Parks has had a sophisticated campsite reservation system, either by telephone or internet, for over 20 years (Eagles, van Hemessen, & Legault, 2013), again not mentioned in the management plans.…”