Using the Delphi Technique to Identify Key Elements for Effective and Sustainable Visitor Use Planning Frameworks

Abstract

Protected areas around the world receive nearly 800 billion visits/year, with international tourism continuing to increase. While protected areas provide necessary benefits to communities and visitors, the increased visitation may negatively impact the resource and the recreational experience, hence the need to manage visitor use in protected areas around the world. This research focused on obtaining information from experts to document their experiences utilizing one visitor use planning framework: Visitor Experience and Resource Protection (VERP). Using the Delphi Technique, 31 experts from seven regions around the world were asked to identify elements necessary for effective visitor management, as well as elements that facilitated or limited success when using VERP. Elements were categorized and rated in terms of importance. Scoring of the final categories was analyzed using Wilcoxon and Median non-parametric statistical tests. Results suggest that planning challenges stem from limitations in organizational capacity to support a long-term, adaptive management process, inferring that VERP may be sufficiently developed, but implementation capacity may not. The results can be used to refine existing frameworks, and to aid in the development of new recreation frameworks.

Developing a strategic model of participation in policy development for nurses

“…The Delphi technique uses multiple rounds of questionnaires to transform experts’ ideas into group consensus (Sekayi & Kennedy ). This study was conducted in three rounds, which is similar to other studies (Fefer et al ). The Delphi technique was further modified so that individual interviews were conducted in place of open‐ended survey questions for the first round (Keeney et al ) to gain insight about participation strategies in policy development.…”

Using the Delphi Technique to Determine Objectives and Topical Outline for a Pharmaceutical Care Course: An Experience from the Cuban Higher Education System

“…21 The Delphi Technique is a method designed to attain consensus of ideas of a group of experts (via) a series of intensive surveys interspersed with controlled belief feedback. 22 Many studies support its to develop and inform curriculum, thus, this technique have been found useful in curriculum development in business, nursing, medicine, agriculture, and technology along with environmental education. 23 In addition, numerous studies endorse the use of Delphi technique in pharmacy curriculum foundation.…”

Developing a Substantive Sustainability Framework for Urban Planning in Desert Regions in Egypt

“…This technique was chosen for two reasons. First, it has proved to be useful in areas where there is uncertainty, a lack of empirical evidence, and is dealing with complex issues [46,47] such as sustainability [48]. Especially when, exploring complex issues necessitates the need to develop a consensus [49,50], and knowledge from experts who are familiar with this specific issue [47], as they help to achieve this goal.…”