Management of Large Numbers of Visitors

8/8/2019 Management of Large Numbers of Visitors

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Management of Large Numbers of Visitors Carrying Capacity from a

Consultant's Perspective

Al Shacklett

ORCA Consulting

Introduction

At the temples and sites in Angkor, Cambodia as well as at other cultural and natural resource

destinations throughout the world, high volumes of tourism are resulting in degradation of the natural

and cultural resources at these destinations. A number of news articles have been published recently

describing how tourists are loving our parks to death and killing the goose that laid the golden eggs

at various renown destinations. However, these situations are not entirely hopeless. In fact, by

implementing the appropriate management tools and techniques, it is often possible to developwin-

win situations through the implementation of sustainable models that preserve and protect the

resources, contribute to the local economy, and maintain steady or growing tourism volumes for

decades to come.

Effects of excessive visitation and overcrowding

Resource deterioration occurs at cultural and natural resource sites whenever the visitation volumes

exceed the ability of the site to support these volumes. This deterioration, along with chronic

overcrowded conditions at these sites, also negatively impacts the quality of the visitors' experience

which in turn results in reduced discretionary tourism spending and eventually can even lead to a

decrease in tourism volumes due to reduced repeat visitation and the reverse-marketing impact of

negative word-of-mouth. It can be said that resource conditions and the quality of visitor experiences

are often two sides of the same coin. These issues point to the need for the implementation of

management tools to (a) measure the visitation capacity of sites and the quality of the visitors'

experience, (b) improve visitation capacity and experience quality, and (c) ensure that capacity andquality standards are not, or only rarely, exceeded.

These problems are not new by any means, nor ones that have not already been frequently addressed by

many experts. For example, in a 1964 treatise, The Carrying Capacity of Wild Lands for Recreation, J.

A. Wagar states that the view that carrying capacity of recreation lands could be determined primarily

in terms of ecology and the deterioration of areas...must be augmented by consideration of human

values. Today, there is an extensive vocabulary of buzzwords, and a wide variety of planning

approaches available to assess resource conditions, site carrying capacities, visitor experience quality,

and the interconnections between these issues. Perhaps the most comprehensive guideline that has

been developed to date is the VERP (Visitor Experience and Resource Protection) process, a nine-

element framework adopted by the U.S. National Park Service as an important planning tool for

assessing these complex issues. Regardless of the specific approach used, key considerations for allsuch efforts to study visitation issues at any site include the following:

1. The analysis approach and solutions must be tailored to the specific needs at a site,

2. Resource conditions, site carrying capacity and quality of the visitor experience must all be

assessed as a holistic unit, rather than independently, and

3. Local stakeholders must be engaged in the identification of issues and development of

solutions.


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The need to address these critical issues leads to the following important questions:

What is the carrying capacity of a site? How can it be measured? What are the immediate and long-

term consequences of exceeding the carrying capacity? What measures can be taken to ensure that the

carrying capacity is not exceeded?

What are the elements that affect the quality of the visitors' experience? How can these be measured?

What are the consequences of low-quality (or less than achievable) visitor experiences?

What are the elements that contribute to resource protection? How can these be measured? What are

the consequences of failure to protect the key resources?

Solutions to excessive visitation and overcrowding

First, a realistic carrying capacity level (or capacity range) must be established. In some cases, this

process is straightforward, but only if the capacity factors can be easily measured. More often

however, in-depth study is needed to identify and quantify the factors that impact carrying capacity.

For example, at many national parks in the U.S., visitor surveys have been conducted to assess the

relationship between crowding conditions and visitor satisfaction levels the results of these surveys

have been used to help establish carrying capacities at several national parks. Other studies have also

been conducted to assess the relationship of visitation levels and resource conditions in order to

establish carrying capacities that can mitigate resource deterioration.

Often, there is an opportunity to effect an increase in the carrying capacity of a site, without impacting

the key resources, through a combination of infrastructure improvements and operational procedures.

For example, the implementation of designated viewing areas with railings at the key resources of a site

can have a significant impact on increasing the carrying capacity while helping to protect the resources.

Mathers Point at Grand Canyon National Park

Studies were conducted at the Grand Canyon to establish visitation carrying capacities.

Designated viewing areas at the Grand Canyon are designed to protect resources and increase carrying capacity.


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Also, the development of supplemental activity areas, such as visitor centers or additional resource

areas, can improve the distribution of the on-site crowds thus increasing the total site carrying

capacity.

Planned new Visitor Center for USS Arizona Memorial

New visitor center will result in increased visitor carrying capacity of the site.

Capacity can also be increased through the implementation of operational procedures, including the use

of crowd control staffing and equipment at the major congestion points.

Statue of Liberty Monument Tour Covered Queue Area

Queue area for Monument tour keeps waiting crowds organized and sheltered.


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Once the carrying capacity of a site is established, it should then be compared to the visitation volumes

in order to assess the frequency and duration of events during which the capacity is exceeded. These

factors can be used to quantify the magnitude of overcrowding and as a basis for tailoring a solution

that best meets the conditions for a specific site. If it is found that overcrowding is an infrequent

occurrence (typically, less than 20 days per year), then simple crowd control measures can often be

implemented, such as queuing systems to manage wait lines and meter visitors into capacity-

constrained areas.Whenever excessive visitation is determined to be a chronic problem that cannot be entirely solved by

improving infrastructure and operational procedures, other measures are warranted to reduce peak

visitation levels. The most effective strategies are ones that encourage a portion of visitors to shift their

visits to off-peak periods. These off-peak periods can include off-peak hours on busy days (e.g.: early

morning, late afternoon, evening), off-peak days of the week (e.g.: Mondays through Thursdays are

often less busy than the Friday to Sunday weekend period), and non-peak seasons (often, the

shoulder seasons represent the best opportunities for shifting visitation from peak seasons). Potential

tools for shifting visitation include measures such as pricing incentives, advanced reservation systems,

timed ticketing systems, coordination with tour companies, and strategic scheduling of special events

and programs.

Managing the Visitor Experience

For most cultural and natural resource sites, it is important to ensure a long-term trend of sustained

visitation levels. Often, it is desirable to encourage visitation growth and/or increased revenues from

tourism, especially when a portion of these revenues can be used to help preserve the resources. To

achieve these visitation goals, it is important to maintain a high level of visitor satisfaction related to

visits to these sites. High satisfaction levels can translate into increases in discretionary spending,

visitor length of stay, repeat visitation and positive word-of-mouth to friends and families. Conversely,

low satisfaction levels can translate into increased negative word-of-mouth to friends and families and

decreases in spending, length of stay and repeat visitation. As previously described, overcrowding is a

major issue that directly impacts both the site carrying capacity and visitor satisfaction levels. Theimplementation of strategic measures to manage the visitors' experience can achieve improvements in

resource preservation, site carrying capacity and visitor experience quality. These measures include:

Setting the stage for the visitors' experience. Ideally, a destination site should include an arrival

area that is designed to support a combination of the following objectives: providing site

orientation, conveying key messages, helping to build a sense of anticipation for the upcoming

visit, soliciting financial support, engaging the visitor in the mission of the organization,

encouraging visitor interactions with friendly and helpful staff personnel, and offering a varied

menu of visitation experiences.

Providing the appropriate level wayfinding graphics to help visitors navigate the site. The key

to an effective wayfinding program is to provide the essential information at the key decision

points, but to avoid information overload. Note that, in general, visitors prefer to have a limitednumber of decision options and are very cooperative in following directions and guidelines, as

long as these are made very clear to them.

Eliminating circulation choke points. Sometimes, inherent pinch points or design deficiencies

within a site can cause regular occurrences of circulation gridlock at these points or congested

clumps of visitors that move around the site en masse. In these cases, the congestion problems

should be resolved or mitigated through the implementation of measures to identify and

improve the choke points.


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Developing an effective path network. Pedestrian paths function very much like roads and

highways for vehicular traffic, and should be designed specifically to accommodate the types

and volumes of traffic that occur on busy days. Major path intersections represent key decision

points and should be designed for clear wayfinding.

Providing sufficient visitor amenities. It must be recognized that visitors judge the quality of

their overall experience, not only by their experience at the key cultural and natural resources,

but also by their ability to access desired amenities. Along with the basic needs of rest areas,water, and bathrooms, visitors also appreciate additional conveniences such as food service, gift

shops, and stroller and locker rentals all of these should be sized and configured to meet the

visitation levels on high volume days.

Providing a variety of interpretive experiences. Not only can visitors' level of interest be

improved by offering a diversity of experiences; the visitors' length of stay and the site carrying

capacity can also be increased.

Self-sustaining financial structure

To achieve the objectives of resource preservation, sustained visitation levels and visitor experience

quality, it is important to ensure that the appropriate financial mechanisms are in place to support theimplementation of site infrastructure and operational procedures designed to manage the visitor

experience. It must be ensured that a reasonable portion of the tourism value created by a site will flow

back to that site so that these improvements can be funded. These financial mechanisms should include

a combination of the following: admissions revenues, government funding, tourism taxes, donations,

grants, concessions, and the development of special events and programs for higher income visitors and

niche markets.

Conclusion

The resource degradation that is occurring at many natural and cultural sites throughout the world as a

result of excessive tourism volumes cannot be resolved as an isolated problem. Resource conditions,site carrying capacity and visitor experience quality are all interrelated issues that should be assessed as

a holistic unit. Through detailed analysis of these issues, it is often possible to develop a strategic plan

that can not only reverse the problem of resource degradation, but can also help improve the visitation

carrying capacity of the site and the quality of the visitor experience.

Documents

Management of Large Numbers of Visitors