Forecasting campground demand in US national parks

William L. Rice, So Young Park, Bing Pan and Peter Newman

Annals of Tourism Research, 2019, vol. 75, issue C, 424-438

Abstract: Camping has grown from a recreational activity to an emerging tourism sector. In America's national parks, this growth is amplified by increasing visitation and an occupancy limited by a mission to preserve the nation's natural wonders. Forecasting future demand for campsites can not only aid administrators' resource allocation, efficient management, and effective communication, but also provide valuable information to campers as they plan their vacations. This manuscript explores the unique nature of campground administration and tests a variety of forecasting methods to identify which best lends itself to the distinctive behavior of camping tourists and the unique nature of campsites. An in-depth study of five popular campgrounds finds an ensemble model most accurate prediction model.

Keywords: National park; Campground; Camping; Demand forecasting; k-nearest neighbors; Neural network autoregression; Machine learning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:anture:v:75:y:2019:i:c:p:424-438

DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2019.01.013

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