"It Felt Like Walking Through a Night Sky": Managing the Visitor Experience During Biologically-based Nighttime Events

Henry, Caitlin

ABSTRACT: Biologically based nighttime events (BBNEs) are events and activities specifically related to nighttime biological phenomena, and are becoming increasingly popular. As nighttime recreation in parks and protected areas increases, managers must implement policies and frameworks that maintain both the visitor experience and natural darkness and soundscapes. The nationally renowned Congaree National Park (CONG) Fireflies Festival celebrates the annual fireflies mating season, and has witnessed increased event visitation. The Fireflies Festival currently does not limit visitation during the festival or charge a fee, even though these are actions implemented at the one other national park that has synchronous fireflies. Over the past year, visitation rates have forced park managers to modify how they manage visitation during the firefly mating season. Specifically, the park implementing a designated trail with numerous restricted items (i.e., glow-sticks, cameras with flash photography, and flashlights without red cellophane coverings) and actions to manage the natural phenomena more like a festival event, whereas prior to the visitation spikes there were no restrictions. Visitor perceptions of these actions are currently unknown. This study examined visitor motivations for attending the event and their perceptions of crowding. A total of 314 online surveys and 27 phone interviews were conducted, with a response rate of 61.7% for the surveys and 55.1% for the phone interviews (estimated ±5.4% confidence interval for survey results at a 95% confidence level). The demographics and factors like extraordinariness and unique experiences for festival attendees aligned with nature-based visitors (Kruger, Saayman, &Hull, 2019; Kruger & Saayman, 2017). The organization of the Fireflies Festival and Fireflies Trail, along with use density of crowds were the greatest potential indicators of high quality visitor experiences. Overall, the findings indicate that while novelty-seeking motivations could predict some of the expected levels of crowding based on Surprise and Change in Routine factors, these motivations account for little of the variance. BBNE participants also reported that they expected to feel more crowded at the festival than they experienced. The overwhelmingly positive response from CNP Fireflies Festival attendees suggest that the festival, and BBNEs overall, could be an untapped potential for tourism development. Many people left the festival viewing the park as a “hidden gem” that people want to visit again. These research findings could be used to catalyze potentially untapped tourism development in rural or low-income areas while also educating visitors about conservation issues on both a local and national scale. This study expands on night recreation research and fills in some of the literature gap on nighttime event management in a national park setting.