National Park Service comprehensive survey of the American public: 2018 – national technical report

Resource Systems Group (RSG); Wyoming Survey and Analysis Center (WYSAC)

In 2018, the National Park Service (NPS) conducted its third Comprehensive Survey of the American Public (CSAP3), a nationwide telephone survey consisting of 25-minute interviews with more than 2,700 adult respondents across the United States. The survey obtained information on public attitudes and behaviors related to programs and services provided by the NPS, demographic characteristics, and recent visitation behavior. This third iteration of the survey also incorporated new modules focused on program awareness and youth engagement with the National Park System. CSAP3 was designed, administered, and analyzed on behalf of the NPS by Resource Systems Group (RSG) of White River Junction, Vermont and the Wyoming Survey & Analysis Center (WYSAC) at the University of Wyoming. This technical report describes results from CSAP3 for the nation as a whole. For some questions, the report also compares responses by recent visitor status (i.e., recent visitors versus non-visitors) and/or by residence within the seven NPS administrative regions. Highlights include: 1. The vast majority (88%) of respondents indicated that they were “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied” with the way the NPS manages the national parks, national seashores, historic sites, battlefields, national monuments and other designations. Very few (3%) respondents were “very dissatisfied” or “somewhat dissatisfied” [question Q1]. 2. Half (50%) of all respondents could name a valid National Park System unit they had visited during the previous two years. Using this definition of recent visitation, the District of Columbia in the NPS National Capital Region recorded the highest percentage of recent visitors among its residents (77%), followed by the Alaska Region (60%). The lowest percentages of recent visitors lived in the Southeast (48%) and Midwest (44%) regions [question PV5]. 3. Yellowstone National Park was named as a destination by the largest percentage of recent visitors (9%), followed by Great Smoky Mountains National Park (6%), Grand Canyon National Park (5%), Yosemite National Park (5%), Gettysburg National Military Park (5%), Rocky Mountain National Park (4%), and Zion National Park (3%) [question PV5]. 4. Approximately two-thirds (67%) of these recent park visits lasted one day or less [question PV6]. 5. Recent visitors were generally somewhat younger than non-visitors (50% were under 45 years old vs. 44% of non-visitors). Just over half (51%) of recent visitors had four or more people in their group, nearly half (44%) had two or three people in their group, and very few (5%) were visiting by themselves. A little over one-third (40%) of recent visitors were traveling with children. [questions Q3, PV7a, PV7b]. 6. Nearly three-quarters of respondents (73%) indicated that they either “strongly agree” or “somewhat agree” that they planned to visit a national park within the next 12 months. Recent visitors were much more likely to “strongly agree” or “somewhat agree” that they planned to visit a national park within the next 12 months (90% vs. 55%) [question PV4]. xviii 7. When recent visitors rated the importance of various reasons for visiting on their last visit to an NPS unit, 96% said that to be outdoors was “very important” or “important”. Other reasons that were frequently classified as “very important” or “important” included to visit a national park (91%), to view wildlife or natural scenery (90%), to spend time with friends/family (90%), to hear the sound of nature/quiet (88%), and to relax (87%) [questions PV8 through PV18]. 8. Two-thirds of recent visitors obtained information prior to their last visit to an NPS unit. The most frequently used information sources were maps/brochures (73%), National Park Service websites (68%), friends/relatives/word of mouth (64%), and previous visits (61%). The least frequently used information sources included state welcome centers/visitors bureaus/chambers of commerce (29%), social media (such as...

National Park Service comprehensive survey of the American public: 2018 – national technical report

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