Socioeconomic Monitoring Program (SEM)

National Park Service Socioeconomic and Resource Recovery Division

The National Park Service began the Socioeconomic Monitoring Program (SEM) in 2022 to gather data on visitors at a comprehensive agency level. Each year, 24 parks are selected using a stratified random sampling approach to collect visitor data representative across the National Park System (refer to https://www.nps.gov/subjects/socialscience/sem-visitor-survey-process-visualization.htm for more information on park selection). Data collected on visitor surveys include trip characteristics and planning, visitor spending, visitor experiences and perceptions, and demographics. In addition to helping parks better understand various aspects of visitor use, these data also inform updates to visitor use statistics (https://www.nps.gov/subjects/socialscience/visitor-use-statistics-dashboard.htm) and contribute to visitor spending effects (https://www.nps.gov/subjects/socialscience/vse.htm). On the ground, the SEM program uses a multi-method survey methodology to capture a representative sample of visitor information, characteristics, and behavior: (1) an on-site intercept survey conducted via tablet, and (2) a post-trip survey (completed either by mail-back or online) for more in-depth trip details. The SEM program is intended to provide individual park managers with invaluable insights into their visitors while enabling robust data analysis at the agency level.

Socioeconomic Monitoring Program (SEM)

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