Visits to national parks and hiking areas: a panel data analysis of their socio-demographic, economic and site quality determinants

This study examines the impacts of socio-demographic, economic and park quality determinants on visits to nature areas. The authors apply panel data estimation techniques to Finnish data on 46 national parks and hiking areas between 2000 and 2008. The main results show that ‘visits to nature areas’, as a variable, reacts positively to the population size and quality features but negatively to gasoline prices and income level. Of the age classes, the population share of ‘young retirees’ – people aged between 65 and 74 – increased the number of visits to nature areas significantly, whereas the share of ‘baby boomers’ – people aged between 55 and 64 – was insignificant in explaining the number of visits. As the baby boomers are reaching retirement age, and assuming that their generation behaves like the young retirees in this study, the demand for national parks and hiking areas may increase substantially in the coming years. This will increase the pressure to expand current parks and establish new ones.