Factors Influencing Visitors to Suburban Open Space Areas near a Northern Japanese City

Forests

Tetsuya Aikoh¹  Reina Abe¹  Ryo Kohsaka³  Mari Iwata² 

[1] Research Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Kita 9 Nishi 9 Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-8589, Japan;Environment & Energy Research Division, Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc., 2-10-3, Nagata-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8141, Japan;Graduate School of Human and Socio-Environmental Studies, Kanazawa University, Kakuma-cho, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan;

关键词: number of visitors;    multiple regression analysis;    suburban park;    weather condition;    weather forecast;   

DOI  :  10.3390/f3020155

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Visitor information often serves as the basis for the management plan of parks. However, there exist few scientific and fundamental surveys for parks and open spaces in Japan. We analyzed the correlation between the number of visitors and the various factors in a suburban open space in a northern Japanese city, Takino Park. To explain the fluctuations in the number of visitors in Takino Park, multiple regression analyses with the stepwise method were conducted. The analyses employed social factors and meteorological factors, such as the day of the week, school vacations, temperature and the weather. The results show that the most influential factor is the day of the week, i.e., Sundays and holidays. The weather is also influential as the number of visitors decreases on rainy and snowy days. Comparing different seasons of the year, we found that influential factors varied from one season to the other. A key distinguishing finding of our results is that the weather conditions at the departure site and the weather forecast are also determining factors. These findings will help park managers understand the current situations and examine future management strategies to maintain and enhance visitor satisfaction, and improve information services.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2012 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.