Economic Impacts of Managed Access at Zion National Park

Abstract

The following report aims to answer two objectives: (1) quantify the economic benefits associated with alleviating visitor congestion and (2) examine the potential impacts of certain visitor use management strategies on gateway communities. The report begins with a background of the congestion issue and more details on the two objectives. A literature review follows that explores visitation-related issues at other recreational attractions and the tie between management policies and its impact on gateway communities. The first objective is addressed by creating a regression model to estimate wait times to board the park shuttle at Zion National Park’s Zion Canyon Visitor Center that is then an input of a cost estimation model that uses the Department of Transportation’s Value of Travel Time (VTTS) as a proxy to estimate the value saved from reducing annual visitation from 2019 to 2015 levels at Zion National Park. The second objective utilizes a summary of case studies to highlight potential impacts to gateway communities from similar management decisions to see how they might affect Zion National Park and adjacent gateway communities. The report finds that there is significant value in managing visitation more proximate to visitation near 2015 levels from the perspective of visitors, park managers, and members of the gateway communities. A discussion of the implications and limitations of these findings conclude the report.