Hitting it out of the park with park personality: Scale development and validation

Abstract

To remain sustainable, parks must develop a distinct personality that proactively differentiates from the competition, attracts visitors and tourism dollars. This research develops a scale for the personality of parks across three countries. Qualitative research with six focus groups and two expert panels initially proposed a seven-factor park personality scale, which identified the tranquil, genuine, exciting, competent, rugged, sophisticated and contemporary attributes. Quantitative research with three field studies identified the tranquil, genuine and exciting personality of national parks as well as the tranquil, genuine, exciting and competent personality of urban parks in Australia (N = 216), USA (N = 188) and China (N = 277). Theoretically, the developed park personality scale suggests applicability across different park types and countries. Methodologically, the scale development offers a more realistic approach to making discrete choices. Managerially, the scale presents practitioners an instrument for pinpointing the most appealing park personality attributes that facilitate positive visitor connections and repeat visitation.