Perceived benefits of parks: the roles of information source exposure and park use

Parks provide many benefits to society: environmental, social and economic, and need investment to continue to provide these benefits. An alternative to self-financing and commercial approaches involves building the public’s perception of park benefits as a foundation for consequent investment by government. However, there is little empirical evidence to demonstrate public perceptions of benefits. We utilised a survey in Australia (n = 1,584) to investigate whether respondents’ perceptions of the benefits of parks are determined by information source and park use. The results suggest that users and non-users of parks who are exposed to a variety of information sources and more frequent use have a higher perception of parks’ benefits. Variety of information source was the primary explanation for positive perceptions of park benefits. In order to maximise public benefit-perceptions, communication between information providers needs to be coordinated and consistently implemented. Depending on the societal-benefit profile required, combining communication strategies with park use, including through tourism, would optimise efforts to build and sustain societal-benefit perceptions. We anticipate that this research will assist in developing park agencies’ confidence in implementing benefit-perception strategies, thereby furthering the public’s support for conservation.