Title of Paper
Validating the Use of Social Media Data to Measure Visitation to Public Lands in Utah
Abstract (150 Words)
Using social media data for tourism research can reduce the financial cost and time for data collection. More importantly, social media data cover larger spatial and temporal scales that allow researchers to answer questions which cross-sectional designs do not. However, for tourism planners, destination managers, and on-site operators, the acquisition and use of social media data to estimate visitation can be challenging. The purpose of this study is to determine the ability of social media data to proxy visitation data collected through traditional means on public land within Utah, USA. We collected annual visitation data from U.S. federal agencies and social media data from two platforms. Our study found social media posts in the national forests and parks of Utah were significantly related to on-site observed visitation data. We suggest that social media posts can be used by tourism planners, destination managers, and on-site operators to understand tourism demand.
Validating the Use of Social Media Data to Measure Visitation to Public Lands in Utah
Using social media data for tourism research can reduce the financial cost and time for data collection. More importantly, social media data cover larger spatial and temporal scales that allow researchers to answer questions which cross-sectional designs do not. However, for tourism planners, destination managers, and on-site operators, the acquisition and use of social media data to estimate visitation can be challenging. The purpose of this study is to determine the ability of social media data to proxy visitation data collected through traditional means on public land within Utah, USA. We collected annual visitation data from U.S. federal agencies and social media data from two platforms. Our study found social media posts in the national forests and parks of Utah were significantly related to on-site observed visitation data. We suggest that social media posts can be used by tourism planners, destination managers, and on-site operators to understand tourism demand.