Ishwar Dhami Division of Resource Management Jinyang Deng

1. Spatial Analysis of Recreation Opportunity Spectrum and Travel/Tourism-Generated Revenues: A Case of West Virginia Ishwar Dhami Division of Resource Management Jinyang Deng Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Resources Program West Virginia University

2. Introduction • Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS) is a planning framework developed in late 1970’s (Clark and Stankey 1979). • The objective of ROS is to help managers to identify, classify, and managesupply of recreational opportunities in an area. • Preferred setting, preferred activities, preferred experience.

3. Introduction Three settings

4. Introduction-Physical Setting Source: Pierskalla et al., 2009

5. Rationale Recreational resources: a major pulling factor to promote the tourism industry. Assumed to be the most important assets for development in rural areas (Baehler,1995; Snepenger et al., 1995). Rural areas with more natural and artificial resources experience higher rates of economic growth (McGranahan, 1999; Deller et al., 2001)

6. Methods-Data and Software Travel spending 2010 Dean Runyan Associates (2010) Software: ArcGIS, Geoda

7. Methods- GIS Modeling

11. Methods-Spatial Autocorrelation Global spatial autocorrelation (Moran’s I) was calculated to determine the clustering of ROS classes. Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA) was used to examine the spatial distribution of clustered variables.

12. Methods-Spatial Regression • The relationship between travel spending and the ROS classes was first estimated using Ordinary Least Square (OLS). • Lagrange multiplier (LM) diagnostics on the OLS for the spatial lag dependence or the spatial error dependence were used to determine spatial dependency.

13. Results -ROS Adjusted for Remoteness

14. Results -ROS Adjusted for Size

15. Results- Evidence of human/structures

16. Results- Final ROS

17. Results- ROS for Pocahontas County

18. Results- spatial autocorrelation

19. Results- LISA Cluster Map SPNM

20. Results- LISA Cluster Map SPM

21. Results- LISA Cluster Map RN

22. Results- LISA Cluster Map Rural

23. Results- OLS model

24. Discussion and Conclusion Most of the areas in West Virginia are Rural, followed by SPNM and RN. Hot spots for SPNM, SPM and RN are found in the eastern or central eastern part of state. Majority of areas in western part of state (mostly rural) are suitable for culture based tourism. Areas in eastern part of the state are suitable for both nature and culture based tourism (SPNM, SPM, RN and Rural).

25. Discussion and Conclusion 5.35% of SPM and 1.10% of SPNM fall under private ownership. Private land ownership can promote different kinds of recreational activities.

26. 2.45% of the state could cater to tourists who value wilderness (SPNM). 14.36% of the state could be suitable who value wilderness and amenities (SPM and RN). Areas under Rural (79.8%) are suitable for tourists who value amenities and accessibility. Discussion and Conclusion

27. Regression analysis: Visitors’ travel spending were significantly associated with the urban class. Counties with more of the other ROS classes but less of the urban areas were found to have less visitors spending. Discussion and Conclusion

28. Discussion and Conclusion Information to the visitors on the type of ROS available in the area. Helps to determine the management practice that would generate certain class. Information on existing recreation opportunities to assist them in making decisions on appropriate land uses. Dealing with size of the ROS classes changes in the area and trend of visitors could provide better planning of tourism.

29. Thank You!