Why does MGM2 use party nights vs recreation visits as the unit of analysis?
The NPS measure of recreation visits counts the number of people entering the park. Economic impacts depend on how long a person stays in the local region moreso than how many times they enter the park. NPS recreation visit data will generally count a visit each time someone enters the park. So a camper who leaves the park and re-enters six times during their stay will count as six visits. For economic analysis, the best measure is the length of stay in the area, expressed in days or nights. We generally favor estimating spending on a per party rather than per person basis. The “party” is a group of people in a single vehicle or in some cases staying in the same room or campsite. When spending is estimated on a per person basis, there is a tendency to double count shared expenses (lodging, gasoline) and not handle children correctly. With spending estimated on a party-night basis, the lodging expense is easily interpreted as the average cost for a room or campsite. MGM2 can handle othe
