Visitor Management Strategies: Ho‘omaluhia Botanical Garden
Partner organization: Honolulu Botanical Gardens
Team members: Megan Jacques (Robotics Engineering ’24), Caroline McLaughlin (Management Information Systems ’24), Alyssa Morgan (Biomedical Engineering ’24), Megan Sin (Data Science ’24)
Download the team’s final presentation.
Increasing visitation has caused problems in outdoor recreational areas around the world. A growing number of these sites have had to develop management strategies to avoid damaging the area, guarantee the safety of its visitors, and improve the overall visitor experience. In recent years, Hoʻomaluhia Botanical Garden in Kāneʻohe, Oʻahu, has faced many issues resulting from increasing visitation.
Ho‘omaluhia was founded in 1982 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a flood control project. The facility doubles as a 400-acre botanical garden including a lake, hiking trails, a two-mile road, six parking lots, and 30 campsites. Annual visitation has tripled since the garden’s opening, leading to an overwhelming number of visitors for the management team to oversee. During their visit, many visitors remain on the garden’s main road, resulting in overcrowding. Residents of the nearby community have also complained about vehicular traffic and visitors’ cars parked or lined up outside their homes. As Ho‘omaluhia lacks a definitive plan for the future, the management team has expressed concerns about not being able to keep up with visitor and neighbor needs.
Ho‘omaluhia can address the concerns of its visitors, staff, and neighbors by utilizing visitor management (VM) strategies. VM focuses on preserving the site and optimizing the visitor experience through proactive, sustainable measures (Kohl et al., 2015). The management staff at Ho‘omaluhia has a long-term goal to develop a VM plan and is expecting budget requests and years of planning. Our role was to help inform their future long-term VM plan through data collection and a set of recommendations. To do so, we identified the following objectives:
1. Review and analyze VM plans from similar outdoor recreational sites
2. Collect and analyze visitor data at Hoʻomaluhia Botanical Garden
3. Identify stakeholder concerns surrounding current garden infrastructure
4. Review and analyze VM plans from similar outdoor recreational sites
The initial research phase focused on reviewing VM plans from other outdoor recreational sites that faced problems managing visitation. Our team analyzed the VM plans at Zion and Haleakalā National Parks, both of which are sites with accessible and informational VM plans readily available online. Examining these plans helped our team gain an initial understanding of what VM plans typically consist of. The two plans utilize easy-to-follow formats that provide a suitable outline for Ho‘omaluhia’s recommended VM plan.
To gather first-hand knowledge about the VM plan development process, our team interviewed park managers who have designed and applied VM plans in Hawai‘i. Our interview with two representatives from the Hawai‘i Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), which oversees Hā’ena State Park, Diamond Head State Monument, and Waiʻānapanapa State Park, highlighted the importance of collaborating with the local community to limit overcrowding. We also discussed the value of practicing “adaptive management,” or gradually changing a managerial approach based on feedback and results (Williams et al., 2009).
Our team conducted an interview with Lyon Arboretum’s acting director about the site’s reservation system and suggested donation model. Lyon’s management team has found that their combination of a reservation system and donation system has not only eased the stress placed on staff, but has improved the visitor experience.
Finally, we interviewed the manager of Hanauma Bay State Park about the park’s reservation system and admission fee. The park implemented an online reservation system to cap visitation at a manageable number. Hanauma Bay also employed strategies to directly influence visitor behavior, such as limiting the number of arriving visitors two hours before the park closes.
Collect and analyze visitor data at Hoʻomaluhia Botanical Garden
Visitation patterns at four locations in the botanical garden
To understand visitation patterns at Ho‘omaluhia, we utilized daily visitor data from January 1, 2022, to January 31, 2023. We determined that there is an approximate 50/50 split in resident/non-resident visitation every month, and visitation is the highest during the weekend and the lowest on Wednesdays. To supplement the data we received regarding total visitation, we focused on collecting visitation data at four distinct locations in the garden throughout the week. This data showed that the education center typically receives the most visitors, but only a fraction of these visitors interact with staff to find out more information about the garden. These findings also confirmed that areas that deviate from the main road typically receive fewer visitors than areas that are easily accessible from the main road.
Identify stakeholder concerns regarding current garden infrastructure
Current stakeholders of the garden include staff, visitors, and nearby residents. Gathering feedback from visitors to Hoʻomaluhia was vital to understanding visitor priorities regarding their experience. Our interviews revealed that a majority of first-time visitors and only 40% of returning visitors would be willing to make a reservation and/or pay an admission fee in order to visit the garden.
We surveyed the garden’s staff and management team to better understand their current visitor processes and VM policies. Of the garden’s 28 employees, we received nine survey responses. These responses addressed concerns about rule enforcement, social media and unauthorized photography, visitor experience, and operational practices among staff.
Surveying residents who live nearby Hoʻomaluhia helped us understand the direct impact of growing visitation on the community. We analyzed 25 survey responses to identify common concerns among the community. Of these respondents, 60% discussed traffic-related disturbances caused by visitors’ vehicles, such as illicit parking and rideshare services. Safety concerns have arisen among seven respondents due to unsafe driving and disregard for the speed limit. The survey responses from residents confirmed that traffic, safety, and other disturbance-related issues are commonplace among the garden’s neighbors.
Short-term suggestions
Ho‘omaluhia could implement the following suggestions without major funding or other external sources, including the city, county, state, or federal parties. For example, adjusting Ho‘omaluhia’s hours of operation could provide the staff with more time for maintenance, facilitate the garden’s closing procedure, and provide neighbors with more opportunities to utilize the garden while it is less crowded. One option would be to close the garden to public access for one day of the week, while a second option would involve limiting entry to the garden an hour before closure.
Additionally, restructuring the garden’s website to include detailed descriptions of the garden’s rules could reduce unsafe or unwanted visitor behavior. The garden’s restrictions, specifically its rules regarding photography, should be clearly explained to potential visitors on its website. Similarly, Ho‘omaluhia should work on expanding its social media presence to share its regulations.
Ho‘omaluhia should clearly communicate its rules to decrease the number of visitors who do not abide by the garden’s regulations. Specifically, the security guard stationed at the entrance could tell visitors a quick overview of the rules before they enter. The garden’s staff will need to develop a standard list of rules that are accessible to visitors prior to and upon their arrival, digitally and physically.
Visitors and staff who participated in our team’s interviews provided suggestions for additional activities and offerings, such as a guided tour program and concessions. These additions would enhance the overall visitor experience.
Long-term suggestions
Long-term suggestions may require lots of resources, funding, or approval from the city of Honolulu. Because of this, implementing any of the following solutions would be done over a long period of time. For example, a reservation system would allow Ho‘omaluhia to cap visitation at a certain number of visitors each day or cap the number of new arrivals during certain time blocks. This system could reduce overcrowding and facilitate communication between staff and visitors. A large majority of visitors indicated that they would prefer to make a reservation online rather than in person; therefore, we recommend that Ho‘omaluhia creates an online reservation system. The garden could also reserve some space for walk-up visitors, similar to the approach employed at Hanauma Bay. This accommodates some last-minute visitors while still providing a large degree of predictability and control over total daily visitation.
If necessary, Ho‘omaluhia should consider eventually pairing its reservation system with a form of admission payment to further influence the number of visitors coming into the garden. This model would discourage visitors who only want to briefly enter the garden for photography purposes from coming to Ho‘omaluhia. We recommend that Ho‘omaluhia does not charge Hawai‘i residents, children aged 12 and under, or active-duty military members for entry.
Paving a designated pedestrian lane on the side of the main road would alleviate safety concerns caused by visitors taking photographs and walking in the middle of the road. Since many vehicles do not abide by speed regulations within the garden, a pedestrian lane would reduce the threat of careless drivers to walkers. A pedestrian lane would also allow the garden to pave areas catered for pedestrian photography and make the garden more accessible for visitors with mobility challenges.
Implementing more directional signage around the garden would facilitate navigation and enhance the visitor experience. Signage that specifies which trails are nearby and indicates the locations of trailheads would encourage visitors to deviate from the main road and explore more of the garden. Staff members have shared that they feel there is an overabundance of signs that tell visitors what not to do, disrupting the natural serenity of the garden. We recommend that the garden reassess the clarity, usefulness, and potential repetitiveness of its existing signage to determine whether to keep, update, or remove each sign.
Our team identified possible areas of further research. These areas include utilizing carrying capacity in the creation of a reservation system, determining how an admission fee would impact the garden’s funding, interviewing visitors to determine potential tour routes and lengths for guided tours, and utilizing a suggested donation system. The garden can conduct more in-depth interviews with stakeholders, VM experts, and the city to gather information regarding these areas.
Conclusion
Ho‘omaluhia Botanical Garden’s management team must address the problems caused by increasing visitation by implementing a comprehensive VM plan. Our team hopes that this project will facilitate the creation of a VM plan that aims to manage the total number of visitors to the garden, improve the visitor experience, and address the concerns of staff members and the nearby community