Perceived Visitor Ethnicity Trends

What recreation activities do ethnic groups participate in?

Project managers who were sufficiently familiar with recreation patterns of different ethnic groups estimated the proportion of recreation visitors who engaged in camping vs. day use activities and the proportion who were boaters vs. non-boaters. They reported the following results.

• Day Users vs. Campers
• Boaters vs. Non-Boaters

Most managers reported that recreation use by each of the ethnic minority groups is heavily oriented toward non-boating, day use activities. This result is consistent with recreation preferences that minority groups have themselves identified in focus group studies and other social research involving ethnic minority visitors to Corps projects (See "Ethnic Diversity and Corps Recreation Participation"). Based on these studies, the preference for non-boating, day use recreation is especially prevalent among recent immigrants who have low incomes, are not well acculturated to American lifestyles, and have poor English language skills. This describes many of the Hispanic visitors who have been added to the ethnic mix of recreation visitors on several Corps projects in recent years.