National parks on the urban–rural fringe provide many
benefits to society. Such peri-urban protected areas are
places for outdoor activities, refuges from hectic city life,
and valuable habitats for wildlife. At the same time,
these parks are confronted with high use pressure because of the large number of residential areas in relatively close proximity to the park. Crowding perceptions
and use displacement of park visitors may become
prominent issues for area management. Peri-urban national parks are visited by local residents, visitors from
the region, and park-based tourists.This visitor structure
is characterized by user groups with completely different
degrees of park-use history, ranging from regular daily
visitors to first-time tourists. Therefore, past on-site
experience (Hammitt and others 2004; Kuentzel and
McDonald 1992; McFarlane and others 1998; Watson
and others 1991) may play an important role in the
evaluation of crowding and in the application of use
displacement as a result of crowded situations. Despite
the relevance of the concepts of crowding and use displacement for the park management, there is a knowledge gap about the influence of past experience on
crowding perceptions and use displacement in the
context of a heavily used peri-urban national park