This section presents data on national parks and forests, state parks, recreational activities, the arts and humanities, and domestic and foreign travel.

Parks and recreation-The Department of the Interior has responsibility for administering the national parks. As part of this function, issues reports relating to the usage of public parks for recreation purposes. The National Park Service publishes information on visits to national park areas in its annual report, National Park Statistical Abstract. The National Parks: Index (year)is a biannual report which has appeared under a variety of Index titles prior to 1985. Beginning with the 1985 edition, the report has appeared under the current title. The Index contains brief descriptions, with acreages, of each area administered by theService, plus certain "related" areas. A statistical summary of Service-administered areas is also presented. The annual Federal Recreation Fee Report summarizes the prior year’s recreation fee receipts and recreation visitation statistics for seven Federal land managing agencies.

Statistics for state parks are compiled by the National Association of State Park Directors which issues itsAnnual Information Exchange.The Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service, in its Report of the Forest Service,issues data on recreational uses of the national forests.

Visitation-Statistics presented on visitation to reporting areas are collected by several different agencies and groups. The methodology used to collect these results may vary accordingly, from visual counts and estimates to the use of electromagnetic traffic counters. In using and comparing these data, one should also be aware of several different definitions that follow: Recreation visit, which is the entry of any person into an area for recreation purposes; non-recreation visits, which include visits going to and from in-holdings, through traffic, tradespeople and personnel with business in the area; and visitor hour, which constitutes the presence of a person in a recreation area or site for recreational purposes for periods of time aggregating 60 minutes.

Recreation and leisure activities-Data on the participation in various recreation and leisure time activities are based on several sample surveys. Data on participation in fishing, hunting, and other forms of wildlife-associated recreation are published periodically by the U.S. Department of Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service. The most recent data are from the 1996 survey. Data on participation in various sports recreation activities are published by the National Sporting Goods Association. Mediamark, Inc. also conducts periodic surveys on sports and leisure activities, as well as other topics.

Travel-Information on foreign travel and personal expenditures abroad, as well as expenditures by foreign citizens traveling in the United States, is compiled annually by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and published in selected issues of the monthlySurvey of Current Business.Statistics on arrivals to the United States are reported by the International Trade Administration (ITA). Sources of statistics on departures from the United States include the Department of Transportation’s International Air Travel Statistics and other sources. Data on domestic travel, business receipts and employment of the travel industry, and travel expenditures are published by the U.S. Travel Data Center, which is the research department of the Travel Industry Association and the national nonprofit center for travel and tourism research which is located in Washington, DC. Other data on household transportation characteristics may be found in Section 21, Land Transportation.