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Abstract
After the COVID-19 Pandemic first began in the US, there was not a clear consensus on the impact the pandemic had on visitation to protected areas and the gateway communities surrounding these protected areas. This study shines light on these ambiguities in two parts. First, we compare the visitation trends to protected areas between pre-, during, and post Pandemic to understand the motivations and constraints among those that are increasing or decreasing their visitation. This may help forest managers and Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) to better understand how to adapt their public engagement to cater to those motivations and to reduce the barriers that cause people to either increase or decrease their visitation. Second, we look at the gateway community residents, the ones taking the brunt of this nature-based tourism to protected areas. We aim to understand if support for PAAs spillover to support for tourism. This may encourage DMOs and PAAs to increase collaboration in order to achieve similar goals towards sustainable tourism.