This audience segmentation of visitors at coastal parks in Hawaii and North Carolina addresses an emergent natural resource management concern and risk to aquatic ecosystems: sunscreen chemical pollution. Four audiences were identified that correspond to different behavioral profiles: sunscreen protection tourists, multimodal sun protection tourists, in-state frequent park visitors, and frequent beachgoers who skip sunscreen. The second-largest audience, sunscreen protection tourists, represents 29% of visitors at Cape Lookout National Seashore and 25% at Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park. This group ranks of most concern for chemical pollution because they use sunscreen, but not typically mineral formulations or other methods such as protective clothing, and they have lower levels of sunscreen chemical issue awareness. The identification of similar audience segments across regions with differing cultural characteristics and sunscreen regulation status suggests the robustness of the model and its indicator variables, with implications for both environmental protection and public health. Further, coastal visitors' interest in enacting pro-environmental sun protection behaviors during their next park or beach visit indicates the potential for natural resource managers to holistically address risks in both domains through targeted interventions with audiences of most concern.
Keywords: Hawaii; North Carolina; audience segmentation; sun protection; sunscreen chemical pollution.
© 2023 The Authors. Risk Analysis published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Risk Analysis. This article has been contributed to by U.S. Government employees and their work is in the public domain in the USA.