*4.2. Analysis of Activities*

The activities of tourists in the park are described in Figure 6. Among all activities, sightseeing and walking were the most popular, followed by eating, cycling, and relaxing in the park.

The greatest number of people participated in walking and sightseeing, with these activities accounting for more than 15%, which is very consistent with the original intention of Olmsted to allow people to derive pleasure through the landscape's guidance. The description of sightseeing in the comments was not only related to the landscape elements, such as "I spend over an hour watching squirrels and administering the view", but also referred to the perceptions the tourists had—"You can just watch the sunset over the Skyscrapers and be in the park in silence". In the comments about walking, descriptions were given of walking places, such as "We walked from the Upper East Side, past the reserve ... to the West side of the park". Descriptions of time were also given—"Had a beautiful autumn walk". At the same time, there were also some emotional expressions, "we were glad we camera to walk around". The next highest level of participation was found for eating, at 8.33%, of which picnicking in the park and eating in nearby restaurants were the two most important forms. The next most highly favored activity was to relax in the park, at 7.51%. The beautiful environment of Central Park allowed tourists to fully immerse themselves in it, away from the noise of the city—"Central Park has it all. If you are traveling to NYC it is the place to see". Olmsted preferred carriage travel (3.98%), horse riding (3.21%), rowing (2.83%) and skating (2.49%). Now, these are forms of paid entertainment in the park, and they also experienced a certain degree of participation—especially taking carriages. Many tourists used carriages as a means of transportation to visit the park. There were both positive comments on such activities, such as "carriage rides taking people through the park was beautiful to see", and negative comments on prices, such as "Horse and Carriages are expensive \$4 a minute".

In terms of sports activities, biking was the most popular, accounting for 8.03%. Tourists generally believed that cycling was a better way to visit the whole park—"We rode bikes which were so much fun and a must for at least half your day as the park is BIG!". Running participation accounted for 3.47%. Most comments were positive, such as "Wonderful place to run". However, running was prohibited by Olmsted in the initial design of the park. In addition, marathons are often held in parks, and the tourists' comments indicate that Central Park is very suitable for marathon activities—"I can't image a more beautiful place to come across the finish line of the NYC Marathon than in Central Park". Some daily sports activities, such as exercise (0.54%) and ball games (0.93%), also featured to some extent. Although participation in swimming (0.09%) and rock climbing (0.44%) was low, the evaluations were positive—"My girls loved climbing on the rocks and seeing the family landmarks from movies", and "Swimming at Ladder Risk in the summer, and you can enjoy the park with nothing to do".

Group activities were sporadic, and the overall participation rates were low. Among these activities, the participation rates in concerts and performances (1.4%) and singing and dancing (1.63%) were relatively high—"We were highly promoted by the number of nooks where folk would aggregate to play music or dances or dance". Other group activities, such as gatherings (0.26%), political activities (0.27%), religious activities (0.11%) and weddings (0.20%), were not highly attended, but they did feature. This shows that Central Park is a place with strong inclusiveness, and different activities are undertaken in the park—"It can provide you with most any activity".

In terms of the entertainment activities, the participation levels were more uniform. Among them, shopping (3.09%) featured most highly. Tourists like to buy souvenirs and snacks at roadside stalls. In addition, every year from Thanksgiving to Christmas, there is a Christmas market in the park, with a very strong holiday atmosphere. Travelers can buy all kinds of things, and generally have very positive thigs to say—"The popup Christmas market was really big with lots of different items for sale". The participation rate in entertainment games (3%) was also high, and the evaluations were also very good—"We have masses of games and is a great place to warm up". Visiting zoos and aquariums (2.24%), and watching movies and plays (1.87%), are activities newly introduced by park managers during the decline of the park in the 20th century, and they are still enjoyed to a certain extent today.

In short, Central Park is an inclusive place where most people can enjoy themselves. Due to differences in gender, age, and other characteristics, different tourists had different preferences for activities. Studies have shown that women are more likely to be interested in picnics, horse riding and park sightseeing, while men are more likely to participate in mountain biking, rock climbing and horse riding. Compared with the elderly, young people prefer high-intensity sports activities, such as rock climbing and mountain biking [29]. For the park's designers, it was important to create an environment suitable for different people's favored activities. For example, flat sidewalks and fitness equipment are very important for sports activities in the park, while catering facilities and cafes are important for social activities [30].
