Assessing hiking trails condition in two popular tourist destinations in the Icelandic highlands

Ólafsdóttir, Rannveig; Runnström, Micael

doi:10.1016/j.jort.2013.09.004

Cited by 78 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…On the other hand, traffic being confined to the routes may lead to a variety of negative ecological impacts, which commonly include trampling and plant communities' compositional changes, trail widening, developments of informal (i.e. visitor-created) trails, soil erosion, and muddiness (Hill & Pickering, 2006;Marion & Leung, 2001;Marion, Roggenbuck, & Manning, 1993;Ólafsdóttir & Runnström, 2013;Özcan, Gökbulak, & Hizal, 2013;Tomczyk, 2011). Factors that contribute to these problems are the following (Hammitt & Cole, 1998;Hammitt, Cole, & Monz, 2015;Leung & Marion, 1996Olive & Marion, 2009): (1) use-related factors -type of use (hiking, mountain biking, or horseback riding), amount of use, and visitor behaviour; (2) environmental factors -vegetation type and density, topography, soil type, and climate; and (3) managerial factors -these may modify to some extent both the above-mentioned groups through proper trail designing and maintenance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recreational trails in the Poprad Landscape Park, Poland: the spatial pattern of trail impacts and use-related, environmental, and managerial factors

Ewertowski

2015

Journal of Maps

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Multiple maps at a scale of 1:51,500, portraying the trail-related features of 43.4 km of recreational trails located in a mountainous area of the Poprad Landscape Park (south-central Poland), were produced. More specifically, the maps presented the spatial pattern of trail impacts (i.e. trail width; trail incision; the number of informal trails; old, abandoned trail sections; a presence of muddy sections and water puddles), as well as use-related (type and amount of use), environmental (vegetation type, density of forest floor/grassland and understorey layer along trails, aspect, and trail topographic position), and managerial (trail surface, grade, and alignment) factors. For the most part, the information was collected during field surveys using the Global Positioning System and Geographic Information System (GIS), but in a minority of cases it was calculated within the GIS-environment based on a digital elevation model. Collecting accurate data on condition of trails and elements that influenced their state is crucial for managers in protected natural areas who face the challenges of protecting nature and providing recreational opportunities at the same time.ARTICLE HISTORY

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recreational trails in the Poprad Landscape Park, Poland: the spatial pattern of trail impacts and use-related, environmental, and managerial factors

Ewertowski

2015

Journal of Maps

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“…On the basis of the popularity of hiking activities, previous studies investigated hiking tourism destinations across the world, such as Australia (Chhetri et al, ), Israel (Collins‐Kreiner & Kliot, ), South Korea (H. Kim, Lee, et al, ; H. Kim, Woo, & Uysal, ), Norway (Svarstad, ), Scotland (Breejen, ), and Portugal (Rodrigues et al, ). Previous studies also investigated antecedents of hiking tourism, including tourists' motivations to take hiking tourism (Collins‐Kreiner & Kliot, ; H. Kim, Lee, et al, ; H. Kim, Woo, & Uysal, ), hiking trail conditions (Olafsdottir & Runnstrom, ), and ecological features of hiking trails (Santarém, Silva, & Santos, ). In addition, outcomes and benefits of hiking tourism have been identified, such as experiential landscape (Chhetri et al, ) and well‐being and revisit intentions (H. Kim, Lee, et al, ; H. Kim, Woo, & Uysal, ).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

An assessment of value dimensions in hiking tourism: Pathways toward quality of life

Lee

Manthiou

Chiang

et al. 2018

Journal of Tourism Research

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Enhancing quality of life is one of the primary motives for people to participate in tourism activities. Particularly, hiking tourism has become increasingly popular in recent years due to its benefits on tourists' physical and mental health. Focusing on the context of hiking tourism, this study examined the role of tourists' perceived value on their quality of life through the engagement and connections with nature. Data were collected from hikers in the Astraka Refuge between two mountains, Astraka and Lapatos, in Greece. The results indicated that tourists' perceived value influences their engagement in hiking tourism and connections with nature, which further lead to their quality of life. This study enriches the literature of quality of life by the investigation of the term in the hiking tourism context. The results also provide suggestions for destination marketers to promote hiking tourism.

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“…Our experiences confirmed time consumption so there will be fair discussion about practicality to repeat these measurements as a part of a potential monitoring program. A combination with GIS-based methodologies could be a more effective tool (Hawes et al, 2013;Ballantyne et al, 2014;Ólafsdóttir and Runnström, 2013) to examine the relationship between trail condition assessment and local physical properties, such as elevation, gradient, soil type and vegetation cover. For further trail monitoring, a recommendation to consider is the possibility of increasing precision of measurements (submeter accuracy GPS units, smaller intervals for measurements between sampling points of 30 m; this will increase time capacity).…”

Section: Decision Treesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trail impact monitoring in Rocky Mountain National Park, USA

et al. 2016

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Abstract. This paper examines impacts of increased visitation leading to human trampling of vegetation and soil along several trails in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) to understand how abiotic factors and level of use can influence trail conditions. RMNP is one of the most visited national parks in the USA, with 3.3 million visitors in 2012 across 1075 km 2 and 571 km of hiking trails. 95 % of the park is designated wilderness, making the balance between preservation and visitor use challenging. This research involves the application of trail condition assessments to 56 km of trails to determine prevailing factors and what, if any, connection between them exist. The study looked at a variety of inventory and impact indicators and standards to determine their importance and to develop a baseline condition of trails. The data can be used for future comparison and evaluation of development trends. We found that trail widening (mean trail width 88.9 cm) and soil loss (cross-sectional area 172.7 cm 2 ) are the most visible effects of trail degradation. Further statistical analyses of data identified the role and influence of various factors (e.g., use level and topography). Insights into the influence of these factors can lead to the selection of appropriate management measures to avoid or minimize negative consequences from increased visitation.

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Assessing hiking trails condition in two popular tourist destinations in the Icelandic highlands

Cited by 78 publications

References 22 publications

Recreational trails in the Poprad Landscape Park, Poland: the spatial pattern of trail impacts and use-related, environmental, and managerial factors

Recreational trails in the Poprad Landscape Park, Poland: the spatial pattern of trail impacts and use-related, environmental, and managerial factors

An assessment of value dimensions in hiking tourism: Pathways toward quality of life

Trail impact monitoring in Rocky Mountain National Park, USA

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