Birdwatcher profile in the Ria Formosa Natural Park

Abstract

In the Algarve the potential for birdwatching tourism is widely recognized, especially in the Ria Formosa Natural Park (RFNP). This study aims to describe birdwatchers' profile in the RFNP. For this purpose, a survey was applied. The results show that the most frequent nationalities of birdwatchers are: British (39%), Dutch (17%) and Portuguese (17%). The majority of birdwatchers are male (55%) and married (57%). The average age is 50 years old. They are highly educated (74% have an academic degree). Concerning profession, the most frequent answer was retired (41%). Respondents are committed to the activity as the majority possess special equipment and practice birdwatching in vacations. This study also tests if nationality is related to other characteristics of the birdwatchers, by using the Kruskal-Wallis and the Chi-square tests. Overall, the results of this study highlight that regional management organizations should invest in developing birdwatching in the RFNP.Keywords: Birdwatching, birdwatcher profile, Environmental awareness, Ria Formosa, Algarve. ResumenO potencial para o turismo de birdwatching é vastamente reconhecido, especialmente no Parque Natural da Ria Formosa (PNRF). Este estudo tem como objetivo descrever o perfil dos observadores de aves que visitam o PNRF. Para esse propósito, foi aplicado um questionário. Os resultados mostram que as nacionalidades mais frequentes dos observadores de aves são: britânica (39%), holandesa (17%) e portuguesa (17%). A maioria dos observadores de aves é do sexo masculino (55%), sendo o seu estado civil casado (57%). A idade média é de 50 anos. O seu nível educacional é elevado (74% têm um grau académico). Quanto à profissão, a resposta mais frequente foi aposentado (41%). Os inquiridos estão comprometidos com a atividade, pois a maioria possui equipamentos especiais e pratica observação de aves nas férias. Este estudo também testa se a nacionalidade está relacionada com outras características dos observadores de aves, através de testes Kruskal-Wallis e Qui-quadrado. Os resultados deste estudo indicam que as organizações de gestão regional devem investir no desenvolvimento do birdwatching no PNRF.Palavras chave: Birdwatching, perfil do observador de aves, consciência ambiental, Ria Formosa, Algarve.

An Analysis of Heterogeneity in German Speaking Birdwatchers Reveals Three Distinct Clusters and Gender Differences

“…This is probably related to the fact that hunting and fishing and associated conservation expenditures tend to be more popular in North America [25]. Only a few studies were outside this area, e.g., in a national park in Thailand [7], in Taiwan [26], Hong Kong [27], Portugal [28], South Africa [29], or Poland [30]. Recently, Hermes et al [31] quantified the nature-based recreation cost in Germany as €151.3 billion, including travel costs, on-site expenses, and opportunity costs, suggesting that birding is an emerging market in Germany.…”

“…This scale refers to self-reported real behavior. Behavior contained the number of birding trips taken last year (at least 2 km away from home; [6,18]), number of days spent for birding last year [6,7,27,28], number of bird species on lifelist [26], number of bird books owned [16], replacement value of the total equipment [7,26,27], and number of species on a national list (this study). Open-ended questions were z-transformed prior to analysis.…”

Characteristics and Experiences of Birdwatcher in Indonesia

“…The dominance of male respondents compared to female respondents followed Nicolene Conradie (2015) in British and Dutch Birdwatching Fair participation. Different results were found by Frątczak et al (2020); Omar et al (2019); Costa et al (2018), andMaple et al (2010) who found that more female respondents became the birdwatchers. Nevertheless, Eubanks et al (2004) found that there was an insignificant difference between birdwatcher genders, which can be said that birdwatching is a gender-equal activity.…”

“…Globally, there are still minimum studies about the birdwatching demand (Steven, 2015), including Indonesia. A comprehension about birdwatchers will be the basic of birdwatching management, therefore this recreation can continuously develop with the right target following the recreation actor eagerness (Costa et al, 2018;Ma et al, 2018). This study aimed to analyze the birdwatcher characteristics in Indonesia based on the demographical and experience aspects.…”

Elite Recreation Specialization and Motivations among Birdwatchers: The Case of Club 300 Members

“…This behavior scale refers to self-reported real behavior. This scale contained the number of birding trips taken last year (at least 2 km away from home; McFarlane and Boxall, 1996), number of days spent in birding during the last year (Cheung et al, 2017;Costa et al, 2018;Hvenegaard, 2002), the total number of bird species on the lifelist (Tsaur & Liang, 2008), the number of bird books owned (McFarlane, 1994), replacement value of the total equipment in € (Cheung et al, 2017;Hvenegaard, 2002;Tsaur & Liang, 2008) and the number of species on a national list, concerning Germany, Austria and Switzerland (developed for this study). All these questions were open ended to allow a comparison but were z-transformed prior to analysis.…”