How to Measure and Use Nature-Based Recreation Effects: Example of Results for the Vltava River Cascade

Abstract

Despite the long-term needs for research on benefits associated with recreation in nature-based areas that would be localized and methodologically sound, the evidence of such results is still very scarce at Czech and even at international level of tourism and recreation research, as well as in project evaluation practice. We strived for such results in a four-year interdisciplinary project "Recreational purposes of Vltava river cascade and its economic potential under the climate change". This contribution briefly presents the highlights of our results, the full set of results being publicly available at a web application https://shiny.fzp.czu.cz/kaskada-rekreace/ (in Czech language). Based on the results of the project, we demonstrate and discuss the particular uses of various socioeconomic indicators that have been estimated for the pilot site of the Vltava river cascade for communication with local stakeholders and regional to national decision-makers, for project/subsidy evaluation etc. This demonstration is relevant across disciplines such as water management, tourism, land management, nature protection etc.