Managers' experiences of visitor monitoring in Swedish outdoor recreational areas

Ankre, Rosemarie; Fredman, Peter; Lindhagen, A

doi:10.1016/j.jort.2016.04.008

Cited by 15 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…The societal importance of forests underlined through the COVID-19 recreation boom calls for an updated forest policy framework, paying attention especially to urban forests ( Ottitsch and Krott, 2005 ). A nuanced and supportive policy framework is needed in order to further incorporate the growing demand for forest recreation and its contribution to the peaceful management of extraordinary societal situations into forest policies ( Ankre et al, 2016 ; Mann et al, 2010 ; Lacaze, 2000 ), that accommodate a variety of recreational activities ( Christie et al, 2007 ). In this regard, an increase in the visitor-oriented policy efforts may require additional resources as well as investments in new job profiles, focusing on communication and education.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19-induced visitor boom reveals the importance of forests as critical infrastructure

Derks

Gießen

Winkel

2020

Forest Policy and Economics

267

206

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During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, countries around the globe have implemented a certain degree of lockdown, restricting citizens' freedom of movement and freedom of assembly. This article aims to illustrate the impact that the measures against the spread of COVID-19 have on forest recreation, building on a study in an urban context around Bonn (Germany) that was conducted between April 2019 and February 2020. The quantitative and qualitative data on urban forest visits from that study were supplemented with new census data supported by selected expert interviews. We found that visitor numbers since the inception of COVID-19 measures in March 2020 have more than doubled. Visitor patterns have drastically shifted, from an even distribution throughout the day with small peaks before and after office hours to a culmination in the late afternoon. Lastly, the interviewed forestry professionals have noted that a new set of visitors, i.e. young people, families with children and non-locals, has arrived to the forest. This influx of more and novice visitors poses challenges for forest managers and urban forest policy. It is, however, also a unique opportunity for a substantial engagement of forestry with society at large, that has implications for forest policy, especially in urban areas, possibly beyond the COVID-19 pandemic era.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19-induced visitor boom reveals the importance of forests as critical infrastructure

Derks

Gießen

Winkel

2020

Forest Policy and Economics

267

206

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“…Further, the sensitivity of the counter and the possibility of counts being triggered by baby strollers, dogs or wild animals has not been investigated so far. This raises some doubts about the precision of pressure sensor measurements (see also Ankre et al, 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this context, accurate visitor numbers have been concluded to be the most important parameter in economic impact and recreational value modelling of protected areas (Woltering, 2012;Mayer & Woltering, 2018;Schägner et al, 2017Schägner et al, , 2018. Further, a comprehensive visitor monitoring system is relevant for developing personnel deployment plans, targeted visitor information and marketing measures (Arnberger et al, 2016;Ziesler & Pettebone, 2018), to improve recreation opportunities (Ankre et al, 2016), to assess the ecological carrying capacities of protected areas and recreational landscapes (Cessford & Muhar, 2003;Ziesler & Pettebone, 2018), to analyze the influence of weather, exchange rate and media coverage variations (Millhäusler et al, 2016) as well as for informed visitor management avoiding potential conflicts (Ankre et al, 2016;Job, Schamel, & Butzmann, 2016;Rupf et al, 2014) and crowding (Schamel & Job, 2013). However, in most European countries like Germany or Sweden and elsewhere e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing established visitor monitoring approaches with triggered trail camera images and machine learning based computer vision

Staab

Udas

Mayer³

et al. 2021

Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism

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“…It is only quite recently that public authorities have fully realized the need for a more adaptive management approach. Due to both increased visitation and more diversity among visitors, monitoring has become an important instrument for the manipulation of tourism traffic systems, both in terms of time and space in order to improve recreational opportunities, in reducing the risk of conflicts between different user groups (Pröbstl, Wirth, Elands, and Bell, 2010;Ankre, Fredman, and Lindhagen, 2016) and minimizing the negative impacts on ecological systems (Kaltenborn et al, 2017;Gundersen et al, 2015).…”

Section: Monitoring and Adaptive Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Introduction

2018

TemaNord

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Recently, the Nordic countries have experienced rapid increases in the influx of tourists. Unprecedented growth in the numbers of visitors to some nature attractions and destinations has resulted in crowding, environmental damage, costly rescue operations and overload on common goods such as public infrastructure. The most immediate answer is the further development of infrastructures, such as improved transport solutions and extended onsite services. These kinds of measures are often designed within a short-term perspective and may prove to create further sustainability challenges in a long-term perspective. Achieving a sustainable development of tourism implies complex processes that require policy and planning to take environmental, social and economic dimensions into consideration within a long-term perspective. Responding to the dramatic increase in visitation to certain vulnerable nature areas and sites, regulation of the volume of visitors by the use economic instruments has been proposed. In the Nordic countries some of these instruments, such as entrance fees, are challenging due to both legal and political principles of public rights of access. While revenues from concessions and licence permits given to tour operators can contribute to management budgets, these instruments can also serve to control the scale of visitation. Due to the legal and administrative restrictions on commercial operations of activities in nature areas, especially in protected areas, as well as the public rights of access, it is uncertain how attractive concession and licence permits will be for tourism companies in the Nordic countries. To cover some of the expenses caused by the increasing influx of visitors (e.g. overloading the existing infrastructure), tourist tax and an increased VAT on typical tourist products (accommodation, guiding and tour services, etc.) have been proposed in both Norway and Iceland. Currently, this seems to lack sufficient political support. An alternative solution is destination management organizations (DMO), which is based on collaboration between different private and public stakeholders in funding and operating the management of attractions and destinations. Adaptive management approaches based on the inclusion of a wide range of stakeholders in the planning processes have been implemented in the management of nature areas in many parts of the Nordic countries (see e.g. Kaltenborn, Mehmetoglu, and Gundersen, 2017; Andersen, Gundersen, Strand, Wold, and Vistad, 2014). With respect to the zoning of activities and the channelling of traffic, adaptive management appears as a relatively efficient way of achieving sustainable solutions at much-visited nature attraction sites. In addition, adaptive management strategies often involve socalled soft management strategies associated with information, knowledge transmission, guiding, etc. Since guides can play a significant role in influencing visitors' behaviour, recruiting guides with good skills in programmes visitors find attractive can be an efficient ...

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Managers' experiences of visitor monitoring in Swedish outdoor recreational areas

Cited by 15 publications

References 13 publications

COVID-19-induced visitor boom reveals the importance of forests as critical infrastructure

COVID-19-induced visitor boom reveals the importance of forests as critical infrastructure

Comparing established visitor monitoring approaches with triggered trail camera images and machine learning based computer vision

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