Outdoor Recreation Habits of People in Latvia: General Trends, and Changes during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Outdoor recreation opportunities are crucial for sustaining people’s physical and mental health, and forests are important recreational venues in Europe, especially in its northern part. Our study sought to characterise outdoor recreation patterns and their changes in Latvia due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted a representative population survey with public participatory GIS elements that allowed the respondents to map their favoured recreation destinations. Our results revealed increased visitor numbers to nature areas during COVID-19. The main stated psychosocial factors behind the increased frequency of nature visits are health benefits and lower perceived risks in the context of the pandemic. Forests as areas simultaneously providing multiple ecosystem services have significant importance in providing space for outdoor recreation. Outdoor recreation hotspots concentrate around major urban areas and in some of the largest and most popular nature areas.

Forest Inventory Data Provide Useful Information for Mapping Ecosystem Services Potential

“…The spatial distribution of the ES scores for recreational suitability and, to some extent, visual quality of forest landscapes, correspond to the results previously obtained by J ūrmalis et al [54] about the location of the hotspots of nature visits. These hotspots, mapped during a public participatory geographic information system survey, are concentrated around major cities and largest national parks, and in some cases, they coincide with areas that are less resistant to recreational pressure.…”

“…Apart from berries and mushrooms, other region-specific products, for example, natural Christmas trees and decorative nature materials, are popular [53]. Forests, especially close to waterbodies, are favored venues for nature recreation [50,54]. They are, and historically have been, significant environments inspiring creative expression, for example, painting (e.g., [38]).…”

Unveiling the Essential Role of Green Spaces during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond

“…The surveys were conducted in areas at different scales: local (e.g., a single city) [23], regional (e.g., a metropolitan area) [33], national (e.g., studies covering the whole country) [43], or continental (e.g., studies conducted in different countries) [22]. Due to the online form of the surveys, it was very difficult for the researchers to obtain a representative sample of respondents [54]. The surveys were conducted at different times during the pandemic and the restrictions introduced, which made it possible to observe changes during the pandemic [23,55].…”

Discussing Indicators for Some Less Studied Cultural Ecosystem Services Provided by Forests: Example From Latvia

“…The same study reveals that residents highly value such CES as education, knowledge and health benefits. Forests, especially those located close to waterbodies, are favoured recreational destinations (Jūrmalis et al, 2022), and forest is included in the Latvia's Cultural Canon as an integral part of the cultural environment of the country (Nikodemus, 2023) CES identification and indicator development The CES to be included in the analysis were identified by the research team according to three criteria: 1) relevance on national and preferably regional scale; 2) data availability on national scale; 3) unsuitability for mapping on a forest compartment scale. The first criterion means that the specific service reflects the social and cultural processes at least in Latvia, but preferably in the Baltic Sea Region countries.…”