Study about the Perception and Practice of Nordic Walking as a Component of Active Tourism in Romania

Abstract

The paper addresses some general issues related to Nordic walking, a leisure sports activity with many positive influences on the body and mind, but unfortunately almost unknown in our country. The study has started from the hypothesis that if Nordic walking is systematically practiced, it will have multiple beneficial effects on the individual's health and social relations. But to prove it, we need theoretical arguments and concrete evidence coming to support this assumption. To this purpose, we used bibliographical documentation and we conducted a research in Campina, between 8 and 29 December 2013, on a group affiliated to the Association for Health and Performance, made up of practitioners of weekend tourism in Breaza-Nistoresti region. The participants in Nordic walking, 21 subjects aged 22 to 64 years, responded to an 18-item questionnaire designed to identify, among others, their perception about the natural conditions and those created for the practice of leisure sports activities, the dimension and use of their free time, about Nordic walking in general, they also being asked to give their reasons for practicing this sport. The collected data were processed and interpreted, our findings underlying some relevant aspects related to Nordic walking, which might be both necessary and interesting, as we have to do with a sports discipline at its beginning in our country.