The nature of the pandemic: Exploring the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic upon recreation visitor behaviors and experiences in parks and protected areas

Ferguson, Michael D.; Lynch, Myles L.; Evensen, Darrick; Ferguson, Lauren A.; Barcelona, Robert J.; Giles, Georgia; Leberman, Marianne

doi:10.1016/j.jort.2022.100498

Cited by 29 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…On the one hand, such an interest, along with positive visitor experiences, may raise awareness for environmental processes and issues (Beery et al 2021). On the other hand, increased visitor numbers may negatively impact animal behavior, vegetation, and biodiversity in general (and more specifically sensitive mountain ecosystems) and could also impair visitor experience due to social crowding (eg Taff et al 2022; Ferguson et al 2023). In this regard, the prolonging of the season due to reduced snow cover in spring and autumn has not yet eased crowding significantly.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Boost in Visitor Numbers Post COVID-19 Shutdown: Consequences for an Alpine National Park

Wipf,

Michel,

Walder

et al. 2023

Mountain Research and Development

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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic changed recreation patterns worldwide. Increases in protected areas' visitor numbers were reported along with associated challenges. Changes in visitor numbers, composition, and motivation remain mostly unrecorded due to a lack of baseline records for comparison. We aimed to fill this gap with a study in the Swiss National Park (SNP), an International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) strict nature reserve in the European Alps, where visitor numbers strongly increased in 2020 and 2021 compared to previous years. In summer 2020, we repeated a visitor survey previously conducted in 2006 and 2012, complemented by assessments of COVID-19-related motivations. To deepen our understanding of the COVID-19 context, we conducted semistructured interviews with SNP visitors. In general, COVID-19-related factors were a strong driver of increased visitor numbers. A fifth of survey respondents indicated that they would not have visited the SNP but for the pandemic, with most of them being first-time or infrequent visitors. Furthermore, our data showed that more young, domestic, and less experienced visitors came to the park. We discuss impacts and implications for practitioners and researchers (ie the need to better sensitize newcomers to environmental issues) and argue that our study holds insights for park managers worldwide.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Boost in Visitor Numbers Post COVID-19 Shutdown: Consequences for an Alpine National Park

Wipf,

Michel,

Walder

et al. 2023

Mountain Research and Development

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“…It is important to quantitatively assess pandemic-related recreation impacts. Further, there must be a discussion about the interpretation of qualitative changes ( Ferguson et al, 2022 ). New users are likely to bring new problems, e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Overall, we expect that the open-access status of the forests will be increasingly debated. Third, information campaigns can be helpful ( Ferguson et al, 2022 ; Weiss and Tschirhart, 1994 ) and especially the youngest generation should be educated from the beginning about the rules of behavior in the forest. This has already been done in Switzerland, for example through the Wald-Knigge ( Arbeitsgemeinschaft für den Wald, 2018 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of rising COVID-19 incidence and changed working conditions on forest visits in early 2020 of the pandemic: Evidence from Switzerland

Wunderlich

Šalak

Hegetschweiler

et al. 2023

Forest Policy and Economics

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“…Recreation has been identified as the most common threat to species at risk in Canada (Rosenthal et al, 2022) and has been linked to reduced species richness, diversity and abundance (Sato, Wood & Lindenmayer, 2013; Larson et al, 2019), shifts in wildlife habitat use (Naidoo & Burton, 2020; Granados et al, 2023; Gump & Thornton, 2023), and loss and degradation of wildlife habitat (Heinemeyer et al, 2019). Simultaneously, the rise in recreation has led to crowding and conflicts between different user groups, reducing the quality of recreation experiences for many (Manning & Valliere, 2001; Jackson, Haider & Elliot, 2003; Wolf, Brown & Wohlfart, 2018; Ferguson et al, 2023).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These tools take advantage of the fitness and recreation data generated by the proliferation of mobile devices and global positioning systems (GPS), helping to overcome the challenges of many traditional tools (Wilkins, Wood & Smith, 2021). Application-based tools such as Strava, AllTrails, and Wikiloc are recreation-specific or fitness apps that collect geographical information when recreationists upload their activities (Norman & Pickering, 2017; Lee & Sener, 2020; Goodbody et al, 2021; Ferguson et al, 2023; Venter et al, 2023). Other social media apps such as Instagram, Flickr, and Twitter also provide detailed information of where, when and how people recreate (Heikinheimo et al, 2017; Fisher et al, 2018; Ghermandi & Sinclair, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advancements in monitoring: a comparison of traditional and application-based tools for measuring outdoor recreation

Capdevila,

McLellan,

Loosen

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Outdoor recreation has experienced a boom in recent years. While outdoor recreation provides wide-ranging benefits to human well-being and is an important feature of many protected and non-protected areas, there are growing concerns about the sustainability of recreation with the increased pressures placed on ecological systems and visitor experiences. These concerns emphasize the need for managers to access accurate and timely recreation data at scales that match the growing recreation footprint. Here, we compare spatial and temporal patterns of winter and summer recreation use using traditional and application-based tools across the Columbia and Canadian Rocky Mountains of western Canada. We demonstrate how recreation use can be estimated using traditional and application-based tools, although their accuracy and utility varies across space, season and activity type. Cameras and counters captured similar broad-scale patterns in count estimates of pedestrians and all recreation activities. Application-based data provided detailed spatiotemporal information on recreation use, but datasets were biased towards specific recreation types and did not represent the full recreation population. For instance, Strava Metro data was more suited for capturing broad-scale spatial patterns in biking than pedestrian recreation. Traditional tools including aerial surveys and participatory mapping captured coarser information on the intensity and extent of recreation, with the former tool capturing areas with low recreation intensity and the latter tool suited for capturing recreation information across large spatial and temporal scales. Application-based data should be supplemented with data from traditional tools including cameras or trail counters to identify biases in data and fill in data gaps. We provide a comparison of each tool for measuring recreation use, highlight each tools' strengths and limitations, and suggest how to use these tools to address real-world monitoring and management scenarios. Our research contributes towards a better understanding of what tools are available to measure recreation and can help direct managers in selecting which tool, or combinations of tools, to use that can expand the rigor and scope of recreation research. This information can support decision-making and lead to the protection of ecological systems while allowing for high-quality recreation experiences.

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The nature of the pandemic: Exploring the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic upon recreation visitor behaviors and experiences in parks and protected areas

Cited by 29 publications

References 28 publications

Boost in Visitor Numbers Post COVID-19 Shutdown: Consequences for an Alpine National Park

Boost in Visitor Numbers Post COVID-19 Shutdown: Consequences for an Alpine National Park

Impacts of rising COVID-19 incidence and changed working conditions on forest visits in early 2020 of the pandemic: Evidence from Switzerland

Advancements in monitoring: a comparison of traditional and application-based tools for measuring outdoor recreation

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