Navigating complexities in forest visitation modelling: Intersecting environmental, social, and public health factors during the COVID-19 pandemic

IF 3.6 3区管理学 Q1 HOSPITALITY, LEISURE, SPORT & TOURISM

Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism-Research Planning and Management Pub Date : 2024-11-20 DOI:10.1016/j.jort.2024.100834

Mariusz Ciesielski , Agnieszka Kamińska , Natalia Korcz , Fruzsina Stefán , Zsuzsa Koos , Karolina Taczanowska

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected human-environment systems, including human leisure behaviour and travel destinations choices. Multiple research studies reported remarkable anomalies in visitation volumes in outdoor recreation and tourism destinations, such as forests. Yet, the large majority of studies focused on the sole effect of the pandemic on visitation numbers, disregarding the dynamic nature of outdoor recreation and tourism, affected also by other determinants. Therefore, the aim of our study was to understand the influence of various environmental, social and public health factors on visits to forests during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results are based upon empirical data collected during long-term visitor monitoring in three forest destinations in Poland. Hourly visitor counts were registered via pyroelectric sensors (Eco-Counter) located along recreational trails between 2020 and 2022. Additionally, national public health and meteorological variables, along with selected indices of Google Mobility Reports were integrated into the final database. Boosted Regression Trees were applied to model forest visitation. The results show significant influence of multiple factors on the magnitude of forest visitation. There are large regional differences in the weight of specific determinants.

Both seasonal tourism and the seasons had a significant impact on the frequency of public visits to forest areas. As the number of restrictions related to COVID-19 increased, the number of people visiting the forests decreased. Factors such as free time, day length, temperature, stringency index (this index records the strictness of government policies against COVID-19), number of COVID-19 new cases and people mobility in different places influenced forest visitation.

The outcomes of this study substantially contribute to the ongoing international debate concerning effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on outdoor tourism and recreation. It highlights the necessity of integrating social and environmental determinants, next to the indices describing the COVID-19 pandemic, to better understand the complex nature of forest use to be able to take evidence-based decisions related to public health preparedness planning and forest management in future.

Management implications

•
Information on the mobility of society in forest areas from long-term monitoring can support forest management and adapt it to the needs of society.
•
An increase in the number of people using forest areas can increase society's expectations for the development of forest areas, including the combination of different forest functions.
•
In addition to the indices describing the COVID-19 pandemic, social and environmental factors must also be included to better understand the complex nature of forest use in order to make evidence-based decisions related to public health preparedness planning and forest management in future crisis situations.

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驾驭森林探访建模的复杂性：COVID-19 大流行期间环境、社会和公共卫生因素的相互交织

COVID-19 大流行严重影响了人类-环境系统，包括人类的休闲行为和旅游目的地选择。多项研究报告称，森林等户外休闲和旅游目的地的游客量出现了明显的反常现象。然而，绝大多数研究只关注了大流行病对游客数量的影响，而忽视了户外休闲和旅游的动态性质，也受到其他决定因素的影响。因此，我们的研究旨在了解 COVID-19 大流行期间各种环境、社会和公共卫生因素对森林访问量的影响。研究结果基于在波兰三个森林目的地进行长期游客监测时收集到的经验数据。在 2020 年至 2022 年期间，通过位于休闲步道沿线的热释电传感器（Eco-Counter）登记了每小时的游客人数。此外，国家公共卫生和气象变量，以及谷歌移动报告的选定指数也被整合到最终数据库中。应用提升回归树建立森林游览模型。结果表明，多种因素对森林访问量的影响很大。季节性旅游和季节对公众访问林区的频率都有显著影响。随着 COVID-19 相关限制措施的增加，访问森林的人数也随之减少。自由活动时间、昼夜长短、气温、严格指数（该指数记录了政府针对 COVID-19 政策的严格程度）、COVID-19 新病例数量以及不同地方的人员流动性等因素都会影响森林访问量。该研究强调，除了描述 COVID-19 大流行病的指数外，还必须整合社会和环境决定因素，以更好地了解森林使用的复杂性，从而能够在未来的公共卫生防备规划和森林管理中做出以证据为基础的决策。管理意义--通过长期监测获得的有关林区社会流动性的信息可支持森林管理并使其适应社会需求。-除了描述 COVID-19 大流行病的指数外，还必须包括社会和环境因素，以便更好地了解森林使用的复杂性，从而在未来危机情况下做出与公共卫生准备规划和森林管理有关的循证决策。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism-Research Planning and Management HOSPITALITY, LEISURE, SPORT & TOURISM-

CiteScore

6.70

自引率

5.30%

发文量

期刊介绍： Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism offers a dedicated outlet for research relevant to social sciences and natural resources. The journal publishes peer reviewed original research on all aspects of outdoor recreation planning and management, covering the entire spectrum of settings from wilderness to urban outdoor recreation opportunities. It also focuses on new products and findings in nature based tourism and park management. JORT is an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary journal, articles may focus on any aspect of theory, method, or concept of outdoor recreation research, planning or management, and interdisciplinary work is especially welcome, and may be of a theoretical and/or a case study nature. Depending on the topic of investigation, articles may be positioned within one academic discipline, or draw from several disciplines in an integrative manner, with overarching relevance to social sciences and natural resources. JORT is international in scope and attracts scholars from all reaches of the world to facilitate the exchange of ideas. As such, the journal enhances understanding of scientific knowledge, empirical results, and practitioners'' needs. Therefore in JORT each article is accompanied by an executive summary, written by the editors or authors, highlighting the planning and management relevant aspects of the article.