Chase Perren , B. Bynum Boley , Gary T. Green , Eric M. White
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
While there have been a host of studies investigating the COVID-19 pandemic's influence on outdoor recreation, few have investigated the socio-demographic composition and motivations of visitors who increased their outdoor recreation during this period and if these users will continue recreating at the same level as the pandemic wanes. This study surveyed visitors to the Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests (NPNF) within the US state of North Carolina to identify if rising outdoor recreation participation is solely a result of the pandemic or more indicative of a renaissance. Demographic and motivational differences between those whose recreation decreased, stayed the same or increased during the pandemic were also analyzed to see if these patterns remain stable one year after the pandemic. The sample of 1594 visitors from Georgia (n = 483), South Carolina (n = 682), and North Carolina (n = 429) indicate growth in visitation to the NPNF is not just a fad but more of a renaissance with continued high levels of visitation forecasted after the pandemic. Results also show that outdoor recreationists characterized as more ethnically diverse with lower income and educational levels had visitation levels to the forest that increased during the pandemic compared to the outdoor recreationists who were White, more affluent, and highly educated. However, these changes appear to reverse moving out of the pandemic as these more diverse users mention having greater structural, interpersonal, and intrapersonal constraints. Managers who seek social and environmental justice with the provisioning of outdoor recreation should follow-up with these more diverse users to better understand their satisfaction with the FS experience during the pandemic and identify strategies to help them negotiate constraints limiting their outdoor recreation.
Management implications
For public land managers, these findings suggest that increased visitation levels are here to stay. The results also suggest that the pandemic provided users with more diverse backgrounds the space and time to recreate during the pandemic. Unfortunately, it appears that the challenges of everyday life may limit this group from continuing to recreate at the level they did during the pandemic. Managers should take advantage of this opportunity to try to understand these more diverse users and why they anticipate their participation in outdoor recreation dropping as we move out of the pandemic.
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.