Outdoor recreation participation and views on resource development and preservation

Abstract

Views on the preservation of resources versus their development for recreation are compared among participants in three types of outdoor recreation: “appreciative”; activities (cross‐country skiing, hiking, and canoeing); “consumptive”; activities (fishing and hunting); and “mechanized”; activities (motorboating, snowmo‐biling, and trail biking). The results from a 1984 questionnaire survey conducted in Edmonton and Calgary, Canada, indicate a stronger preservationist orientation among participants in appreciative activities, whereas (with the exception of hunters) participants in consumptive and mechanized activities hold stronger pro‐development views. These differences cannot be attributed to simultaneous variations in socioeco‐nomic characteristics or environmental attitudes among the recreational groups. The findings suggest that differences in outdoor recreational activity preferences represent an important source of variation in views about appropriate levels of preservation versus development of Alberta's natural and wildernesss resources.     

Financial implications of outdoor recreation planning practices: A case study from Virginia

Abstract

A financial analysis of Virginia's outdoor recreation program is presented. The conclusions of the paper may be applicable to many state recreation programs. First, state recreation planning procedures are not realistic; that is, projected requirements for recreational facility development cannot be satisfied within expected budget constraints. Second, increases in user fees and/or increases in general funds allocated to recreation will be necessary to support only modest recreation development for the future.     

Recreation Specialization Among ATV Users and Its Relationship to Environmental Attitudes and Management Preferences on the Island of Newfoundland

The purpose of this study was to identify and document the attitudes, perceptions, and resource management preferences of all-terrain vehicle (ATV) users through the recreation specialization framework. Data were collected on the Burin Peninsula on the south coast of the island portion of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Variables were operationalized using a quantitative survey which generated an 8-item specialization index based on behavioral, cognitive, and affective measures of involvement in ATV riding. Three distinct subgroups of ATV users were identified through K-means cluster analysis. One-way ANOVA tests revealed significant differences across specialization groups. Results document the spectrum of attitudes and management preferences and provide recommendations for outdoor recreation policies that reflect the needs of a wide variety of ATV users.     

Ethnic factors and the use of public outdoor recreation areas: The case of Mexican Americans

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of subculture, marginality, and perceived discrimination on use of selected public outdoor recreation areas. The assimilation perspective from the sociology literature provided theoretical guidance for the study. These concepts were treated as different types of social distance (cultural distance, socioeconomic distance, and intergroup distance). Each was hypothesized to affect the use of outdoor recreation areas. Data for this analysis came from telephone interviews conducted with 1057 households in Maricopa and Gila counties in Arizona. The analysis was conducted using a subsample of respondents of Mexican ancestry. The results support the socioeconomic, or marginality, hypothesis. There was less support for the subcultural, or ethnicity, hypothesis. There was no support for the perceived discrimination hypothesis. Research implications and recommendations are discussed.     

Discrimination in public recreation: Attitudes toward and participation of females

Historically, women have been discriminated against in a number of ways. In recreation, the same is true. This study, carried out among Ontario recreation administrators, reveals male‐female differences in wages, responsibility, participation and programs. A number of alternatives and suggestions for change, including both legislation and economic sanction, are given in the report, along with a number of possible directions for future research.     

Attitudes and perceptions toward affirmative action programs: An application of institutional theory

Due to the continuing controversy surrounding the use of affirmative action programs in organizational hiring and promotion practices, we conducted a study to model individuals’ attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions toward affirmative action (AA) programs considering social influences and an institutional theory framework. To conduct the study we surveyed 413 managers and supervisors from three large hotel companies in the pacific western and southeastern United States. Results indicate that institutional and social forces positively influenced participants’ general perceptions of AA in the workplace. Influences from social interaction exhibited a negative relationship upon attitudes toward the experience and practice of AA, specifically related to AA hires and organizational issues stemming from AA rather than the legislation itself.     

Urban recreation research: An overview

Despite the fact that the population of the United States ha shifted from largely rural to largely urban in this century, the commitment to research in recreation, inadequate as it is, has remained in the hinterlands. There is no critical mass of recreation researchers focusing on urban recreation as there now is focused on outdoor recreation. Urban recreation studies have been noncumulative in nature due to the wide range their sponsors, staff, substantive topics, lack of generalizability, and inevitable tensions between practitioners and researchers. Ironically, urban recreational research, and support of it, has diminished in this country at the same time that there has been an increasing concern for such information and knowledge. The future looks bleak insofar as the development of a strong, major, national urban recreation research program is concerned.     

Community participation in outdoor recreation and the development of Millennium Greens in England

A growth in community participation (CP) in outdoor recreation provision and maintenance emerged from the post-war voluntary movement but from the 1970s, discrete initiatives were spawned in the context of management experiments, threats to urban open space from development, the enhancement of forestry recreation opportunities and European funding to remoter rural areas. A shift in the style of government from an executive to an enabling role in the 1980s and 1990s has formalized CP in public policy. This has been exploited in CP for the rights of way system and in the provision of new recreation areas: Millennium Greens. An assessment of some of the characteristics of CP in Millennium Greens is provided in relation to motivations for their development, the support of the community, the social characteristics of those affected, their spatial distribution and raised expectations where schemes have been unsuccessful. It is concluded that some executive state controls over such schemes are necessary to ensure their effective operation but this too can be enhanced by involving communities in policy formulation as well as in development and implementation. There is some evidence to suggest that governmental enabling policies benefit those who are already most enabled relative to the more marginal sectors of society and this issue merits further research.     

The spatial and temporal resilience of the tourism and outdoor recreation industries in the United States throughout the COVID-19 pandemic

Accurately quantifying industry resilience is essential to devising effective recovery strategies. Previous research into industry resilience has either quantified the concept with single metrics aggregated across large geographies (e.g., visitation) or used metrics comparing the relative concentration of an industry within a region to the national average (e.g., location quotients). The former set of metrics prohibits spatially targeted recovery efforts while the latter fails during national crises. We propose the measurement of tourism and outdoor recreation industry resilience to COVID-19 based on growth rates in employment, wages, and establishments using publicly accessible time-series data on all counties in the United States. We use these indicators to characterize the spatio-temporal patterns of industry resilience across the country. The indicators can serve as a useful reference for diagnosing and monitoring industry resilience as well as developing targeted policies, programs, and promotion efforts that facilitate more localized response efforts.     

Perceived crowding in recreation settings: An urban case study

Abstract

Research on crowding in recreation areas has focused primarily on back‐country settings. This study tests some of the axioms developed from this research and from studies conducted in non‐recreation settings using data from a case study in an urban park. The actual number of visitors present was found to be the most important individual predictor of perceived crowding in this setting. Results suggest that more developed parks, in more urban contexts, may elicit different images and expectations about visitor density. The implications of these findings, as they relate both to studies of perceived crowding and the social definition of parks in general, are discussed.     

Voluntary association membership of outdoor recreationists: An exploratory study

Abstract

Research on the political activity of outdoor recreationists has focused primarily on their associational affiliations and concern for the environment. This article reviews literature on theories of collective behavior, recreation motivations, and environmental concern. The study considers outdoor recreation as a social movement and investigates relationships between incentives for voluntary membership in environmental and outdoor recreation associations, motivations for participation in outdoor recreation activities, and environmental concern. Members of associations were found to be significantly different than nonmembers on several variables including value for outdoor recreation, incentives for association membership, intellectual motivations for outdoor recreation, environmental concern, education level, and age. Results suggest that association efforts to obtain instrumental benefits, or public goods that accrue to all of society, are a primary incentive for outdoor recreationists to join voluntary associations. A common thread of intellectual pursuit distinguished members from nonmembers, suggesting that intellectual benefits may help define the relationship between outdoor recreation and associational affiliation behaviors.     

Nature of place attachment: A study among recreation homeowners in Southern Norway

Place attachment is frequently referred to as a complex and integrative phenomenon encompassing a wide range of concepts. Place attachment is linked to the meanings created around recreation settings, yet knowledge is limited about the nature of place attachment and to what people are attached. This study examines the nature of place attachment among a sample of recreation homeowners in Southern Norway and to which attributes of the places they are attached. The results show that place attachment can be conceptualized on a general level while still containing subdimensions related to the place, the recreational home, and long‐term connections to the area. A range of attributes including the natural and cultural environment, family and social activities, history, and traditions are all important in the development of affective bonds with the places in the study area. Identifying the subdimensions of place attachment enables a better prediction of the importance of different place attributes than the more holistic concept of place attachment.     

Age of first hunting experience: Results from a nationwide recreation survey

Abstract

Hunting participation, as indicated in the 1983 Nationwide Recreation Survey, is examined to determine the relationship between age of first hunting experience and adult level of participation. A statistically significant association between these two variables is found. In addition, more than 83 percent of those who hunt began their involvement by 18 years of age. The findings have implications for future hunting participation and the provision of programs for hunters.     

Bridging the gap: grounded theory method,theory development,and sustainable tourism research

Advancing knowledge on sustainability phenomena can be optimized when theoretical developments and practical applications work in concert rather than in isolation. Bridging the theory–practice gap is particularly important to sustainable tourism, which has risen exponentially in relevance both in practice and research. However, tourism research has been criticized for a lack of endemic theory unique to the field. Grounded theory method (GTM) is an established methodology for generating new theory in substantive areas, and has been utilized to examine various tourism phenomena. Through both methodological and theory development assessments, this study first examines how GTM has been used in tourism research in general. Suggestions for ameliorating the theory development outcomes of GTM research in sustainable tourism are then offered for both researchers and reviewers to help bridge the gap between sustainable tourism research, practice, and theory.     

The empirical development of a taxonomy for classifying recreation participants based on their attitudes toward the public and commercial sectors

Abstract

This study examined attitudes held toward the public and commercial sectors as variables relevant to classifying the recreation participants. The data were collected in a controlled experimental setting. A taxonomy was developed which can be used to categorize individuals on the basis of their attitudes toward the two sectors. Discriminant analysis was used to place individual subjects into one of nine groups in the taxonomy. The discriminant analysis identified statistically significant differences in the attitudes of individuals who were placed into the various groups. Further analysis revealed that the taxonomy may be simplified by collapsing the nine groups into three groups. The three groups include: (1) people who have more favorable attitudes toward the public sector than toward the commercial sector; (2) people who have more favorable attitudes toward the commercial sector than toward the public sector; and (3) people who have similar attitudes toward both sectors. Limitations of the study, implications for managers, and directions for future research are discussed.     

Island residents' identities and their support for tourism: an integration of two theories

Most studies that examine tourism impacts and community attitudes have been carried out from the perspective of industrialized economies, making the findings less valid for small islands. This paper discusses some pertinent issues in relation to tourism development and community attitudes in small islands, and it develops and presents a conceptual framework based on social exchange theory and identity theory. The different facets of identity relevant to small-island communities that are likely to influence attitudes and support for tourism are incorporated in the framework and discussed. These include occupational identity, environmental identity and gender identity. Based on these, five propositions are developed. The study concludes that inclusion of identity variables in behavioral models could increase their predictive power in explaining attitudes to tourism and consequent support for the industry.     

The hidden risk in user-generated content: An investigation of ski tourers' revealed risk-taking behavior on an online outdoor sports platform

This paper investigates risk-taking behavior in the context of an online outdoor sports platform. Analyzing a unique behavioral dataset of 6242 ski tours completed over a time period of eight winter seasons, this paper shows that the accuracy of user-generated content on ski tours is limited and that more than one third of ski tours accessible on the respective online platform was relatively dangerous on the particular days according to a common avalanche risk assessment method. The quantitative analysis furthermore reveals that at avalanche danger level “considerable” more than sixty percent of ski tours were relatively dangerous. Overall, this paper provides novel insights into risks that come with user-generated content in the adventure tourism and adventure recreation domain and derives important implications for online platform users, online platform providers, public institutions, and tourism destinations.     

Exploring Everyday Self-Regulation in Nearby Nature: Determinants,Patterns, and a Framework of Nearby Outdoor Recreation Behavior

The understanding of determinants and underlying mechanisms of everyday nearby outdoor recreation behavior (NORB) remains insufficient for use in urban planning. We explored the nearby recreational decisions of walkers, cyclists, and joggers in problem-focused interviews (N = 18). The identified influences include various demands of work and private life, strains, and action circumstances. Loads and strains showed several compensatory associations with NORB. These findings were synthesized into a NORB framework that offers empirically grounded hypotheses for future research. The proposed framework may help to integrate findings from different research fields while providing a more comprehensive understanding of NORB.     

Residents’ support for tourism: An Identity Perspective

Studies on residents’ support for tourism have primarily been conducted in the developed world. This study analyzes community support in the island economy of Mauritius by testing a model based on the social exchange theory and the identity theory. The model proposes that the resource-based occupational identity, environmental identity, and gender identity of the residents influence attitudes to tourism impacts and support (behavior). Results indicate that one’s identity has a direct bearing on support, but may not always influence attitudes. Findings confirm the relevance of the social exchange theory and the identity theory in explaining community support for tourism in island economies. The study’s practical implications and limitations are discussed.     

Community Attitudes Toward Tourists: A Study of Iran

This article concerns the attitudes of local community members in Iran toward the tourists with whom they interact. Reference is made to prevailing conditions within Iran generally and particularly in the tourism industry. The results of a questionnaire survey conducted in two settlements that are popular with tourists are presented. Participants responded to a series of attitude statements about tourists and the researchers tested the effects of various sociodemographic characteristics, including professed degree of religious devotion. The findings suggest favorable views about visitors and tourism development overall, although different groupings expressed preferences for particular tourist types. Implications of the results for academics, industry practitioners, and policymakers are also discussed.