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Chapter Four Recreation and Tourism
4.1 Literature concerned with recreational and tourist values in relation to the recreation water environment is reviewed in this chapter, which considers the environmental perceptions of specific recreation groups, such as fishers and anglers. Thirty-two texts were reviewed.
4.2 Recreation is "activity (or deliberate inactivity) that is voluntary and which is engaged in for the purposes of enjoyment and satisfaction during time which is free from obligations, i.e. during leisure time" (Butler et al 1998, 3). And water is a key resource, as it encourages the undertaking of many activities, whether passive (for example, picnicking or walking on the shore) or active (for example, swimming and boating). Tourism is defined as the act of travel for the purpose of recreation and the provision of services for this act.
Scotland and UK
4.3 Very few Scottish or UK studies are concerned explicitly with recreational values, perceptions and attitudes in relation to the water environment. Consequently, comparative perception studies of the general recreation environment have been discussed.
4.4 However, one recreational study concerned with perceptions of the water environment is provided by Dalrymple and Hanley (2005). Using Loch Lomond, as an exemplar, they consider three issues: noise, crowding and environmental damage. They argue that rather than ecological values being imperative to the visitor, social values, in particular noise pollution, have the most significant influence on perceptions of Loch Lomond. Through creation of a travel cost model and contingent valuation model, they illustrate that improvements to the water environment would increase the number of trips made to the study area, and visitors would be willing to pay to fund such improvements. Explicit monetary values were assigned to the water environment, with a day at Loch Lomond valued at £20.53 per trip. Visitors were found to be willing to pay an additional £1.76 (a car parking fee) to fund environmental improvements, an expression of the high value people place on the Loch Lomond area for outdoor recreation. The results indicate that older people, females, those with high incomes and those living closer to water areas value the water environment to the greatest extent.
4.5 The Scottish Recreation Survey, undertaken 2003/2004, set out to monitor people's participation in, and attitudes toward, outdoor recreation in Scotland ( SNH, 2005). Environmental issues reported as important to the public included access to the countryside, responsible environmental behaviour and the need for managers to address any environmental and social problems encountered during a recreation visit, such as litter or crowding. In addition to this SNH survey, others are implemented on a regular basis by Scotland's two national park authorities for Loch Lomond and the Trossachs and for the Cairngorms, which aim to capture visitor perception of recreation environments.
4.6 A similar survey was commissioned by the Forestry Commission in 2005 to explore explored public perceptions of Scottish forestry, with specific reference to public access to woodlands and recreation (mruk, 2005). A comparative Scottish academic study by Hanley et al (2001) is their investigation of mountaineering in Scotland.
4.7 Like the academic literature reviewed above, evidence of policy-makers engaging in with public recreational values, perceptions and attitudes in relation to the water environment is sparse. The SNH (2005) survey outlined above was a sample of 12,000 Scottish adults. Water was the most popular outdoor recreation destination, with 31% of outdoor recreation visits water-related (the next most popular destination was local parks at 22%). For 5% of respondents, fishing was their main recreation activity.
4.8 In 2003, the Scottish Executive commissioned a survey on "Public Attitudes to Access to the Countryside". A sample of 2,074 Scottish adults was interviewed, being questioned about the activities they undertook and levels of access to the countryside in Scotland. This was prior to the implementation of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, which established rights of responsible access to land and inland water for recreation and passage. A main finding of the paper was that just over a quarter of all adults participated in open-air recreation at least once a week. Respondents were presented with a list of different types of countryside and asked how they would feel about going across each type of land and water for recreational purposes. Over half stated that they would 'always feel free' to cross seashores (82%), lochshores or riverbanks (64%), canal towpaths (61%), and rivers (58%) or lochs (58%).
4.9 Research by VisitScotland (the national tourism agency) provides evidence that the natural environment is a key part of what visitors value about the country (2002). Scenery was rated by at least 90% of tourists as an attribute particularly associated with Scotland after their visit. Lochs and rivers were important attributes of the tourist experience, as were mountains and hills and nature and wildlife. A significant proportion of respondents (23%) rated beaches as 'poorer than expected'.
Europe
4.10 Two European academic studies of recreational values are noted here for their relevance. Firstly, Pereira et al (2005) investigated public attitudes towards recreation and tourism in the Lake Vela area of Portugal. The area was seen to be attractive to visit for the following main reasons: to spend some hours in a calm and healthy environment (67.6%), to spend time with friends/family (58.2%), for picnics (49.5%), and for wildlife observation (46.7%). Secondly, Tzatzanis and Wrbka (2002) examined the conflict between tourism and conservation values in Greece. They showed how the expansion of tourism in Greece had altered public perceptions of their coastal environments. Tourist development, in Crete for example, was reported as having degraded landscapes, both ecologically and aesthetically. However, awareness of this tourism impact was dependent upon the origins of the visitor and the level of personal environmental sensitivity.
Global
4.11 Beyond Europe, the studies which were reviewed concerning attitudes, perceptions and values of recreation water environments mostly came from North America, Australia and New Zealand.
4.12 From an American perspective, Bricker and Kerstetter (2002) investigated the values that whitewater rafters and kayakers attach to the South Fork of the American River, Western USA. Whitewater recreationalists visiting the South Fork were surveyed to understand places they perceived as 'special' along the 21-mile river corridor. This included an open-ended mail survey following an on-site interview with each respondent. The results indicated that the meanings this group attached to special places are multi-dimensional and complex, ranging in focus from a specific geographical location to the social benefits accrued from visiting the river. Recreational values attributed to this water environment by visitors were categorised by the authors in terms of Environmental-Landscape, Human-Social, Heritage-Historic, or Commodity, influences on the different types of place-meanings which play an important role in an individual's preferences for places, as well as the ways in which participants in the research valued the South Fork of the American River corridor.
4.13 The recreational values of boaters are investigated in a study by Stewart et al (2003), which analysed boater preferences for beach characteristics along the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, Arizona. Based upon a study of three recreational boater user groups (private trip leaders, commercial passengers and river guides), preferences for beach size, presence of shade on the beach, and presence of vegetation on the beach were examined. Large beaches with shade from trees were setting characteristics with highly reliable and strong user preferences, results which were the same regardless of respondents' past boating experience, boat type, or group size. In addition, size of beach was consistently reported to be a trip feature of moderate importance to respondents' river trip.
4.14 Lindsey and Holmes (2002) report the results of a survey of local and foreign tourists, visiting islands that were to be part of a Marine Protection Area ( MPA) in Vietnam. Most respondents thought that rubbish on the beaches, water pollution and vendors on beaches were problems and that the MPA was a good idea. Foreign tourists were significantly more likely to perceive the presence of environmental problems than were Vietnamese tourists, and those who agreed there were environmental problems were significantly more likely to support the concept of an MPA, despite the potential for possible economic effects with distributive consequences. Willingness-to-pay for protection was modest and positively correlated with education and income. Although foreign tourists were on average willing to pay more, a larger proportion of Vietnamese tourists were willing to pay some amount to support the MPA. Analyses indicated that changes in income and education expected with economic development would be likely to increase both awareness of problems and WTP for protection.
4.15 The perceptions of tourists towards the Australian water environment were investigated by Priskin (2003). Structured surveys were administered to 702 visitors over two peak seasons in the Central Coast Region of Western Australia. Visitors were required to indicate their perceptions on a one to five scale. Participants in the following activities were included: swimming, boating, fishing, diving and snorkelling, (wind)surfing, sandboarding, four-wheel driving, walking, camping, horse-riding and sightseeing. Tourists had significantly variable demographic characteristics over two seasons and participated in different activities. However, perceptions of environmental degradation caused by individual activities did not vary significantly between seasons. The age, origin and level of education of visitors had more impact on perceptions than gender or income group.
4.16 Evidence was also reviewed from Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. The Queensland Government in Australia were, at the time of writing, conducting a study of international environmental values, including the development of an appropriate community consultation process. This work is concerned to take account of the cultural and spiritual values of water, along with recreational ones. Recreational values are represented by either primary recreation (direct contact with water through, for example, swimming or snorkelling), or visual appreciation (activities involving no direct contact with the water, such as picnicking, bushwalking and sightseeing).
4.17 In 2004, the New Zealand Ministry for the Environment produced a report entitled Water Bodies of National Importance. Potential water bodies of national importance for recreation value. The project was part of the Government's Water Programme of Action aimed at examining how New Zealand should fairly use, protect and preserve water. The Programme identifies water bodies of national importance for a range of values, including natural heritage, recreation, cultural and historic heritage, irrigation, energy, industry and domestic use, and tourism. The report lists 105 potential freshwater bodies of national importance for recreation, including lakes, rivers and wetlands, generated as a consequence of surveys with active recreationalists (n=771) and the general public (n=1041). The Ministry also commissioned a visitor survey of 201 travellers (travelling through area) and 124 holiday-makers (spending at least one night) in the lower Waitaki Valley in 2005. The aim of the survey was to ascertain the extent and importance of river-orientated activity for the tourist and holidaymaker markets, their perceptions of the scenic and amenity value of the river valley, the significance of the river itself as a tourism resource and the relative significance of the lower Waitaki in the overall regional context. It was found that holidaymakers saw the river's specific character as a stronger contributor to the landscape than did the more transient travellers (New Zealand Ministry for the Environment, 2004).
4.18 Additional relevant international texts include Salz and Loomis (2004), who address the values placed on the recreation environment from the perspective of anglers. Their study was based in marine protected areas of the east coast of the USA and illustrated the distinctive values that anglers bring to their perceptions of water environments; and Shivlani et al (2003) who explore visitor preferences for public beach amenities and beach restoration South Florida, USA. They investigated visitor willingness-to-pay for beach nourishment and found that users are amenable to higher fees if they lead to greater resource protection.
Summary
4.19 Many of the studies reviewed for recreational and tourist values of water environments employ the contingent valuation method of economic analysis. People value the water environment highly for recreation - "when I'm on the water I'm directly where I want to be" (Williams 2001, 409) - and recreationalists perceive it in a different way to non-recreationalists. Evidence suggests that the relative values placed on this environment also differ according to type of recreation activity, socio-economic background and other demographic variables.
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