CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Visitation to recreation and protected areas is increasing globally and in many regions, including Europe, so isresearch on visitation. But who, where, what and how is the research done and what are the trends and keyresearch gaps? The systematic quantitative review of 758 oral abstracts from the first seven conferences onMonitoring and Management of Visitors in Recreation and Protected Areas answers research questions onmethods, goals and locations presented in the last decade as well as discussing trends and recommendations forthe future. These major multi-disciplinary conferences are held every two years in different countries in Europe.Most (72%) of the research was from Europe, predominantly from countries where English is not the dominantlanguage. Nearly every abstract was from terrestrial natural areas, often terrestrial protected areas (56%), withonly three marine studies. Most abstracts (85%) were in the social sciences, either assessing visitor profile dataalong with motivations, satisfaction and experiences or focused on psychological aspects such as the attitudes,perceptions and behavior of visitors. Environmental research (32% abstracts) was mostly on vegetation, wildlifeand landscape features with limited research on aquatic systems. Technology is driving research, with theanalysis of big data from social media transforming where and how visitors can be monitored. Important gapsremain including research from countries and regions with large protected area systems and high levels ofvisitation including in Asia, South America and Africa, as well as some countries in Europe such as France.Management implications: The article describes the previous trends in this conference series on outdoor recreation.The findings suggest that future conferences could:● enhance the attendance and representation of researchers from parts of Europe so far under represented anddifferent parts of the world such as Asia, the Russian Federation and Africa to make the conference trulyinternational,● strengthen the relevance of the conference for practitioners and managers, and● communicate the value of research, including how new methods and technologies can enhance sustainabledecision making.

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