Forests 2012, 3(1), 1-21; doi:10.3390/f3010001
Article

Latent Demand and Time Contextual Constraints to Outdoor Recreation in Sweden

Peter Fredman 1,* email, Ulla Romild 2 email, Mike Yuan 3 email and Daniel Wolf-Watz 1 email
1 Department of Tourism, Mid-Sweden University, Östersund 83125, Sweden 2 Swedish National Institute of Public Health, Östersund 83140, Sweden 3 School of Outdoor Recreation, Parks & Tourism, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, ON P7B 5E1, Canada
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 1 September 2011; in revised form: 1 December 2011 / Accepted: 19 December 2011 / Published: 23 December 2011
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Expanding Forests’ Benefits: Forest-based Recreation and Tourism)
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Abstract: This study analyzes the latent demand to outdoor recreation participation and identifies what factors are constraining people from realizing this demand. In Sweden, recreation in the outdoors is seen as a public right as articulated in public policy and much of the outdoor recreation centre around forested landscapes—over 60 percent of the land area is classified as forest. Using data from a nationwide survey of 43 recreation activities, the study takes a time-contextual approach to reveal variations in recreation constraints across weekdays, weekends and holidays. Results show that almost half the population has a latent demand to increase their participation in outdoor recreation. Three categories of time contextual constraints are identified and several of the constraints studied show variations across outdoor activities and socio-economic factors. Practical implications for the promotion of outdoor recreation participation by public agencies, recreation managers and tourism businesses are discussed based on the study findings.
Keywords: recreation; demand; constraints; national survey

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MDPI and ACS Style

Fredman, P.; Romild, U.; Yuan, M.; Wolf-Watz, D. Latent Demand and Time Contextual Constraints to Outdoor Recreation in Sweden. Forests 2012, 3, 1-21.

AMA Style

Fredman P, Romild U, Yuan M, Wolf-Watz D. Latent Demand and Time Contextual Constraints to Outdoor Recreation in Sweden. Forests. 2012; 3(1):1-21.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Fredman, Peter; Romild, Ulla; Yuan, Mike; Wolf-Watz, Daniel. 2012. "Latent Demand and Time Contextual Constraints to Outdoor Recreation in Sweden." Forests 3, no. 1: 1-21.

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