Demand for Trails and Routes - Tourism and Trails: Cultural, Ecological and Management Issues - page 96

4 Demand for Trails and Routes

Introduction

Demand in the context of tourism is accepted as the total number of
persons who travel or wish to travel, to use tourist facilities and services at
places away from their places of work and residence. In this topic, demand
relates to aggregate patterns, volumes of use and levels of participation with
respect to routes and trails as part of overall tourist and recreational experi-
ences. There is widespread recognition among land managers and researchers
that trail use is on the rise, with nearly every form of trail and use increasing
in popularity in recent years (Dolesh, 2004b; Moore & Shafer, 2001; Turner
& Davies, 1995). However, in saying that, the ability to measure use and
participation rates within populations is difficult given at least four major
limitations in understanding the 'bigger picture' of trail demand.
First, as in the case of many types of tourism environments, it is often
impossible to distinguish between recreationists (locals) and tourists (non-
locals), as both use the same trail resources. The only factor that separates
them is the length of time they spend away from home, and measuring that
criterion is often very difficult, if even necessary at all. In the minds of most
destinations and trail managers, whether or not a route consumer is an out-
of-town visitor or a local resident is less relevant that the fact that someone
is making use of the resource. Second, it is hard to measure trail participation
at both micro and macro levels. In the case of the former there is a greater
propensity for use and participation to be associated with recreational use,
walking and healthy lifestyles, whereas for the latter, the perception is that
participation is more likely to be associated with tourism. Discounting the
size of a given corridor, the main constraint is a lack of funneled entry points
where records can be kept and data collected. With the exception of very
small paths at archaeological sites, natural areas or museums, where access
is controlled and counted, almost anyone can enter a pathway at multiple
points and use only a small section of it, or visit specific sites on a given
route. This is the case for long-distance cultural and hiking routes, as well as
short- and medium-distance nature trails. Similarly, few trails require a fee,

96