relevance of crowding effects in a coastal national park ... · conceptual background (1/4)...

Relevance of crowding effects in a coastal National Park in Germany – Results from a case study on

Hamburger Hallig

Dennis Kalisch

Department of Landscape Economics Technical University Berlin

Structure of presentation


� Conceptual background

� Research objectives

� Study area

� Study methods

� Preliminary results

Conceptual background (1/4)


• Coastal areas as popular sites for tourism activities

• At the same time important protected areas

• Rapid growth of ecotourism worldwide

• Increasing numbers of visitors to coastal recreation areas

• “How much can we use the environment without spoiling it?”



• Increasing recreational pressure can lead to an over-utilisation of certain recreation areas with:

1. Degradation of natural resources and

2. Reduction in the quality of the recreation experience

• Two dimensions of carrying capacity of protected areas:

Environmental and social component

� Social carrying capacity of outdoor recreation activities



• Definition of social carrying capacity:

“Maximum level of recreational use above

which there is a decline in the quality of the

recreational experience (Pigram and Jenkins 1999)”

• “Crowding is a function of the discrepancy between the numbers ofothers one expects to see while participating in the activity and the numbers one actually encounters (Schreyer and Roggenbuck 1978)“.

� Visitors may have a negative perception of density



• Measurement of crowding effects in recreation research surveys:

Visitors rate their recreation experience on a crowding-scale (Heberleinand Vaske 1977) from…

Extremelycrowded

Moderatelycrowded

Slightlycrowded

Not at all crowed

987654321

Research objectives


• Applicability of social carrying capacity

in a German coastal National Park

• Measurement of crowding effects at a popular daytrip destination

• Relationship between visitors’ perception of 1.) encounters with other visitors and 2.) crowding effects

• Support local authorities in developing appropriate management measures based on study data

Study area (1/2)


National Park„Schleswig-

HolsteinischesWattenmeer“

Visitor numbers:2 Mio. overnight stays

and14 Mio. day visitors

per year

Study area (2/2)


• Important bird area and

protected salt marsh

• 100.000 visitors between April

and October

• Area is visited for hiking, cycling, bathing and bird-watching

• Hallig is connected with the main land by a road used by cars and a combined bicycle and pedestrian path

Methodology


• Estimating visitor use on the trail by visitor

counting

• Design and implementation of an on-site survey:

1. General respondent profile

2. Visitor motives and experience

3. Perception of crowding effects

• Data analysis

Preliminary results (1/3)


Visitor counting during survey days (10:00 to 18:00)

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

29.0

5.30

.05.

31.0

5.01

.06.

02.0

6.08

.08.

09.0

8.10

.08.

11.0

8.13

.08.

Survey date

Nu

mb

er o

f vi

sito

rs

TotalHikerCyclistCar



• Onsite interviews on 10 randomly selected sampling days in spring and summer 2009 (5 workdays and 5 Sundays/holidays)

� N=509

• Heterogeneous visitor composition of local residents and domestic tourists

• Three main motives for visiting the area:

1. Experience of nature

2. Common getaway with family or friends

3. Get away from daily routine



• Respondents report a high level of encounter (Mean=5.92) with other visitors during their stay, but a very low level of perceived crowding (Mean=1.87)

� 22% of respondents showed crowding perception (3-9 on crowding scale) caused by high visitor numbers

• Visitors of Hamburger Hallig seem to tolerate high visitor numbers

• Research results provide useful data about crowding perception by applying 9-point-crowding-scale

Thank you very much!

contact:[email protected]


relevance of crowding effects in a coastal national park ... · conceptual background (1/4)...

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