Visitor management across borders - Transboundary Parks

Establishment of a cross border socioeconomic monitoring in

Šumava and Bavarian Forest National Parks

Florian Porst, 26th of April 2017

|Outline

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1 The National Parks

2 Basic Survey in Bavarian Forest National Park

2.1 Research interests

2.2 Counting

2.3 Interviews

3 INTERREG-project

3.1 Aims

3.2 Steps

3.3 State of play

4 Conclusion

Establishment of a cross border socioeconomic monitoringin Šumava and Bavarian Forest National Parks

|1 The National Parks

3Establishment of a cross border socioeconomic monitoringin Šumava and Bavarian Forest National Parks


4Establishment of a cross border socioeconomic monitoringin Šumava and Bavarian Forest National Parks


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Bavarian Forest NP established 1970 (oldest NP in Germany)

> 900 km² protected area

> 1000 km markedtrails (hiking and cycling)

Actual: Five bordercrossings between the parks(three more in an environmental impact assessment (CZ))



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Why Transboundary Cooperation?

Nature does not know human borders

Effective nature conservation needsa crossborder perspective

Regarding visitor management:

Border becomes less important for visitors (tourists and locals)

Increase of crossborder tourism

New challenges (visitor number, distribution, expectations)


|Visitor management

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Who?Where?

How many?

When?

What activities?

Visitor monitoringEstablishment of a cross border socioeconomic monitoringin Šumava and Bavarian Forest National Parks

Period: April 28, 2013 to May 11, 2014

2.1 Research interests

Total number of visitors

Sociodemographic structure of visitors

Behaviour/Distribution (space and time), attitude andexpectations of visitors, satisfaction with infrastructure

Combination of counting and interviewing necessary

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|2 Basic Survey in Bavarian Forest National Park


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| 2 Basic Survey in Bavarian Forest National Park

2.2 Counting (automatical)

• Visitor counting from April 28, 2013 to May 11, 2014

Usage of counting devices for longterm outdoor use

• 14 sites, 15 different counters

10 thermal sensors (for walkers, cyclists, cross-country skiers etc.)2 pressure mats (for walkers)2 pressure tubes (for cyclists)1 vibration sensor (for cyclists)


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2.3 Counting (manual)

• Counting by human observers at 64 sites

• Counting on 12 days distributed

over 12 months

(6 weekdays, 6 Sundays/holidays)1

Ludwigsthal

Urwald

Mittelsteig-

hütte

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4

Debrník (CZ)

Grenze

Nationalpark

Bayerischer Wald



Results:

• Permanent monitoring at 14 sites

+ Counting by human observers at 64 sites on 12 days

+ Parking tickets at the national park centres

= total number of visits (April 2013 - April 2014): 1.3 million

(at the parking lots of the national park centres: 0.4 m visitors)

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Identification of four longtermcounting locations throughstatistical analysis

P 27 Fredenbrücke

P18 WaldhausreibeE 17 TrinkwassertalsperreP76 Brechhäuslau

Relationship between the counting sites known through basic survey

Calculating data for all locations

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Locations



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2.3 Interviews

• Standardised interviewson 12 days(distributed over 12 months)

• Different questionairesfor locals and tourists

• Duration around 15 minutes


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• Questions about socio-demographics, attitude, expectations, activities, satisfaction,…

• Collection of data aboutbehaviour in space and time (route analysis)

982 interviewed visitors


Title:

Establishment of a transboundary socioeconomic Monitoring in Šumava and Bavarian Forest National Parks

Project duration: 3 years (1.1.2017 – 31.12.2019).

Project costs: 672.000 Euro (funding rate: 85%)

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| 3 The INTERREG-Project


3.1 Aims

Get data about corossborder tourists as basis for managementdecisions

Learn about different expectations, attitude, needs of visitorsfrom both countries

Identifiy conflicts of nature protection and recreational use

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3.2 Steps

Step 1: Basic survey in Šumava National Park

Step 2: Joining the Data from both Parks

Step 3: Developing five longterm survey modules

Step 4: Longterm crossborder visitor counting

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Step 3: Longterm survey modules (five)

Themes: Evaluation of crossborder movements, knowledgeabout national parks, restrictions,…; Attitude towardsnature, satisfaction with infrastructure, expectations, visitor behaviour, regional economics, acceptance,…

All modules surveyed once while the project

Each year surveyed one module after the project(five-years-regular cycle)

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Step 4: Longterm crossborder visitor counting

Automatical counting in both parks

Counting at border crossings

Joining data

Credible dataabout (crossborder) tourism

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3.3 State of play

Transboundary tender for external expertise finished

May 2017: First Workshops

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Conclusion:

Visitor monitoring is an important basis for an effectivevisitor management

A basic survey is a big effort (but worth it)

First longterm crossborder visitor monitoring

valuable experiences for other parks/protected areas

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|4 Conclusion

Establishment of a cross border socioeconomic monitoring in Šumava andBavarian Forest National Parks

Leaving nature to nature

in line with eco-friendly tourism –

that is tomorrows challenge for the

management of protected areas!

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Visitor management across borders - Transboundary Parks