The recreation perspective. A recreationalists typology on visitors and their behaviour by the example of Berchtesgaden National Park

Abstract

To perform its tasks management needs information on visitors. They provide insight into the recreational situation of protected areas and support management decisions. Therefor, data on visitor use and visitation behaviour have to be analyzed and mapped. However, information on visitors should not be reduced on singular variables. It is important to combine these different characteristics and build up types of visitors respectively visitor behaviour. In favour of this the approach of recreation perspective is elaborated. The concept takes account of existing typologies on (nature-based) tourism and their attributes (e.g. size, age). Furthermore, visitor behaviour is integrated. Distinguished in macro and micro behaviour it is expressed by choice of activity, destination, type, location and duration of extended stops etc.. Considering these aspects visitors can be categorized into several types. The recreation perspective is worked out and applied to the German Berchtesgaden National Park.