Mapping water-oriented tourism and recreation in Denmark

Denmark is a small and highly coastal country with 7,300 km of coastlines, over 400 islands and many lakes and streams. The sea is our ‘wilderness’ and the coastal zone is a recreational playground for tourists and local... [ view full abstract ]

Denmark is a small and highly coastal country with 7,300 km of coastlines, over 400 islands and many lakes and streams. The sea is our ‘wilderness’ and the coastal zone is a recreational playground for tourists and local recreationists. Knowledge of the many water-oriented outdoor recreation activities and spatial use patterns is limited. Documentation and mapping is needed to including outdoor recreation and tourism in the maritime spatial planning now required in all EU member states.

The aim of the project is to map and document the water-oriented outdoor recreation and tourism in Denmark at national level. The methodology is based on an online GIS mapping tool allowing respondents to map places for water-oriented recreation in combination with a national survey with 10,291 respondents representative of the Danish adult population. 30% of the mapped water-oriented recreation places were by domestic tourists.

Results indicate that 77.4 % of the adult Danish population has participated in water-oriented recreation activities within the last year. Another 10.0 % has only participated in land-oriented recreation activities while 12.6 % have not done any outdoor recreation within the past year. Over 100 different activities were included and the most popular categories are moving along (e.g. walking, bicycling etc.) or staying at the beach/water element undertaken by 64 %. Other popular activities are bathing/swimming (34 %), nature observations (20 %), cultural activities (15 %), sailing (13 %), collecting objects (10 %), fishing (9 %), and rowing/kayaking (6 %). The spatial pattern of the activities identifies hotspots for specific activities (e.g. diving, surfing etc.) and a high intensity of use of most coastal areas and protected waters. The main motive for participating in water-oriented outdoor recreation was to experience nature, while the most visited nature type were sandy beaches. Activities are often organized through virtual networks.

The study provides new and more in-depth knowledge of the multiple water-oriented outdoor recreational uses, not included in previous national recreation studies. It also adds a spatial dimension to our knowledge of outdoor recreation and tourism. This has many advantages for planning and management such as inclusion in Maritime Spatial Planning.