[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v13y2024i12p2003-d1528561.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploring Visitor Patterns in Island Natural Parks: The Relationship Between Photo Locations, Trails, and Land Use

Author

Listed:
  • Eva Calicis

    (Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Porto, 4150-564 Porto, Portugal)

  • Jorge Costa

    (Centre of Geography and Spatial Planning Studies (CEGOT), Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Porto, 4150-564 Porto, Portugal)

  • Augusto Pérez-Alberti

    (Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Faculty of Biology, Campus Vida, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain)

  • Alberto Gomes

    (Centre of Geography and Spatial Planning Studies (CEGOT), Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Porto, 4150-564 Porto, Portugal)

Abstract
Overcrowding in national parks and protected areas can cause irreversible damage to the environment, compromising the quality of soil, water, wildlife, and vegetation. Thus, it is critical for park managers to have detailed information on visitor activities and spatial dynamics in order to prioritise actions capable of mitigating undesirable impacts in the most frequently visited areas. In this article, we use georeferenced trails and photographs from the Wikiloc and Flickr web platforms to determine the spatial visitation patterns in the Atlantic Islands of Galicia National Park (AINP) from 2008 to 2023. Maps showing trail usage intensity and the distribution of photographs according to land use allowed us to identify the most frequented land uses by visitors and the areas of highest tourist pressure within the AINP. The results show that distribution patterns vary between platforms. Shrubland (37%) and marine cliffs (27%) were the most photographed land uses by visitors, while artificial areas (14%) were the most frequented by Wikiloc users. Cíes island emerges as the most popular tourist destination, as evidenced by the greater number of trails and photographs compared to Ons, Sálvora, and Cortegada. This study shows how social media data, specifically trails and geotagged photographs from Wikiloc and Flickr, can support and complement the monitoring of visitor use and impact in protected areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Eva Calicis & Jorge Costa & Augusto Pérez-Alberti & Alberto Gomes, 2024. "Exploring Visitor Patterns in Island Natural Parks: The Relationship Between Photo Locations, Trails, and Land Use," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-21, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:13:y:2024:i:12:p:2003-:d:1528561
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/12/2003/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/12/2003/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:13:y:2024:i:12:p:2003-:d:1528561. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.