[en] The leisure use of forests is a fast growing sector in European tourism. The difficulties in monitoring real usage pattern have hindered communications in tourism, conservation and public health in forested areas. In this study, we present an agent-based model to approximate forest visit patterns at the regional level, based on the visitor, residential and forest attributes. The model was then adapted locally for Wallonia, south Belgium, to predict the daily distribution of forest visits and visitor flows. The results suggest high visit rates in urban forests. In highly attractive forests that are distant from major cities, the visit rates may greatly respond to the visitor-level and environmental changes. Future empirical investigations are encouraged to build a cross-contextual understanding on visitors' decision-making mechanisms and to identify how these mechanisms may be influenced by environmental factors operating at different spatio-temporal levels.
Li, Sen; University of Oxford > Environmental Change Institute
Colson, Vincent; Office Economique Wallon du Bois > Cellule d'Appui à la Petite Forêt Privée - Marche-en-Famenne
Lejeune, Philippe ; Université de Liège > Ingénierie des biosystèmes (Biose) > Gestion des ressources forestières et des milieux naturels
Speybroeck, Niko; Université Catholique de Louvain - UCL > Institute of Health and Society (IRSS)
Vanwambeke, Sophie O.; Université Catholique de Louvain - UCL > Earth and Life Institute > Georges Lemaître Centre for Earth and Climate Research
Language :
English
Title :
Agent-based modelling of the spatial pattern of leisure visitation in forests: A case study in Wallonia, south Belgium
Publication date :
2015
Journal title :
Environmental Modelling and Software
ISSN :
1364-8152
Publisher :
Elsevier Science
Volume :
71
Pages :
111-125
Peer reviewed :
Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi
Funders :
F.R.S.-FNRS - Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique
Commentary :
Sen Li was financially supported through a fellowship (Aspirant FNRS) from the National Fund for Scientific Research of Belgium (F.R.S.-FNRS). The authors would like to thank the editor and four anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions that have helped us to improve the work.
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