ABSTRACT

This chapter, being the first in Part III, is intended to demonstrate how the materials presented primarily in Part II can be applied to the strategic aspects of recreation and nature tourism planning in Europe. As well as the aspects brought from Part II, other requirements and issues will also be covered such as the likely effect of different drivers of leisure and recreation that are currently affecting society across Europe and are likely to set the scene for the next couple of decades, as discussed in Chapter 1. Likewise, the ways that people participate in forest recreation and nature tourism vary from one European region to another, based on a number of factors which together can be called ‘forest culture’. Given the benefits and values of recreation identified and demonstrated in Chapter 2 in Part I, it is also worth examining how strategic planning can use the evidence of these in order to target supply of recreation where there is likely to be most benefit to society.