Recreation : Guidelines : Walking, hiking and dog walking : Characteristics

Characteristics and the potential for raising awareness amongst participants

Walking, hiking and dog walking are popular activities amongst all sections of society.

Hikers tend to be younger and from a more affluent background with a long term interest in outdoor activities. They tend to have an awareness of environmental issues connected with their activity.

Environmental awareness raising programmes run in conjunction with outdoor equipment suppliers are likely to be an effective method of targeting participants as these organisations have direct contact with the end users and are often considered a credible source of information.

The majority of participants are unlikely to be associated with local clubs and/or the national representative organisations.

Voluntary management measures and education programmes developed in conjunction with clubs will reach a relatively small proportion of walkers..

Known access points to popular walking areas or commonly used car parks can be good locations for promoting environmental information to non-affiliated participants. In particular, appropriate signs detailing area features can be effective.

The activities tend to be family orientated.

Information targeted at children, as well as encouraging responsibility from an early age, is likely also to reach other family members.

Main targeted publications for these activities are Country Life and Country Living with circulations of 42,600 and 180,300 respectively.

The former regularly carry extensive articles on environmental issues

 

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