Assessing Safety and Suitability of Old Trails for Hiking Using Ground and Drone Surveys

Hiking is a popular recreational activity and to cater to public demand, it is apt to increase the number of hiking trails. Various methodologies have been proposed to evaluate the suitability of forest trails to be constructed as hiking trails, but they can be costly and require relevant knowledge in analyzing digital information through a high-throughput dataset. Therefore, there is a need to come up with a simple method to obtain first-hand information on the trail condition, particularly considering the aspects of safety and suitability to hikers, using both on-ground and aerial observations. In this study, we introduce a new assessment approach to analyze and select old forest trails to be reconstructed as new hiking trails. This is useful for park managers who prioritize safety, comfort, and aesthetic features of the recreation site for their visitors. Trail condition assessment was carried out along the trail whereby a 2×2 m sampling plot was constructed at every 100 m. Aerial drone survey was conducted to produce an ortho-mosaic that revealed the percentage of exposed trail from above. Potential phytotourism products and scenic spots were identified and recorded for their locations along the trail to promote the aesthetic value of the recreation site. A strength distribution plot was prepared based on the trail condition, canopy coverage, and aesthetic features along the trail that were categorized using three altitude ranges (n ≤ 150 m, 150 < n < 250 m, n ≥ 250 m a.s.l.). This is to assess the trade-offs in safety, comfort, and aesthetic features along the trail. The development of this methodology offers a direct and cost-effective, yet informative approach to evaluate the quality of a potential hiking trail, thus could effectively aid in the promotion of nature-based tourism.

Analyzing Visitors’ Preferences and Evaluation of Satisfaction Based on Different Attributes, with Forest Trails in the Akasawa National Recreational Forest, Central Japan

For forest park managers and designers, it is very important to provide forest trails and high–quality forest landscapes that meet visitor’s needs. In this study, based on demographic characteristics, our main purpose is to analyze whether the preferences of visitors for different trails differ, and to discuss whether forest park visitors’ satisfaction is affected when preferences for choosing trails change, mainly in order to improve knowledge about visitors’ needs for forest walking spaces. Through this analysis, we can aid in the planning and management of forest parks to improve visitors’ experiences. We mainly consider five attributes, namely, sex, age, number of visitors, number of visits and duration of stay in the park, in a questionnaire, and use the Kruskal–Wallis Test and Mann–Whitney U Test to analyze multigroup data in “SPSS for Windows”. The results are as follows: (1) Visitors with different attributes exhibit significant differences in terms of their choices of forest trails and the evaluation of visitor satisfaction in the duration of stay. (2) The correlation analysis showed that trail condition factors, such as the degree of difficulty and facility status, affect the satisfaction evaluation of tourists on many levels. In addition, the number of visits by visitors is negatively correlated with the preference for a forest trail based on recreational indicators. (3) Compared to visitors who stay in the forest for a short amount of time, visitors who remain in the forest for longer have a higher satisfaction level. Based on these results, we recommend that parks consider the number of visits (visiting experience) and the duration of stays in the forest when planning walking routes to more effectively plan forest park trails.