Table 5.4 highlights in bold those outdoor recreation activities where either Lower Mainland or B.C. residents’ annual participation rates were more than twice as much as reported in the United States. For nearly all other outdoor activities, participation rates were considerably higher than those in the United States.
The Outdoor Recreation Council, in 1991, sponsored a workshop aimed at developing a vision for outdoor recreation in B.C. The participants saw participation in outdoor recreation as a defining feature or “cultural trademark” of B.C. The high reported rates of participation in outdoor recreation seem to bear this out.
Figure 5.26 indicates 88 million visitor-days of outdoor recreation use in 1993 on these public lands in B.C. These estimates are for residents (72 million visitor-days of use or 82% of total use) and non-residents (16 million visitor-days of use or 18% of total use) of all ages. About 55% of this use occurs in provincial forests, which represent about 92% of these Crown lands. About 45% of the use occurs in various parks (national, provincial and regional), with over half of the park use occurring in provincial parks. In addition to the use noted in the table, outdoor recreation occurs locally and on private lands; no estimates are provided on these types of use. An explanation of how the estimates in Figure 5.26 were derived follows.
B.C. Parks estimates are from 1993 attendance data reported for provincial parks and recreation areas, where 22.7 million visits are reported.[94] B.C. Parks reports that B.C. residents comprise about 60% of camping use (1.8 million visitor-days) and about 80% of use at day-use sites (16 million visits). Non-residents account for about five million visitor-days of use. Regional park estimates are those reported by B.C. Parks for 1992.[95] It is assumed that most use in regional parks is by B.C. residents.
Parks Canada estimates are from attendance data reported for 1992-93 for national parks in B.C.[96] Based on a survey at some campgrounds, about 25% of use is by B.C. residents and 75% by non-residents.[97] This large non-resident component is due in part to the close proximity of two heavily visited parks (Yoho and Kootenay) for Alberta residents. B.C. resident use at day-use sites is likely to be proportionally higher than at campgrounds (based on use at B.C. Parks). Therefore, resident use is assumed to be about 50% in national parks.
Provincial forest outdoor recreation use by B.C. residents is based on a 1989-90 survey of B.C. households, which estimated 40 million visitor-days of use in 1989.[98] Applying the 3% annual growth rate (reported in Section 7.3.6), this 1989 estimate can be projected to about 45 million visits in 1993.[99]
Recreational use by non-residents in provincial forests is based on an analysis[100] of a study[101] associated with the Ministry of Tourism’s Visitor ’89 survey.[102] The analysis revealed an estimated 966 000 non-resident parties participating in provincial forest recreation use. With an average party size of 2.7 and an average participation length of 2.7 days, this translates into about 7 million non-resident visitor-days of use in provincial forests in 1989.
The Visitor ’89 study indicates about a 2% per year average increase in non-resident tourism use in B.C. (from 6.5 million person-trips in 1979 to 7.7 million person-trips in 1989). This 2% growth rate suggests about 8 million visitor-days of non-resident use in provincial forests in 1993; this represents about 15% of total use of provincial forests. A preliminary survey of visitor use at two provincial forest campgrounds observed 8% non-resident use at one campground and 12% at the other. These initial findings suggest non-resident use could be lower than as estimated in Figure 5.26.
A wilderness recreation trip was defined in the survey to mean a recreational trip to a roadless, undeveloped natural area that can be reached only by trails, waterways or air. The study concluded that about 410 000 adult (18 years or older) British Columbians (16% of the adult population) took a wilderness trip in B.C. in 1992. The average number of trips taken was 3.5 and the average length of each trip was 4.4 days, representing a total of about 6.2 million visitor-days.
Previous estimates for outdoor recreation use (Section 5.4.2) are for British Columbians of all ages. Adjusting for those younger than 18 years of age (about 25% of the population in B.C.), the overall estimate is about 8 million visitor-days of wilderness recreation use by B.C. residents. This is about 11% of the total estimate of 72 million visitor-days (from Figure 5.26) of outdoor recreation use by B.C. residents.
The Visitor ’89 study revealed that wilderness adventure was the main purpose of 2% of non-resident trips to B.C. An estimated 52 million visitor-days were spent by overnight non-resident tourists to B.C. If 2% of these visitor-days were for wilderness adventure, there were about 1 million visitor-days of wilderness recreation use by non-residents. This is about 6% of the total estimate of 16 million visitor-days (from Figure 5.26) of outdoor recreation use by non-residents.
Total wilderness recreation use by both residents and non-residents is therefore estimated to be about 9 million visitor-days in B.C. in 1993 — about 10% of total outdoor recreation use in the province.
B.C. Tourism uses a standard United Nations approved definition of “tourist” to mean any visitor who travels to a place outside their usual environment for at least one night. Tourism use, therefore, includes (and overlaps with) overnight outdoor recreation use by both B.C. residents and non-residents visiting the province.
Tourism use, however, also includes overnight trips that do not involve outdoor recreation. The Visitor ’89 study found that the main trip purpose for 50% of non-residents parties was either “visiting friends and relatives/personal” (33%) or “conference/other business” (17%). The main trip purpose for about 43% of non-residents had an outdoor recreation dimension include “touring trip” (27%), “outdoors/wilderness/adventure” (8%) and “resort vacation” (8%). Similar results were found with B.C. resident tourism (overnight) use, where the main trip purpose for 35% of the trips was visiting family and friends, followed by 26% citing an outdoor or wilderness trip. Outdoor recreation was also an important incidental (or secondary) activity for many trips for which the main purpose was not outdoor recreation.
Another important distinction between tourism and outdoor recreation is that many outdoor recreation trips are just for the day. These day users are considered “excursionists” rather than “tourists.” B.C. Parks (1994) [104] notes that about 87% of provincial park visits are day use. Although some day use in parks may be associated with an overnight trip in general, this nevertheless suggests a considerable amount of outdoor recreation use is just for the day. A survey by the B.C. Ministry of Forests and B.C. Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks (1994) found that about 34% of the wilderness trips taken by B.C. residents were just for the day.
The commonalities and differences between tourism and outdoor recreation are illustrated in (1994) Figure 5.27.
With these differences and similarities between outdoor recreation and tourism use in mind, the amount of tourism use reported in Tourism Highlights 1992 is shown in Figure 5.28. Visitor-days were estimated by multiplying person-trips by 6.83 average days per trip (adding 1 day to 5.83 average nights per trip reported in the Visitor ‘89 survey).
About 37% of non-resident use is from nearby Alberta (23%) and Washington (14%). About two-thirds of tourism use in B.C. is by B.C. residents. Even though the main trip purpose for most tourists travelling in B.C. was not outdoor recreation, non-residents cited B.C.’s outdoors (e.g., the scenery, mountains, lakes and wilderness) as the “best aspects” of their visit to the province. Also, when asked what adjectives best describe B.C., the three most frequently mentioned were that B.C. is scenic (28%), beautiful (24%) and mountainous (19%). British Columbia’s outdoors clearly remains an important provincial tourism trademark.
A portion of outdoor recreation-oriented tourism (overnight use by recreationists) involves commercial recreation operators. Adventure tourism or commercial backcountry recreation, is reported to be the fastest growing sector of the tourist industry.[105] The Outdoor Recreation Council reported about 1 million client days (visitor-days) of use with those adventure tourism operators who have packaged tours in B.C. in 1986.[106] About 55% of clients are non-residents (20% from other parts of Canada, 25% from the U.S. and 10% from overseas).
Figure 5.29 shows the estimated distribution of this use in provincial forests by forest region based on the destination of B.C. resident use described in the Outdoor Recreation Survey and an analysis of the destination described in Visitor ’89. The analysis of non-resident regional use involved equating tourism regions (or portions thereof) to forest regions and assessing the amount of tourism use whose primary trip purpose appeared to be outdoor recreation (e.g., outdoors trip and touring trip).
The Outdoor Recreation Survey 1989-90 reported that about two-thirds of all B.C. resident outdoor recreation in provincial forests occurs in areas accessible by road. An analysis of this use by forest region indicates some variation by region (Figure 5.30). The proportion of use in roaded and roadless (backcountry) areas by non-residents is assumed to be similar to that observed for B.C. residents.
About 35 million visitor-days of outdoor recreation use in roaded areas and about 18 million visitor-days of use in roadless (backcountry) areas is therefore estimated in provincial forests in 1993.
Recreation use has increased about 35% at managed recreation sites and trails over the last 10 years. The increase has been 18% for sites and 195% for trails. Much of this increase in use is likely due to increases in the amount of managed sites and trails over this same 10 year period.
