Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on human-nature relations in a remote nature-based tourism destination
Tourism and nature-based recreation has changed dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic. Travel restrictions caused sharp declines in visitation numbers, particularly in remote areas, such as northern Norway. In addition, the pandemic may have altered human-nature relationships by changing visitor...
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10037/26963 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0273354 |
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ftunivtroemsoe:oai:munin.uit.no:10037/26963 2023-05-15T17:43:25+02:00 Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on human-nature relations in a remote nature-based tourism destination Mul, Evert Murguzur, Francisco Javier Ancin Hausner, Vera Helene 2022-09-29 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/26963 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0273354 eng eng Public Library of Science PLOS ONE Mul E, Murguzur F, Hausner VH. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on human-nature relations in a remote nature-based tourism destination. PLOS ONE. 2022;17(9) FRIDAID 2057748 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0273354 1932-6203 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/26963 Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) openAccess Copyright 2022 The Author(s) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY VDP::Matematikk og naturvitenskap: 400 VDP::Mathematics and natural scienses: 400 VDP::Samfunnsvitenskap: 200 VDP::Social sciences: 200 Journal article Tidsskriftartikkel Peer reviewed publishedVersion 2022 ftunivtroemsoe https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0273354 2022-10-05T23:00:52Z Tourism and nature-based recreation has changed dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic. Travel restrictions caused sharp declines in visitation numbers, particularly in remote areas, such as northern Norway. In addition, the pandemic may have altered human-nature relationships by changing visitor behaviour and preferences. We studied visitor numbers and behaviour in northern Norway, based on user-generated data, in the form of photo graphic material that was uploaded to the popular online platform Flickr. A total of 195.200 photographs, taken by 5.247 photographers were subjected to Google’s “Cloud Vision” automatic content analysis algorithm. The resulting collection of labels that were assigned to each photograph was analysed in structural topic models, using photography date (relative to the start of the pandemic measures in Norway) and reported or estimated photographers’ nationality as explanatory variables. Our results show that nature-based recreation relating to “mountains” and “winter” became more prevalent during the pandemic, amongst both domestic and international photographers. Shifts in preferences due to the pandemic outbreak strongly depended on nationality, with domestic visitors demonstrating a wide interest in topics while international visitors maintained their preference for nature-based experiences. Among those activities that suffered the most from decline in international tourism was northern lights and cruises as indicated by the topic models. On the other hand, images depicting mountains and flora and fauna increased their prevalence during the pandemic. Domestic visitors, on the other hand, spent more time in urban settings as a result of restrictions, which results in a higher prevalence of non-nature related images. Our results underscore the need to consider the dynamic nature of human-nature relationships. The contrast in flexibility to adapt to changing conditions and travel restrictions should be incorporated in collaborativ. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northern Norway University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive Norway PLOS ONE 17 9 e0273354 |
institution |
Open Polar |
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University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtroemsoe |
language |
English |
topic |
VDP::Matematikk og naturvitenskap: 400 VDP::Mathematics and natural scienses: 400 VDP::Samfunnsvitenskap: 200 VDP::Social sciences: 200 |
spellingShingle |
VDP::Matematikk og naturvitenskap: 400 VDP::Mathematics and natural scienses: 400 VDP::Samfunnsvitenskap: 200 VDP::Social sciences: 200 Mul, Evert Murguzur, Francisco Javier Ancin Hausner, Vera Helene Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on human-nature relations in a remote nature-based tourism destination |
topic_facet |
VDP::Matematikk og naturvitenskap: 400 VDP::Mathematics and natural scienses: 400 VDP::Samfunnsvitenskap: 200 VDP::Social sciences: 200 |
description |
Tourism and nature-based recreation has changed dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic. Travel restrictions caused sharp declines in visitation numbers, particularly in remote areas, such as northern Norway. In addition, the pandemic may have altered human-nature relationships by changing visitor behaviour and preferences. We studied visitor numbers and behaviour in northern Norway, based on user-generated data, in the form of photo graphic material that was uploaded to the popular online platform Flickr. A total of 195.200 photographs, taken by 5.247 photographers were subjected to Google’s “Cloud Vision” automatic content analysis algorithm. The resulting collection of labels that were assigned to each photograph was analysed in structural topic models, using photography date (relative to the start of the pandemic measures in Norway) and reported or estimated photographers’ nationality as explanatory variables. Our results show that nature-based recreation relating to “mountains” and “winter” became more prevalent during the pandemic, amongst both domestic and international photographers. Shifts in preferences due to the pandemic outbreak strongly depended on nationality, with domestic visitors demonstrating a wide interest in topics while international visitors maintained their preference for nature-based experiences. Among those activities that suffered the most from decline in international tourism was northern lights and cruises as indicated by the topic models. On the other hand, images depicting mountains and flora and fauna increased their prevalence during the pandemic. Domestic visitors, on the other hand, spent more time in urban settings as a result of restrictions, which results in a higher prevalence of non-nature related images. Our results underscore the need to consider the dynamic nature of human-nature relationships. The contrast in flexibility to adapt to changing conditions and travel restrictions should be incorporated in collaborativ. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Mul, Evert Murguzur, Francisco Javier Ancin Hausner, Vera Helene |
author_facet |
Mul, Evert Murguzur, Francisco Javier Ancin Hausner, Vera Helene |
author_sort |
Mul, Evert |
title |
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on human-nature relations in a remote nature-based tourism destination |
title_short |
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on human-nature relations in a remote nature-based tourism destination |
title_full |
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on human-nature relations in a remote nature-based tourism destination |
title_fullStr |
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on human-nature relations in a remote nature-based tourism destination |
title_full_unstemmed |
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on human-nature relations in a remote nature-based tourism destination |
title_sort |
impact of the covid-19 pandemic on human-nature relations in a remote nature-based tourism destination |
publisher |
Public Library of Science |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/26963 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0273354 |
geographic |
Norway |
geographic_facet |
Norway |
genre |
Northern Norway |
genre_facet |
Northern Norway |
op_relation |
PLOS ONE Mul E, Murguzur F, Hausner VH. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on human-nature relations in a remote nature-based tourism destination. PLOS ONE. 2022;17(9) FRIDAID 2057748 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0273354 1932-6203 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/26963 |
op_rights |
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) openAccess Copyright 2022 The Author(s) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0273354 |
container_title |
PLOS ONE |
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17 |
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9 |
container_start_page |
e0273354 |
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