Mid Sweden University

Trails are important elements in the natural and cultural landscape, and many ancient pathways have developed into routes of great significance for recreation and tourism in contemporary societies. By conducting a systematic quantitative literature review, this paper report on the status of international trail research and analyzes some of the key content with focus on trails for tourism and outdoor recreation in non-urban settings. For this purpose, we reviewed 195 research papers published in peer-reviewed academic journals. Results show that research on trails for tourism and outdoor recreation is primarily from English-speaking Western countries. The most studied trail-based activity is hiking, but there has been an increase in the number of studies researching multiple activities. Results also show that international trail research to a large extent is based on the natural sciences, and focus on environmental and managerial aspects of trail use. This review identifies gaps in trail research, especially in a socio-cultural context on topics such as heritage and public health. Research on conflicts between different recreational trail-based activities is also relatively scarce, as well as studies concerning conflicts between trail-based recreation interests and other land-use interests. We also identify a need for an exploration of the trail concept, as research has not yet articulated a clear definition of what a trail is. The paper also includes analyses of changes in trail-related research over time.

Trails are significant features in landscapes, and many ancient pathways have developed into routes of great importance for recreation and tourism in contemporary societies. Nevertheless, international research on recreational trails has hitherto mainly focused on managerial and environmental aspects of trails and less on trails from a social science perspective, such as conflict management. This study explores the role of recreational trails as a potential tool for managing conflicts in a multifunctional landscape. The findings originate from a case study of the southern Jamtland mountain region in Sweden, an area where land-use conflicts exist and where tourism is a major concern. The study examines the recreational trail as an applied example where actors in the mountain landscape negotiate and collaborate. through the recreational trail, dialogue and discussions are made possible among stakeholders. Findings show that trails can function as facilitators for communication and can thus enhance the possibilities of building trust and promoting collaboration between actors. This research contributes to the existing literature on handling multiple land-use interests and adds to previous knowledge by taking on a rather new approach, where the recreational trail becomes a facilitator for communication.

This paper examines gender differences in participation in various outdoor recreation and tourism activities in the Swedish mountain region, and how these activities are portrayed from a gender perspective on the websites of five major tourist destinations. Spending time in nature has been linked to better health and well-being, and this article contributes to research on the unequal opportunities women and men have in taking part of such advantages. Results show that there is a gender difference in both participation and in representation of outdoor recreation. The observed gender difference is not only in line with the traditional heteronormativity but also suggests that new trends in outdoor recreation are further favoring traditionally masculine modes of engagement with nature. This suggests the need for re-thinking not only gender norms but also human relationships with nature in general.