Archived decisions

APPENDIX 1

Recreation in Times of Demographic Change

Draft Project Outline - September 2008

Rationale

The basic premise of this project is that the economies of rural areas across Europe can be developed to support the leisure, recreational and tourism needs of a growing number of older people, providing increased employment opportunities in rural areas, well-being benefits and helping to redress the demographic and social imbalances in those areas.

One of the major challenges facing Europe and many other western countries is a declining rural economy. A variety of factors are contributing to this decline. Firstly, traditional sources of income such as farming are becoming less profitable. Increasing input costs and the high reliance on technology means that the costs of production have increased. Furthermore, internationalisation of trade has increased competition and this has also affected profit margins. In Europe, farming subsidies are being increasingly directed towards environmental objectives rather than food production. Related to these changes in the rural economy, and partly driven by them, is the change in the characteristics of the populations in rural areas. The changes in farming and other rural industries has reduced the opportunities for traditional employment. This has resulted in a movement of population away from rural areas into cities and other urban centres. This change has flow-on impacts in other markets - for example, housing, retailing and services.

What complicates the situation in Europe is an ageing population. It is estimated that by 2015 approximately 16% of the population will be over the age of 65 and that this will rise to 22% by 2030. This rate of increase is considerably higher than North America and Australia. Whereas a fertility rate of 2.1 per woman is considered to be the minimum necessary to sustain populations long term, the rate in Europe has fallen to 1.5. Improvements in and increased access to health services has increased life expectancy, which is now significantly higher in Europe than in North America and Australia. Furthermore, the opening of national borders within Europe has resulted in an east to west movement of people in search of better employment opportunities and living standards, leaving parts of eastern Europe with significantly older populations (Avramov and Maskova, 2003; Berlin Institute of Population and Development, 2008).

However, the ageing population need not be seen as a problem. Whilst recognising the real issues of poverty for some older people, the over 65s are generally more secure financially than in the past and their spending power has the potential to provide a significant boost to the rural economies through meeting their leisure, recreational and tourism needs. The current cohort of people entering the 65 plus age group are far more active than earlier generations. It has been suggested that there is likely to be an increase in demand for and participation in outdoor recreation amongst older people, with a greater number of people with time on their hands and money to spend. Furthermore, there is likely to be a demand for greater variety and diversity of activities for older people who are becoming less willing to be stereotyped on the basis of age (Henley Centre, 2005; SRF Consulting, 2008).

Some Key Concepts

Recreation

Recreation and leisure (and to a lesser extent sport) are used interchangeably in both common practice and the academic/professional literature. In the Europe, North America, and Australia leisure is typically an overarching term referring to the experiences of people in their free time; and recreation is considered one of the subsets of leisure. Recreation is planned and organised activities (this is distinct from sport which also involves a formal competition). In the United Kingdom the distinction between leisure recreations is not hierarchal. Leisure is associated with non-organised and self directed activities such as gardening or reading. Recreation is reserved for activities set in environments that have been established or maintained specifically for the activity (for example fitness centres, playgrounds, and walking paths). Although the differences in meaning are subtle, the implication for the project is that the wider academic and professional literature may at times use the broader term -leisure.

Tourism

A similar issue is the difference between recreation and tourism. The meeting of recreational needs and the provision of recreation services is often associated with tourism. This distinction is more a matter of perspective and academic discipline. For example, someone may walk in local forests for their recreation. From an economic perspective this might be considered local/domestic tourism. When they go walking in another country it becomes international tourism. Yet to that individual it is still just recreation. The tourism perspective will help the project focus on the supply side of rural recreation and the project will need to maintain this duality of perspective to be effective.

Rural

The location of recreational activity is a key element of this project. Rural recreation refers to recreation experiences that occur in non urban areas such as the countryside, farming localities, national and regional parks, forests and undeveloped coastline. Rural recreation usually involves some kind of interaction with the physical environment and local communities. There are also other terms that may overlap e.g. outdoor recreation.

Proposed working definition for this project:

Rural recreation & tourism involves the activities and experiences (both formal and informal) that individuals engage in during their free time in non-urban settings. These activities range through a wide spectrum covering, for example, walking and cycling in natural areas, visiting cultural and recreation facilities in rural areas, visiting farms and rural communities; and using the local hospitality, transport services, and infrastructure.

Older populations

As stated earlier, by 2015 16% of Europe's population will be over the age of 65 and increasing. This figure is considerably higher in some of the partner regions. The project will focus on this age group and those people entering this age group in the next 5 to 10 years.

Migration

Two forms of migration appear to be relevant to this project. The first group of migrants are those who move to a new location, settle, and establish themselves within that community, then retire in that locality. The recreation demands of this group would be identified in any rigorous research phase and would be typically labelled as an ethnic sub-group. The other type of migration that is of interest to the project is those people who retire and THEN MOVE to a new locality. The project will need to develop an effective strategy to identify the recreation demands associated with this group.

Project Structure & Activities

Preparation

The first step in the project will be the allocation of partners to various working groups, such as Project Administration & Management, Technical, Communications, Evaluation. Each of these groups will have roles that will span across the stages and across regions. For example, a technical group will need to determine consistent methods and criteria for data collection, to give the ability to make valid comparisons between regions.

Stage 1: Initial Data collection

The first stage in the project will be the collection of information about the supply and demand of rural recreation and tourism in each of the regions. Supply refers to direct providers of recreation, hospitality, retail and other services in the region, physical infrastructure (such as transportation), and the networks that have been established to support these activities (for example, a local business tourist forum or training courses). Demand involves examining the current participation by older populations (from both rural and urban locations) in rural recreation and tourism and exploring the attitudes surrounding future involvement. Throughout the process of data collection regions will be asked to identify examples of good practice and innovation that may be transferable into other regions.

Some generic themes to explore in this stage are:

latent and effective demand, motives, expectations, benefits, constraints and barriers to supply and demand, cultural differences in attitudes towards rural recreation, migration in retirement

At the same time, a group will examine the provision of rural recreation to older populations in non-European countries such as Canada, United States of America, and Australia. In addition to this, the group will undertake an extensive review of the literature concerning aging and rural recreation.

It may be necessary to develop models of aspects of the rural recreation and tourism economy to support and illustrate concepts and systems that can be tested in later stages of the project.

A key element of this stage will be to partner participating regions on a bilateral or multilateral basis to share best practice and innovative ideas.

Outputs - Stage 1

Comprehensive plan/map of the supply and demand of rural recreation and tourism in each region.

Regional case studies of good practice and innovation

International case studies of good practice and innovation

Analytical review and evaluation of the literature on rural recreation for older populations

Stage 2: Presentation and Analysis of Data Collection

The second stage will involve two aspects. Firstly, the presentation and sharing of the regional information collected in the first stage, a presentation on of the regional and international case studies, and the review of the literature. It is envisaged that this part will take the form of a conference where each region will present their findings to the wider partnership.

The second part will be an evaluation and analysis of the materials collected by each of the partner groups. This will take the form of a workshop where the group will;

a) select projects that have a reasonable chance of being completed and evaluated over the life of the project

b) identify larger scale projects that would become the focus of several feasibility studies, and

c) identify `gaps' or issues that will require further research.

The workshop will also plan the next stage in which these projects will be implemented.

Outputs - Stage 2

Multi-day conference for participating regions and organisations

Publication of conference proceedings (electronically and hard copy)

Workshop

Selection of innovative models of good practice

Detailed project plan for future stages

Stage 3: Project Trials

The aim of the third stage is:

a) to trial, in selected regions, the short term projects

b) undertake feasibility studies of the longer term projects, and

c) undertake research into the `gaps' / issues identified in Stage 2.

A key element of this stage will be to partner participating regions on a bilateral or multilateral basis to provide direct support during the trials of the pilot projects. In addition to the projects, a group will monitor and evaluate the way that the partnerships develop.

Outputs - Stage 3

Establishment of support partnerships

Pilot projects

Feasibility studies

Written report of the evaluation of each project

Written analysis of partnership processes

Stage 4: Dissemination II

Stage 4 will involve the dissemination of the results of the pilot projects and feasibility studies to the wider community. This will again be through two events: a workshop for the partner groups and a multi-day conference. The focus of the workshop will be to undertake an overall analysis of the projects and studies undertaken so far and to plan the conference. The conference will be open to the wider European /INTERREG community and specialists in rural development, tourism and recreation and older people.

Outputs - Stage 4

Multi-day Conference

Publication of conference proceedings (electronically and hard copy)

Stage 5: Project Evaluation & Report

Stage 5 comprises two aspects. First, the evaluation of the entire project followed by the production of the final report. Although the evaluation is mentioned in this last stage, it is essential that the evaluation aspects of the project are planned in advance as part of the preparation stage and integrated into all the stages from the beginning.

Outputs - Stage 5

Report for INTERREG programme

Recreation in Times of Demographic Change

Outline Summary