Recreation in the area of river Ardas : the views of elementary school pupils
Part of : Tourismos : an international multidiciplinary journal of tourism ; Vol.5, No.2, 2010, pages 99-114
Issue:
Pages:
99-114
Section Title:
Research papers
Abstract:
River Ardas in Greece is an area of outstanding natural beauty and used as arecreation area. Each year the area is visited by people of all ages. Children visitthe place either with their school or with their parents. It is important to studytheir views about the river as a recreation area. The children asked were pupils ofthe elementary schools of the region. All of these children had visited the areabefore. The majority of the children declare satisfied from their visit in the areaand assess the landscape positively. However, most of them have a less positiveview about the provided recreation services. Through the use of hierarchicalloglinear analysis it becomes clear that pupils who declare from totally to verysatisfied regarding their visit in the recreation area of Ardas also find that theprovided recreation services range from very good to good. The same pupils alsobelieve that that the river constitutes from very small to fair danger to their safetyand visit the place more than five times a year. In addition, the pupils who visitthe area more than five times a year think that the river constitutes from verysmall to fair danger to their safety. Most of the pupils think that the diversity ofplants ranges from big to very big while the diversity of animals ranges fromsmall to very small. There is a need for improved infrastructure in the area, e.g.observatories, so that pupils can discover the wild animals that live there. Thelove of the children for animals becomes obvious from the fact that they do notwish the prohibition of pets in the place. Most of the pupils like the idea ofcamping in the area with their parents but the idea of doing so with their fellowpupils is even more popular. The children think that their parents would find iteasier to grant permission to them to camp in the area if they themselvesaccompanied their children and not if their children did so together with their fellow pupils. Through the test of independence it becomes obvious that the will of the children to camp in the area depends on the will of their parents.
Subject:
Subject (LC):
Keywords:
river Ardas, recreation, elementary school pupils
Notes:
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