Walking the talk: collecting data in situ on walking tourists

This case study is useful for students and researcher conducting research on visitors to outdoor tourism locations, rural spaces and places where active leisure are undertaken. It also provides insights into the difficulties on collecting data on mobile respondents in a large area effectively. The case study focuses on research on recreational walkers in a popular tourism location, the English Lake District. The aim of the research was to segment recreational walkers to understand differences in their motivations, characteristics, and route-choices in order to provide insights to practitioners involved in managing and marketing destinations in rural settings.

The case study details the considerations I encountered when planning and designing the research, how to select a data collection strategy to achieve optimal results and importantly, how over the course of a survey, I reflected on my experience in order to modify and adapt my approach. These lessons helped me to obtain a diverse sample required to segment walking tourists, and can provide suggestions to researchers aiming to understand more about visitor choices and behavior.