Leisure Landscapes

While invaluable for providing managers and policy makers with tourism knowledge, these studies do not provide
information on the values and uses that the suppliers of tourism services associate with woodlands, the
opportunities and constraints of woodland management for tourism, and the potential for the development of
relations between land managers and tourism providers. An understanding of such connections is, however,
fundamental if a holistic and balanced approach to the development of woodlands for tourism is to be achieved
and their potential maximised.
The importance of understanding these relationships was pinpointed during the outbreak of Foot and Mouth
Disease in 2001, when a lack of knowledge about how woodlands are utilised by tourism service providers
resulted in management decisions being taken that showed an inadequate understanding of the impacts of
countryside ‘closures’ on the tourism industry (Williams and Ferguson, 2002). As a result of the outbreak, it was
clear that the values of woodlands for tourism are greater and more diverse than previously recognised. The
importance of understanding and accounting for the role of woodland in the tourism economy when developing
management policies and practices was emphasised. The Leisure Landscapes research project was established to
develop our understanding of this role and how it might evolve to deliver benefits to tourism providers and
woodland managers.
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Leisure landscapes: exploring the role of forestry in tourism