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Abstract |
Parks Victorias Charter is to manage National, State and Metropolitan parks and waterways, recreational boating facilities, jetties and piers and other recreation, and tourist assets. This makes up approximately 18 percent of all land in Victoria, Australia, with more than 100 million visits to parks, bays and piers every year. In 2020, due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, visitor monitoring became increasingly important in park management and decision making to ensure health and safety protocols were enacted in park to prevent further community outbreaks. During the COVID-19 restriction periods, staff and visitor monitoring documented changes in visitor use and numbers in the park system. Understanding the wellbeing benefits of being in nature as has been documented in past research, Parks Victoria wanted to examine the physical, emotional and social wellbeing benefits of being in nature and how this had changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This presentation displays two key research areas to understand the changes to visitation and ways in which Victorians used parks and protected areas during the COVID-19 Pandemic: 1.Park based visitor monitoring2.Impact of COVID-19 on park usage applied research project. |
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