Visitor experience in high-use areas : a study of the hiker experiencescape at Ryten-Kvalvika, Lofoten

Today, urbanisation increases the wish for people to visit nature areas. People gain several personal benefits from the outdoor activities that e.g. nature-based tourism provides. Ryten Mountain and Kvalvika Beach (Ryten-Kvalvika) are two popular attractions for hikers, located side by side in the Lofoten archipelago (Northern Norway). On average, more than 50 000 people annually have visited either one or both these attractions the last years. The attractions are located within Lofotodden National Park, which obligates careful management of natural resources and conservation values as well as high-quality experiences. A visitor survey from the national park in 2019 revealed among other things that visitors were negatively affected by disturbance from other visitors and human waste. To better understand how visitors experience these hikes, this thesis aims to explore impacts on visitor experiences of the hikes to Ryten-Kvalvika. Using a qualitative approach, 20 semi-structured interviews were conducted on-site to explore what factors influenced the hike experiences. Informants with different ages, genders and origins were selected randomly. To synthesise and discuss the findings, an outcome-focused model (OFM) and an experiencescape model was used. Results showed that uncontrollable factors such as weather and views influenced many visitor experiences, both positively and negatively. Furthermore, the results indicated that visitor expectations were of high importance to visitor experiences. Knowledge on visitor experiences is important for optimal management of Norwegian national parks due to the increasing attention of social dimensions in the management strategies. Because this study only covers self-reported perceptions of the experiences, further research on other angles and aspects of the experiences are needed