The Factors and Relationships Influencing Forest Hiking Exercise Characteristics after COVID-19 Occurrence: At Seoul Metropolitan Area and in Hikers’ 20s and 30s

Bobae Lee, Poungsik Yeon and Seoncheol Park ()
Additional contact information
Bobae Lee: Department of Information Statistics, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 28644, Republic of Korea
Poungsik Yeon: Department of Forestry, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 28644, Republic of Korea
Seoncheol Park: Department of Information Statistics, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 28644, Republic of Korea

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 24, 1-13

Abstract: The growing interest and usage of green space during the pandemic relates to why greenery increases enjoyment of daily life and alleviates troubles arising from infectious periods. However, it is necessary to understand what reactions to the degree of COVID-19’s spread were expressed in hiking exercise characteristics (hiking frequency, actual movement distance, average speed, total exercise time). To understand the progress of forest usage behavior during the pandemic, we analyzed factors influencing hiking exercise characteristics and relationships between those factors and hiking exercise characteristics. Hiking record data were obtained (2019–2020) from the workout app “Tranggle” pertaining to hikers in their 20s and 30s who visited the 13 mountains in the Seoul Metropolitan Area most frequently. The differences in hiking exercise characteristics (2019 data subtracted from 2020) were linked with factor data that could be related to them, including the degree of COVID-19’s spread ( R t ). To explore relationships between hiking exercise characteristics and factors, we developed four models with a linear mixed model. We found that R t , week, weekdays/weekends, and PM 10 contributed to explaining the hiking exercise characteristics’ differences. As a result of this analysis, the degree of COVID-19’s spread ( R t ) affected hiking frequency; the week affected hiking frequency and actual movement distance; weekdays or weekends affected hiking frequency, actual movement distance, average speed, and total exercise time; and PM 10 affected hiking frequency. These findings indicate that hiking was an alternative way for those looking for a new strategy to replace lost opportunities for physical activity. Therefore, we conclude that it is necessary to induce the usage of green space so that many people can take advantage of the functions and benefits of greenery, which stood out during the pandemic era.

Keywords: COVID-19; urban mountains; exercise recorded data; hiking exercise characteristics; Millennials and Generation Z; linear mixed model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/24/16403/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/24/16403/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:24:p:16403-:d:996049

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().