Research, reports and publications on bushwalking – the history, the benefits and the issues

Bushwalking State of Play Report

This SportAus Ausplay Bushwalking State of Play Report has been designed to deliver a single sport snapshot, to help identify trends and opportunities to maximise participation and engagement.

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Key Take Outs

Overall Participation

  • The annual population estimate for Adults 15+ participating in Bush Walking was 1,174,049 (or 5.8% of the Adult 15+ population).
  • Adult participation was very gender balanced with 576,132 men (or 5.8% of the male population) and 597,918 women (or 5.9% of the female population) taking part in Bush Walking. This represents an almost equal (49%/51%) gender split in overall participation.
  • Bush Walking was most popular in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) (10.6% of the ACT Adult 15+ population participated in Bush Walking) and Tasmania (10.2%).
  • Interestingly, participation in Bush Walking was significantly higher in major cities (5.9%) and inner/outer regional areas (6.2%) compared to remote and very remote locations (3.9%).
  • Not surprisingly, only 11% of Bush Walking participation was organised.
  • Unlike recreational Walking, which showed peak participation rates at later stages of life (55+), peak participation rates for Bush Walking was at 25-34 years of age for women (7.8%). Men’s participation was similarly high at the same age (6.5%) but peaked at 55-64 years of age (7.7%).

Frequency & Duration

  • Adults 15+ who participated in Bush Walking had a median frequency of 12 sessions per annum (about once per month) and the median session duration was 180 minutes.

Motivations for Participation (Adults 15+)

  • The main motivations to participate in Bush Walking were ‘Fun/enjoyment’ (35%), ‘To be outdoors/to enjoy nature’ (34%) and ‘Physical health or fitness’ (32%).
  • ‘Social reasons’ were also a motivator by just less than one in five (18%) participants.
  • ‘To be outdoors/enjoy nature’ was clearly the dominant motive for younger participants.
  • ‘Fun/enjoyment’ is slightly more prevalent at middle age and
  • ‘Physical health/fitness’ becomes the primary motivation for older Bush Walkers aged 65+.

Reasons For Dropping Out of Participation

  • The dominant reason for dropping out of Bush Walking participation was ‘Poor health or injury’ (25%) but other notable reasons were ‘Don’t like it’ (16%) and ‘Not a priority anymore’ (14%).

Growth & Opportunities

  • Net growth market opportunity is average to low

16 Benefits of Hiking

The 16 reasons why you should go hiking today from  Cool of the Wild

It’s easy to dismiss hiking as something reserved for those who live in wild places, or for the super fit and adventurous. However, one of the greatest benefits of hiking is that it’s actually really accessible, inclusive and easy to do, regardless of your fitness levels. You don’t have to walk a million miles, you don’t need fancy gear, and you don’t even need to travel very far from home to do it.

As well as it being an excellent activity for those new to adventure in the outdoors, there are also loads of health benefits of hiking, both physical and mental. Plus, there are some social benefits of hiking, if you want them! Or you can enjoy the meditative effects of solo hiking, if you’d rather. Either way, there’s very little that is negative about embarking upon a hike, and you’ll almost always finish it feeling like a better human being than when you started.

The benefits of hiking

Source: Cool of the Wild

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