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REIS320 Visitor Management in Recreational and Protected Areas

Credits (ECTS):5

Course responsible:Øystein Aas

Campus / Online:Taught campus Ås

Teaching language:Norsk

Limits of class size:Max 35 students

Course frequency:Yearly.

Nominal workload:Lectures appr. 25 hours, 25 hours colloquim, 15 hours excursions, students’ own effort: Appr. 60 hours.

Teaching and exam period:Spring parallell.

About this course

The growth in nature-based tourism and recreation in nearby nature during the pandemic has increased the need for knowledge-based visitor management of natural areas. This course provides the students with an interdisciplinary basis to understand, map, monitor and manage recreational and protected areas subject to active use. This includes understanding human behaviour and experiences in nature, as well as human impacts on vegetation, soil and wildlife. The course then addresses how goal-directed management measures should aim to create valuable experiences for visitors, prevent and mitigate conflicts between recreation, tourism, local communities and biodiversity.

Learning outcome

Knowledge: The students can analyse and monitor human use of nature, their experiences, consequences of their activities, and how its volume and character affect social and environmental conditions in a natural area. The students shall learn how to use social scientific and ecological theories and data in designing effective management of visitors to avoid negative impacts and prevent overtourism.

Skills: The students know the main methods to map, monitor and report environmental and social conditions in a natural area used for recreation and tourism, including monitoring equipment and secondary data.

General competence: The students have acquired experience in a field where social and natural sciences are actively combined to identify local, sustainable management.

  • Learning activities
    Lectures, excursions, discussions, independent study.
  • Teaching support
    The candidate's learning can be supported through discussions in class and in groups, and through academic supervision during the teacher's office hours.
  • Prerequisites
    Completed bachelor degree.
  • Recommended prerequisites
    Previous courses at the BSc level in nature-based tourism, ecotourism, outdoor recreation, natural resource management or ecology.
  • Assessment method

    Portfolio assessment:

    1) Reflection note (e.g. in chronicle form) on a current topic for visitor management - individual submission (50%)

    2) Report from excursion/fieldwork - group submission (50%)

    Both parts of the portfolio must be passed to pass the course.



    Portfolio Grading: Letter grades
  • Examiner scheme
    External censor evaluates the portfolio.
  • Mandatory activity

    Students must attend the first lecture and 60% of the other lectures in the course. Attendance and participation in the field trip is compulsory in the course.

    It is mandatory to submit a report from one of the exercises in the subject. The report must be judged as passed. (The course offers four exercises in total).

  • Teaching hours
    40 hours.
  • Preferential right
    M-REIS students
  • Admission requirements
    Minimum requirements for entrance to higher education in Norway (generell studiekompetanse)