Contribution to an anthology
Year of publication: 2021
Authors:Eilzer, Christian, Eisenstein, Bernd, Harms, Tim
01.01.2019-31.12.2019
In 2019, the institute conducted its first-ever study on the travel habits of Germans. The survey is representative of German-speaking Internet users aged 16 to 75 who live in private households. The survey was conducted by the market research institute Ipsos as part of an online multi-topic survey (i:omnibus:). Among other things, the following aspects were examined in 2019:
A detailed analysis of the study can be found in the results report, which is available for download. Here are some key findings from the study:
Among the respondents, 22.2% hike very often, another 23.8% hike often, and 34.3% hike sometimes. Only 19.8% of respondents never hike. This means that 80.2% of respondents are hikers who hike at least occasionally.
When it comes to hiking and walking, it appears that hikers distinguish between walking and hiking primarily in terms of location, duration, distance, pace, and difficulty/exertion.
Among hiking motivations, “experiencing nature” received the highest rating from hikers at 81.4% (Top-2 box on a scale from 1 = “very unimportant” to 5 = “very important”) was rated highest in importance by hikers, followed by “getting some exercise, being active” (76.8%), “clearing one’s head” (73.7%), and “doing something for one’s health” (72.2%).
The coast and the low mountain ranges are the most popular hiking destinations: 41.2% of hikers prefer to hike along the coast (based on the top value), followed by low mountain ranges (29.1%), flatlands (24.2%), and high mountains (16.6%).
To find their way, hikers most often rely on trail signage (54.7%), while only 7.3% of hikers hike without any aids or simply by instinct. In addition, smartphones/cell phones (38.9%), regional hiking maps (36.3%), route descriptions from hiking guides (36.2%), and overview maps along the trail (35.9%) are used relatively frequently.
For 75.8% of hikers, it is very important or important (Top-2-Box) to find appropriate route signage along the trail. Other infrastructure elements that many hikers rate as important or very important include scenic overlooks (66.8%) and a well-maintained trail (64.8%). However, restaurants and places to stop for refreshments (48.3%) as well as mountain huts (46.8%) are also rated as important or very important by nearly half of all hikers.