The effect of investments in recreational trail development on trail-related business operations and profitability: a case study of Northern Ireland

In nature-based tourism (NBT), recreational trails may play an important role for sustainable recreation and local communities’ development. Therefore, development of the trail-related tourism sector is essential, in particular through successful trail-related business operations. However, trail-related businesses as one of the key stakeholders have been neglected in decision-making processes. Therefore, this research note studied trail-related business perceptions of environmental and recreational amenities and estimated projected effects of investments in trail-related recreation on business operations and profitability. Businesses see natural and recreational landscapes as being the most important. Branding and marketing was viewed as the highest priority attribute of trail investments. The feedback from business was shown to be essential for local economic development since it ensures maximized efficiency of investments. Implications were suggested for enhanced sustainable trail destination development and management.