Over a third of adults (37 per cent) surveyed hadn’t made a leisure trip in the last week, according to the England Leisure Visits Survey for 2005, with 40 per cent saying that they were too busy working or studying to go out. Poor health was cited as the second most common reason (22 per cent).
There were an estimated 3.6 billion leisure trips in England in 2005, down from 5.4 billion in 2002/03, although some of this reduction may have been caused by changes in survey methodology. Trip numbers were growing modestly in the early 1990s, but since 1998 there appears to be an underlying downward trend for all visits, including trips to the countryside.
'People are missing out on the wide range of benefits that the natural environment offers'
Dr Helen Phillips, Chief Executive of Natural England, said, “People are missing out on the wide range of benefits that the natural environment offers, particularly to their health and wellbeing. This is why we have launched our health campaign to encourage more people to enjoy the health benefits that the natural environment provides.”
Despite fewer visits overall, the value of trips is growing with people spending more money per outing. The average spend per trip is £25.09 with higher levels of spend in towns and cities and at seaside resorts. The estimated total value was £90 billion, with £9.4 billion of this in the countryside where the average spend per trip was £13.38.
Although fewer people are going out overall the ones who do are more likely to be walking than leisure shopping! 18 per cent said this was the main reason for their trip compared to 12 per cent in 2002/03. The other most popular activities were eating/drinking at 18 per cent, leisure shopping at 13 per cent and visiting friends/relatives at 11 per cent.
For the first time the 2005 survey measured trips to land mapped by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. The right to access this land was rolled out across England throughout the twelve-month survey period and during this time 21.2 million visits by people living in England were recorded.
The survey was commissioned by a consortium led by the Countryside Agency (now part of Natural England), and including Defra, the Forestry Commission, the Environment Agency and eight of the nine National Parks in England. The New Forest National Park was not in existence when the survey was commissioned.