2021-03-09 P&E Agenda - Item 5 - Attachment 1 - Noosa Trail Masterplan

7 Overview: Participation and Demand
Research has shown that participation in physical recreation in Australia has undergone a
shift in focus with organised team sports static or declining while participation in nature-
based pursuits and activities – both recreational and competitive – has risen.




                          ‘The Future of Australian Sport: Megatrends’8 states                  While community participation in trail-based
                          that the popularity of individual fitness and recreation              activities is well established in the project area –
                          activities is increasing, lending support to the                      and indicative measures such as an increase in
                          development of facilities which enable increasingly                   event participation confirm growth in trail-based
                          popular alternative active pursuits, such as trail-                   activities – formal data on specific use is limited
                          based sports, in order to encourage healthy and                       to information collected by the user survey as part
                          active lifestyles.                                                    of the Masterplan consultation process.

                          Trail-based pursuits such as mountain biking and                      The same can be said for trail-based tourism in
                          trail running have witnessed phenomenal growth in                     the region – anecdotally, visitors are known to use
                          the past decade, driven by a broad move towards                       existing trail facilities but there is little specific data
                          activities that better suit busy lifestyles – pursuits that           available. While participation statistics are limited
                          can be undertaken at any time, with companions or                     for the project area, information on general visitor
                          solo, competitively or non-competitively.                             numbers, demographics and expenditure has been
                                                                                                drawn from a number of sources to ascertain current
                                                                                                participation levels and predict expected demand
                                                                                                in the future.


                          8 www.clearinghouseforsport.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/564072/The_Future_of_Australian_Sport_-Summary_Report.pdf




NOOSA TRAIL MASTERPLAN | APRIL 2020                                                                                                                     27