Since 2014, TrailWatch has provided a platform for users to share their hiking experience and track trail damages, and has since accumulated over 200,000 users. We reached out to our users this April and May through our social media and e-newsletter to invite them to fill out an anonymous survey, in order to learn more about each user, and better understand users’ hiking habits and the issues regarding country parks and trails they are concerned about.

With everyone’s enthusiastic response, we received a total of 332 replies. The vast majority of respondents regularly visit country parks, with over a quarter (26.2%) visiting country parks several times per month and more than one-fifth (21.4%) visiting weekly. 8.1% of respondents even visit country parks several times per week.

As for the activities they do in country parks, respondents primarily visit country parks for hiking (95.8%). Additionally, they engage in photography (30.1%), wildlife observation (such as birdwatching, 18.1%), and trail running (14.5%). This shows that country parks can satisfy the diverse activity needs of different users.

For these country park users, the conservation function of country parks is most important. Around 83% of respondents consider nature conservation and protection of wildlife to be an “important” or “very important” function of country parks. 77% of respondents believe that conserving historically and culturally significant sites is an “important” or “very important” function. Following this, over 60% of respondents consider the educational function of country parks to be “important” or “very important”. Finally, approximately 45% and 36% of respondents regard the recreational and tourism functions as “important” or “very important” respectively.

Recently, there have been heated discussions about issues related to country parks. Among the survey respondents, the most concerning issue was waste on trails (70.8%), followed by the concretization of trails (56.9%) and the carrying capacity of trails (56.0%). The lack of trail facilities and insufficient promotion of country parks and trails were not major concerns among respondents, with only 18.7% and 4.5% of respondents selecting these issues respectively.

Like our readers, the conservation of country parks has always been a key issue of concern for us. While this survey’s respondents do not represent the entire general public of Hong Kong, the vast majority of respondents are frequent and regular visitors to country parks for hiking and other activities. Their rich experiences in country parks likely give them deeper insights into related issues, making their perspectives valuable for consideration.