The Australian Sports Commission recently released its latest AusPlay survey results for July 2023 to June 2024. These are based on new survey methodology, including a shift from phone to online sampling, plus a doubled sampling rate. The results are strongly positive for bushwalking. The previous surveys have evidently substantially underestimated participation in bushwalking, both nationally and within Western Australia.
HikeWest’s analysis of the data indicates the following:
High bushwalking ranking: Nationally and in WA, Bushwalking is the third most popular activity out of 142 sport and non-sport activities in terms of adult participation, ranking only behind Walking (first place) and fitness (second place). Read More
Strong participation in WA: 423,100 (18%, or 1 in 5.5) of the adult population participated in bushwalking during 2023-2024, up from 211,000 in 2022–23, representing an apparent giant 100% increase in participation. Read More
Sustained growth nationally: 3.7 million Australian adults participated in bushwalking during 2023–24, compared with 2.2 million during 2022-23. This represents an apparent 68% increase across Australia and brings the national participation rate to 17%.
Participation by age: Participation by age in bushwalking in WA has remained consistent (within 1%) of the previous survey:
| Age | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 15–34 | 36% |
| 35–64 | 54% |
| 65+ | 10% |
Gender participation: This latest survey indicates a continuing gender imbalance in bushwalking participation in WA of 56% female:44% male. Although significant, this is less pronounced than the anomalous 67% female:33% male ratio from the previous survey, and is close to the national ratio of 54% Female:46% Male. Read More
Organised Bushwalking: The survey data indicate that a total of only 11% (46,500) of adults participating in bushwalking in WA do so as part of organised groups – including activities led by clubs, gyms, commercial groups, educational institutes and coaches. ‘Participation expenditure’ data from the previous survey also suggested that 93.2% of bushwalking participants participated in activities payment-free.
Longer-term increase in participation: Over the past 9 years, since a low in 2015, participation in bushwalking nationally has more than quadrupled, rising from 4% to 17%. The greatest rate of increases have occurred during 2020–22 and 2023-2024. The earlier increase reflected an increased interest in nature-based outdoor activities in the midst of COVID-19 restrictions. Post-COVID that trend is evidently accelerating.
Barriers to participation: Non-participants rank “poor health/injury” and “increasing age/too old” as the two main reasons for not participating in any physical activity. Walking and bushwalking are accessible activities for people of all fitness levels and ages, even those who are ageing.
Non-sports versus sports activities: In WA 33.2% of adults participated in non-sport related physical activities only, compared to 15.4% in sport-related activities only. 36.4% participated in both.
Survey margins of error: The AusPlay margins of error for the latest survey are ~2.5% (~80,000 +/-) for the national participation estimates and ~7% (~25,000 +/-) for the state estimates given above.
Reference: AusPlay National and State results released 31 October 2024.
(Posted 4 November 2024.)
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