From national recreation statistics and mobile data to local estimates of recreational activity in Finland

The concept of multi-local living is a current and growing phenomenon in Nordic countries and elsewhere. However, the changes that multi-local causes in the temporal recreational activity of areas have remained unknown because official population statistics are not capable of detecting the temporal mobility of the population and thus the changes in the recreational activity of areas. The aim of this article is to estimate local recreational activity in Finland using new databases and to study the changes in local recreational activity caused by multi-local living. The results reveal that multi-local living remarkably changes recreational activities during the year and highlights the need to identify spatio-temporal changes at local and regional levels. Mobile phone data seems to be valuable for the regional targeting and prioritisation of recreational activities because it can identify the changing temporal roles of the regions.