Florida's warm climate and its natural physical features are the reasons for the great popularity of outdoor recreation throughout the state. The coast is the state's most popular physical feature and both residents and tourists enjoy the beach for relaxing, swimming and saltwater fishing. Many Florida homes also have swimming pools, as do most hotels and motels. Public pools operated by local governments are also numerous. Despite many lakes, particularly in the center of the state, freshwater beach activities and fishing rank rather low on the list of recreational choices of residents as well as tourists.
The state's numerous archaeological and historical sites draw many people, both residents and visitors. Golf ranks very high on the list of recreational activities among tourists, although it is not in the top ten among residents. For the past two decades, at least, bicycling has been very popular among the state's residents, and since 1980 it has grown rapidly in popularity among tourists as well.
The relationship between population and public recreational acreage is not always in balance. The lightly populated panhandle has a far higher share of the publicly owned outdoor recreational land than its share of the state's population. The reverse is true in the center of the state, which has a relatively small percentage of publicly owned recreational land, but a high percentage of its population. In south Florida the two are in far better balance.
