Currently, recreation is the most common use of protected areas and there are scarce data on the users and their opinion. The research was focused on visitors to the Blaník Protected Landscape Area (hereafter referred to as PLA), a well-known recreational area where data on visitors, important for PLA management, are missing. Therefore, the aim of the paper is find out: what kind of visitors comes to the study area; the type of forest trails and tourist facilities the visitors prefer. A questionnaire survey of forest visitors was used. Results show that the visitors mostly prefer maintained trails. According to forest visitors' opinion, the most convenient facility to place near the forest tourist trail is the nature trail panels. Furthermore, based on the acquired data, it was possible to create a visitor's profile which is important for respective research and other case studies in similar areas, and for managers of protected landscape areas to comply with both the visitors' needs and the needs of the protected area.

The development of the recreational use of forests demands a greater understanding of the profile, preferences and opinions of visitors to these forests. A questionnaire survey was hold in Cansiglio forest in northern Italy, which has become a very famous recreational area where many people come to spend their leisure time. The objective of this paper is to ascertain specifics about forest visitors, their preferences of forest structure and shape, and their other opinions, e.g. about regional problems with red deer. Results showed, among other, that almost ¼ of respondents were bikers, the rest were hikers, and the majority was from nearby cities and villages. Most of respondents go to forests from six to eleven times per year, more than ½ of them are satisfied with this frequency of forest visits. Knowing which type of forest visitors generally look for and what kind of activities they want to enjoy there is very important information and useful for management in research areas.

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