Hikers’ Motives for Choosing a Hiking Trail - Evidence from the Czech Landscape Protected Areas

Abstract

The article aims to extent the previous studies dealing with hiking and hikers´characteristics hikers´characteristics by focusing on hikers´motiveshikers´motives for coming to nature based recreation areas and their motives for choosing a hiking trail. The special attention is paid on tourists coming for sportive motives. To estimate the odds by which the hikers choose a hiking trail, logistic regression is applied, and seven logit models are developed. The dependent variables in estimated models are, besides the motives for choosing hiking trail, also gender, age and education. Data for estimated model were gathered through respondents´surveys respondents´surveys in protected landscape areas in the Czech Republic. Results show that hikers choose a trail mainly according to the surrounding landscape appearance. The research also proved that sportive reasons are more likely to choose a hiking trail according to the length of the trail and the position of start/finish than hikers coming for nature. The hikers profile fits the hikers´profileshikers´profiles found in other empirical studies.