Hiking habits and tourist flow patterns in the Bakony Mountains – in favour of sustainable forest tourism management

Despite the fact that forest tourism is becoming more and more popular every year, we still know little about the real participant numbers, apart from local estimates. However, 30-31 million visitor days were estimated in the forests managed by Pilisi Parkerdő Ltd. in 2020. (Pilisi Parkerdő Ltd., 2020), but temporal and spatial distribution is missing. We conducted our research based on live visitor counts in Bakony Mountains with the aim of collecting data for the forest tourism service providers. With the results, it becomes possible for the service provider to determine development directions that meet the needs, as well as to introduce sustainable visitor management in the future. On the demand (visitor) side, targeted and demand-oriented developments increase the experience factor of the time spent in the forest. On the supply (service provider) side, knowing the motivations makes the performance of public welfare tasks more efficient, which directly contributes to improving the sector’s image. JEL-codes: L23, Q23, Z32