earticle

영어

This study was conducted to grasp users’ preferences and behavior of forest paths and to provide basic data for forest path construction in the future. Among forest path users, males and females over 20 years old were surveyed on forest path preferences, motives for visiting, using time and distance, companions, and sources for obtaining information on forest paths. A total of 587 people participated in the questionnaire, and cross-analysis was conducted simultaneously using the SPSS statistical program. In analyzing the preference of forest paths, it was found that male and the general public preferred trekking path for activities while female and foresters preferred forest path for relaxation and healing (p＜0.05). As for the motives for visiting forest paths, the response that they visited for a walk/rest was the highest in gender, occupation, and age group. As for the number of annual visits, less than 5 was the highest in overall, and foresters tended to visit forest path more often than the general public, and the number of visits to the forest paths increased with age (p＜0.01). The most common route to acquire information about forest paths is the Internet, while the Internet use is relatively low in those over 60s (p＜0.05). The response ratio of accompanying their family in visiting forest paths were the highest, while the response in their 20s and 60s was the most in accompanying their friends (p＜0.05).