Preferowany typ drzewostanu i czynniki decydujące o atrakcyjności turystycznej drzewostanu w opinii społecznej

The objective of the paper is to analyse the social preferences to the type of the forest stand and factors deciding about the tourist attractiveness of the forest. Data was collected during the nationwide surveys carried out in 2013 on the random representative sample of 1000 respondents above 18 years of age. The surveyed persons do not indicate strong preferences for deciduous or coniferous forest stands. The analysis of preferences for different types of forest stands with regard to respondents' sex did not confirm the importance of differences. Instead they suggest that respondents of different age tend to change their preferences with time – from broadleaved forest (the youngest respondents) to coniferous forest. Respondents in poor financial standing choose deciduous forest and mixed broadleaved forest, and people in good and very good financial standing – a coniferous forest stand, or rather a mixed one. What makes a forest stand attractive is mostly the forest's appearance and the nature along with the abundance of species, and the least, the presence of water or culture and historic sites. The older the respondents are, the more they appreciate silence and relaxation far from other people, as well as nature along with its abundance of fruits and fungi to be collected, while the least important is the diversity of land. Respondents with higher education (university degree) indicate the availability of land and the presence of waters as the most important features which decide of the attractiveness of forest, whereas people with the lowest education level – nature along with its abundance of species and the forest appearance. Respondents, who are in the best financial situation declare the appearance and the presence of lakes and rivers (features related to leisure), to be the most important factors which decide about tourist attractiveness of forest, and people in poor and very poor financial situation indicated: nature along with the abundance of species, availability of forest, places related to culture and religion, nature reserves, and tourist infrastructure.