The management models of protected areas have sought to promote an integrated management of the various uses directed at conservation and maintenance of crucial environmental functions for their eco‑ systems and habitats. Among the most prominent trends, especially over the last few decades, tourism and leisure activities in protected and / or classified areas have placed “new” demands on these areas, especially for low‑carbon, low‑intensity activities such as nature and active tourism, where the tourists tend to be more environmentally‑friendly and aware. Considering that hiking trails and the practice of hiking are among the most popular and important activities in protected areas worldwide, the present research is aimed at identi‑ fying the typical profile of hikers visiting the PR1 GOI trail (Serra da Lousã, Portugal) and comparing it with the results obtained in other studies carried out within the framework of international scientific literature. The data obtained through a questionnaire survey applied by Cordeiro (2017) to hikers, allowed us to con‑ clude that the identified profile is in line with those described in other studies, with a homogeneous distribu‑ tion by gender, with ages between 18 and 35 and complete higher education, presenting contact with nature as the main reason for carrying out the trail, and carrying out the activity, predominantly, in groups. In sum‑ mary, the importance of knowing the profiles, practices and motivations of hikers is crucial for development agents (public and private) to adapt their strategies for action and planning of tourist activity accordingly.

Inside leisure activities and nature tourism, hiking is one of the main practices worldwide, enjoying great popularity and growing. Walking festivals are among the ways of enhancing walking trails, associated with numerous and relevant contributions, such as the animation of the local economic structure, territorial promotion and its ecocultural resources, reducing the effect of seasonality and increasing the interaction between tourists and residents. It is an innovative theme, still with little attention on the part of researchers, to which we dedicate this exploratory analysis with the objective of contextualizing in the theoric and conceptual plane the hiking and the walking festivals, through a literature review of the specialty, and to present the first results of a case study (Pampilhosa da Serra Walking Weekend), with a view to explaining the effects of this festival of walking tours (with four editions) in the territory, based on the collection of own, treatment and analysis of data of participants and other original elements, which allow to establish as main conclusions of the research the tourist dimension and the positive results of the event, as well its alignment with the development strategies and policies of tourism in Portugal.

The dynamics of territorial planning, the management of its tourism products, and the monitoring of demand flows and their impact on the territorial structure (social, economic and environmental) require tools that support the acquisition of reliable quantitative data, as far as possible in real time, that are easy to manage and allow immediate analysis. In the case of structures and equipment anchored in the nature tourism segment, in particular hiking trails, in addition to determining the demand indices in a network of hiking trails and understanding their territorial and temporal dynamics, the data collected through automatic counters is a crucial tool to support territorial management and evaluate the patterns and flows of tourist demand. Based on these assumptions, this research seeks to analyse demand data observed on eleven hiking trails in the Historic Villages of Portugal, collected through automatic monitoring systems (counters). In four years, between 2020 and 2023, the trails analysed generated a demand of almost 190,000 passages, which translates into an annual average of 47,500 passages in the tourism product “Historic Villages of Portugal” (more than 4800 passages for each trail), mostly in the spring and autumn months, mainly on weekends.

Uma das dimensões mais recentes do geocaching decorre da sua utilização como ferramenta de aprendizagem no domínio da biologia (com ligação ao conjunto das ciências da v ida e da terra), assumindo a designação de biocaching. Neste particular a vinculação estreita à vertente botânica (fitogeográfica) faz desta atividade uma ferramenta a considerar designadamente nas estratégias de salvaguarda e valorização do património natural biótico, além do seu potencial como atividade de lazer ao ar livre. À guisa de abordagem preliminar, pretende-se enfatizar o enquadramento teórico-conceptual subjacente a esta temática, com uma revisão de literatura científica adequada, bem como explicitar a sua vertente empírica (que inclui a apresentação das linhas gerais de um exemplo concreto de implementação em estreita articulação às árvores notáveis/de interesse público e domínios patrimoniais complementares). DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14195/0871-1623_34_11

Interpretation occupies an increasingly important place in the process of mediation between heritage and society with a view to sharing relevant information about the geographical context, the development of attitudes of appreciation towards heritage resources and the experience of unique tourist experiences in the territory. In the case of protected areas of Portugal, more than three dozen structures gravitate around the concept of interpretation center, with the purpose of welcoming visitors; provide information and knowledge about the characteristics of these areas; provide a wide range of activities, including environmental education, and be the starting point for the discovery and enjoyment of the territory. It is in this context that we situate the project “Lousã: Feel & Live Nature Tourism in Mountain” (prepared by the authors in mid-2019) with the purpose of explaining the relevance of interpretation to the tourist experience in the Serra da Lousã (Natura 2000 protected areas network).