Effects of Covid-19 on tourist's behavior and number in mountain national park: The case of the Stołowe Mts. National Park, Poland

The paper aims to present a comparison of visitor behaviors and visitor spatial and temporal distribution in a mountain national park between the pre-Covid-19 period (2017-2019) and Covid-19 pandemic year (2020). The research is based on pyroelectric sensor data from 2017-2020 and a survey of visitors designed to assess the spatial and temporal distribution of visitors and their behaviors and changes therein. The research data were used to identify two visitor clusters: Impact of Covid-19 (IC) and No-Impact of Covid-19 (N-IC). The research was conducted in Stołowe Mountains National Park (SMNP) in Poland using data from Monitoring System of tourist traffic (MSTT). A total of 374 respondents participated in the survey in 2020 period, which demonstrated a significant impact of the ongoing pandemic on many aspects of their behavior. These results were compared with the results obtained from 2, 642 surveys carried out in 2017-2019. The findings are compared to findings reported by other authors. Some visitors did claim that the pandemic has not affected their behavior in any way.