Visitors' Landscape Preferences as a Tool for Management of Recreational Use in Natural Areas: A case study in Sierra de Guadarrama (Madrid, Spain)

Abstract

The Sierra de Guadarrama is a valuable natural area, with ecological problems of degradation due to the high number of visitors from nearby Madrid. Visitors' landscape perception of the Sierra de Guadarrama is influenced by the activities they practise and, in the same way, their attitudes and expectations are not independent of the fact of practising one or another activity. Differences and conflicts between users are highlighted, and some recommendations for a better recreational use of the landscape are suggested.