Generally speaking, it is not wise to put solid stain on
horizontal/walking surfaces.
It's film is softer than paint and will show a walking path within
months. Even dogs
toenails will wear a path in a short period of time.
On vertical surfaces solid stain over something like T-111 siding will
last for 15 or 20 years.
Semi-transparent stain will sink into the wood a little better and will
tend to fade more than "wear". You should be fine with multiple coats,
but do no more than two.
BTW, if solid stain "peels", it was definitely applied wrong.

I was under the impression that the second coat might not stick to the
first coat, and I might need to sand the first coat before I could
apply the second coat. I am glad to hear that this is not the case.

Great. This means I can apply several coats of the semi-transparent
stain next time when I stain the deck. I choose semi-transparent
stain _not_ for allowing the base color of the wood to show, I prefer
to use semi-transparent stain because I am under the impression that
semi-transparent stain tends to wear gradually, instead of peeling off
in large pieces like the solid paint may do. I am not sure if the
semi-transparent stain will still wear gradually if I apply multiple
coats instead of just one coat. Hopefully, this will be the case.

Jay Chan