Tourism and protected areasAdvantages and disadvantages of

tourism in parks

Workshop on Transboundary Protected Areas12. – 13. September 2011

ALBANIA

MARTIN ŠOLAR

To whom belong the protected area? To a man?

- A protected area belongs to the nature.

- The man is here only a guest.

- Man has to behave accordingly to the rules of nature and respect them.

Basis for protected area is unique nature and cultural landscape.

The basis for quality tourism and exploring the environment is also an unspoilt nature.

Nature protection (protected areas) and tourism have common source….

What is a national park?The IUCN definition defines the national park as protected area intended for nature protection and recreation activities. Similar is for the protected lanscapes - nature parks.

Some facts about tourism in the parks:

- tourism in most of the parks already exists for decades.

- Park’s tourism is increasing.

- In many cases it means an important source for the local economy.

- The public see the protected areas as a public goods or national value and they have filling that parks belong to them.

- The park staff (nature conservationists) see the tourism as a threat.

- Tourism sector see the parks as a value for tourism development but in many cases they disagree with limitations for tourist activities.

- Importance and role of tourism and recreation are not unified in the system of protected area’s objectives.

- But they are certainly among important aims of the protected areas - in some almost the main...

A brief overview about the role and also legislation background about tourism in the parks.

For the enjoyment and benefits for the people.

Yellowstone - 1872

- Austria: aim of the park is to ensure nature exploring in the parks.

- Germany - NP Bavarian forest: beside nature protection aim is to offer visitors possibilities for recreation.

All important protected area’s networks take tourism in important account by setting parks main objectives:

IUCN Parks for Life programme: parks should be open for visitors, tourism must be connected with environmental education.

- Europarc’s Charter for sustainable tourism

- criteria for European Diploma

- new networks as PAN Parks

We have the clear answer – nature protection and tourism are compatible if we manage the tourism in the parks on the proper way.

HOW?

-The importance and role of tourism in parks depend on the type of protected area and its protection and management goals.

- In general – the tourism in protected areas is tolerated to the extent which does not exceed the primary nature protection purpose in the park.

- Ecotourism (sustainable, green, soft…) should be the suitable form of the tourism in the parks.

- In parks we should discussed about impact of tourism.

Tourism in parks has advantages and disadvantages for:

- protected area,

- local people and society,

- tourism sector.

Advantages for protected area and nature itself:

- through different programmes staff, visitors and locals gain higher consciousness, raise awareness and get better knowledge of importance of the parks.

Advantages for protected area and nature itself:

- through the contacts to visitors the efforts of a protected area management become public,

- improved conservation because tourism sector see the unspoilt environment as its basic source.

Advantages for protected area and nature itself:

- political support which can help to attract funding and support the designation of new parks,

- additional finance from the tourist sector and tourists.

Advantages for the local people and society:

- economic benefits for the local community (tourism create new jobs, common income in the region is higher),

- using tourist development of the region to raise living quality.

Information centre – providing jobs for locals.

Advantages for the local people and society:

- improvement of the local infrastructure,

- improved physical and psychological health of people,

- promotion of harmony between people from different areas.

Advantages for the tourism sector:

- support for business and employment,

- development of new, high quality, environmentally-sound products,

- improvement of company image.

Disadvantages for protected area and nature itself:

- environmental damages (direct and indirect) as erosion, wildlife disturbance, garbage and traffic problems…

- high pressure on the last remnants of unspoilt nature.

Disadvantages for protected area and nature itself:

- visitor pressure,

- pollution,

- managing tourism consumes resources and diverts attention from other park management objectives.

Disadvantages for protected area and nature itself:

- lower investments in the nature (investment in park’s tourist infrastructure causes less money for nature conservation actions),

- using nature as marketing tool can lead to the feeling that nature can be bought.

Disadvantages for local people:

- disturbance of their traditional life and changing in social structure (special jobs for tourism…)

- higher costs

- missing financial support for the locals and park administration.

Disadvantages for local people:

- tourism might lead to elitism.

(to avoid “mass tourism” infrastructure for a small number of wealthy visitors is developed - local people do not realise their own area as their own natural heritage anymore)

Disadvantages for the tourism:

- sustainable tourism might be an indication for mass tourism (after sustainable development appetites of the involved easily grow - tourism development can destroy its own basis.

Disadvantages for the tourism:

- changes in the market and in the tourist offer through fashion trends (new activities or new destinations become popular over night and tourist stream can not be controlled).

Thank you for your attention!