engleski

Protected Area Tourism

Protected areas (PA) are clearly defined geographical spaces that are dedicated to achieving the long-term conservation of nature - with its associated ecosystem services and cultural values - and are managed, through legal or other effective means to do so (Sandwith et al. 2016). They encompass a wide variety of natural and semi-natural environments, described and categorised in the IUCNˋs Protected Area Categories System (Dudley, 2010). Although the intrinsic value of PAs remains the fundamental reason for their protection and management, their support to local and national economies through tourism gains more weight and acceptance in recent years. Today, tourism (nature-based, ecotourism, wildlife) is recognised as the most extensive use of the PAs. In contrast, the growing demand for nature-based tourism and the development of associated businesses has initiated the transformation of many PAs into tourism destinations (Mandić, 2020). PA systems are experiencing a deepening crisis associated with, among other, population growth, increasing consumption, climate change, tourism revenue dependency, and growth in demand for rural outdoor and nature-based recreation from increasingly urbanised societies (Weaver & Lawton, 2017). Pronounced anthropocentric tendencies suggest that effective governance, problem-solving leadership, cooperation with the tourism industry and empowerment of communities are needed to balance the complex interrelations within these ecosystems.

Protected areas ; sustainable tourism

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