Balancing conservation and visitation in protected areas.

Abstract

Many protected-area managers are encountering difficulties balancing the demands of conservation and visitors. An essential component for sound management planning is having objective data on appropriate use, visitor-use impacts and visitor needs. Visitor-impact management in protected areas poses several difficulties because systems of management and control are not equipped to predict or monitor often complex, subtle and cumulative impacts on biological diversity or cultural heritage in either the short or long term; and different stakeholders have diverse views on what constitutes appropriate use. Additionally, the environmental costs of tourism development are typically externalized by tourism operators and visitors wanting access to the resource, often placing unreasonable expectations on natural-resource management agencies that have very limited funding. The use of nature-based tourism as a mechanism to fund conservation is explored.