Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas: Guidelines for Planning and Management

The main purpose of these Guidelines is to assist protected area managers and other stakeholders in the planning and management of protected areas, visitor recreation and the tourism industry, so that tourism can develop in a sustainable fashion, while respecting local conditions and local communities. A key message is the importance of managing resources and visitors today, so that tomorrow’s visitors can also experience quality sites, and the conservation values that these places represent. The Guidelines also have a number of more detailed objectives: to discuss the role of visitor management, including techniques that control and limit impacts of use, while allowing maximum enjoyment of as many visitors as can be accommodated within the limits set by environmental and social conditions; to outline approaches to the planning and development of tourism infrastructure and services in protected areas; to provide guidance on the definition, measurement, management and use of park tourism data; to outline ways of enhancing the quality of the tourism experience; to describe positive examples, through a variety of case studies, of how tourism can effectively contribute to the conservation of natural and cultural diversity; and to give positive examples, again through the use of case studies, of how tourism can contribute to the development of local communities.