Tourism and protected areas: Comparing the 2003 and 2014 IUCN World Parks Congress

Abstract

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature World Parks Congress is held once a decade, and brings together thousands of the world’s experts on protected areas. In 2014, the Sydney World Parks Congress and the parallel event, Global Eco, provided a platform for 125 presentations relating to tourism and visitation. This paper presents a synthesis of the body of work shared at Sydney, including some of the cutting-edge issues, best practices, and inspiring initiatives relating to sustainable tourism. In particular, it compares issues that were highlighted at the 2003 World Parks Congress, and how they have evolved and progressed over the past decade. The paper highlights the role of different stakeholders from different corners of the world in promoting sustainable tourism practices. It also considers the relevance of tourism to the themes of the World Parks Congress, and how the sector is reflected within the official records of the 2003 and 2014 World Parks Congress. Looking forward to the next 10 years, the paper reflects on specific challenges, gaps in knowledge, and areas for further research and outreach.

Keywords

International Union for the Conservation of Nature World Parks Congress Tourism and Protected Areas Specialist Group tourism protected areas national parks

Introduction

The World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) is the world’s premier network of protected area expertise. The WCPA falls under the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Global Program on Protected Areas, and has over 1700 members spanning 140 countries (IUCN, 2014i). The Tourism and Protected Areas Specialist Group (TAPAS Group) is one of several voluntary groups convened within the WCPA. The group’s mission is to provide a forum where members collaborate, stimulate dialogue, share expertise, develop and disseminate knowledge, and enhance learning, in order to enable the planning, development, and management of sustainable tourism in Protected Areas (PAs) (Spenceley et al., 2015).

The VIth World Parks Congress (WPC) was held in Sydney Australia from 12 to 19 November 2014. The event is organized by the IUCN once a decade bringing together protected area managers, scientists, activists, conservation nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the private sector, and community development specialists in an eight-day conference on the opportunities, challenges, and needs of protected areas as a key strategic approach to global biodiversity conservation, both terrestrial and marine. Approximately 6000 delegates participated in sessions, renewed and established new networks and friendships, and strengthened their commitment to protected areas (Spenceley, 2015). The sessions within the 2014 WPC were organized into eight streams, which related to broad objectives such as “reconciling development challenges” and “reaching conservation goals” (see Table 1). As such there was no specific stream relating to tourism and visitor management (similarly to the 2003 WPC: see Staiff and Bushell, 2004).

Table 1.

Streams from the 2014 World Parks Congress.

Stream	Stream overview²
Reconciling development challenges	Focus on intersections between protected areas, and the many development goals and challenges facing national governments Guidance and examples of how protected areas can be designed, managed, assessed and utilized to achieve conservation goals (e.g., Aichi Biodiversity Targets) and development plans Consider how governments and businesses integrate protected areas and conservation into development policy, planning and programs to ensure that wise trade-offs are made among decisions and business practices
Reaching conservation goals	Focus on well-planned and managed protected area systems Profiles of people, places and organizations leading the way to conservation success, illustrating leadership, creative thinking, and optimism Guidance on how Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 (i.e., conserving at least 17% of terrestrial and inland water and 10% of coastal and marine areas) could be achieved, and reporting on progress made New standards for an effective and equitable protected area system proposed. Asking what should the ultimate conservation targets look like?
Respecting indigenous and traditional knowledge and culture	Focus on the role of traditional and indigenous knowledge and practices, cultural and spiritual values, in socioenvironmental resilience of Indigenous Peoples and local communities Stakeholder collaboration in recognizing the role of indigenous and local communities in protected area management Build long-term partnerships to demonstrate how these management systems contribute to the achievement of conservation goals, and the well-being of communities
Supporting human life	Focus on the socioeconomic benefits of protected areas for sustainable human development, including food security, water management, and disaster risk reduction Sharing innovative approaches, participatory management schemes, and ecosystem-based approaches to avoiding or mitigating risk Examine successes and challenges in maintaining societal resilience
Enhancing diversity and quality of governance	Governance is about “who makes decisions” and “how decisions are made” Sound governance is where decisions are taken legitimately, fairly, with a sense of vision, accountability, and while respecting rights A diverse protected area system encompasses a range of governance types such as shared governance, governance by Indigenous People and local communities, by private entities, and by national and regional governments
Improving health and well-being	Protected areas can conserve healthy ecosystems and improve our health and well-being Exploration of the diverse health benefits provided by protected areas, including medicines, disease regulation, livelihood support, mental and spiritual well-being, and settings for physical activity
Inspiring a new generation	Focus on new generation’s opportunities to experience, connect with, be inspired by, value, and conserve nature Share their experiences, perspectives, knowledge, skills, technologies, and ideas in innovative and creative ways, to ensure the ongoing stewardship of nature Support a shared vision to connect a new generation to nature and ensure new leadership and engagement of young people
Responding to climate change	Demonstrating how natural solutions help ecosystems and people respond to climate change Exploring new knowledge and tools for mitigation, adaptation and decision making, establishing best practices for their application, and developing and sharing effective climate change communication techniques Foster new coalitions that emphasize the key role of protected areas in climate change communication and responses at the international, national, and local levels

Early in the planning process for the 2014 WPC, agencies and consortiums applied to IUCN to act as coordinators of specific streams. They were then tasked with designing a program that reflected the theme, and engaging with experts to present relevant material. A formal process whereby delegates could submit their ideas for papers to the IUCN and Stream leaders was made available online, where proponents suggested a title and abstract for their presentation. Among the hundreds of tourism papers proposed, some were integrated into the core streams event sessions, and others became e-posters. As e-presentations, speakers were allocated a 5-min period in which to present their paper on a platform above the main exhibition hall. An informal application process also took place, which comprised of speakers and organizations lobbying directly with stream leaders for space within the agenda; with institutions that had been allocated session slots; and also with exhibitors who had space for presentations in exhibition hall booths. For example, the IUCN’s nature-based solutions and IUCN business and biodiversity pavilions allocated entire sessions to tourism and visitation topics.

Among the hundreds of sessions and events and presentations that took place during the 2014 WPC were many relating to tourism and visitation. A number of tourism events at the WPC were organized by the TAPAS Group, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the University of Waterloo, and the Global Sustainable Tourism Council within WPC Streams. Two official parallel events on tourism were organized, with a Wildlife Tourism Forum hosted by Wildlife Tourism Australia on 11 November 2014, and Global Eco, organized by Ecotourism Australia, convened on the theme of “Tourism and Protected Areas” on 12 November 2014. The TAPAS Group coordinated a “Tourism Journey” for the congress and parallel events, to advise delegates on events focused on tourism and visitation (TAPAS Group, cited in Spenceley, 2015). The presentations and discussions held at the congress were used to formulate the Vision of Sydney, and to create reports on innovative approaches and recommendations from the eight congress Streams and cross-cutting issues (e.g., World Heritage and Capacity Building).

The objective of this paper is to review the information on tourism presented during the VIth WPC in 2014 in relation to the congress streams, and also to compare it with content from the Vth WPC in 2003. The paper also aims to highlight the main advances made over the past decade presented at the WPC and the literature; identify emerging trends; and showcase innovative and improved best practices, and make predictions for global trends over the next decade.

Method

Presentations made during the 2014 WPC and Global Eco on tourism and visitation were collected from online resources, from the individual organizers of tourism sessions, and also directly from the presenters themselves. The online database of WPC e-posters was searched using the key words of “tourism,” “tourist,” “hospitality,” and “visitation” (http://wpc2014.digitalposter.com.au). Presentations accessible from the Global Eco event’s proceedings (http://www.globaleco.com.au/conference-proceedings-2014.php) were compiled. Of the 125 presentations identified, it was possible to obtain 107 full presentations and e-posters for review. Those that were not available were not accessible online and could not be retrieved directly from the author.

Tourism presentations from the Vth IUCN WPC in 2003 were reported in the book “Tourism and Protected Areas: Benefits beyond Boundaries” (Bushell and Eagles, 2007), and synthesized in a conference report by Staiff and Bushell (2004). Since the 2003 WPC presentations are not available collectively online, and therefore the review relied heavily on these documents as resources from which to compare the two conferences. The main issues that were debated over a decade ago are listed in Table 2.

Table 2.

Tourism issues addressed at the World Parks Congress in 2003.

Issue	Overview
Sustainable use of natural and cultural diversity	Tourism managers need to address how much change to natural and cultural systems is acceptable in protected areas, and what options exist to enhance positive impacts, and avoid or mitigate negative ones
Working with local stakeholders and industry	Increasing collaboration with local people, nongovernmental organizations, private landowners, land users, and the private sector is important in establishing resilient and diverse tourism products and services, and providing the labor, resources, and expertise required to operate them
Sources of financial support for protected areas	Conservation is costly, but tourism can generate funds for conservation through donations, entrance fees, user fees, concessions and rentals, licenses, and taxes. These sources are increasingly important as government budget allocations for conservation decline
Supporting local and indigenous community development and poverty alleviation	Although sometimes oversimplified and romanticized, protected area management has increasingly incorporated the rights and needs of indigenous peoples
Linking practice to conventions and guidelines	A series of international guidelines exist for tourism that relate to sustainable tourism. These include guidelines that relate to international conventions (e.g., the Convention on Biological Diversity), or have emerged from international conferences, or have been developed by institutions with a sustainable tourism mandate (e.g., United Nations World Tourism Organization)
Comanagement of protected areas	Comanagement models are where partnerships with local people, the private sector, and NGOs are sought to provide effective ways to achieve conservation and tourism outcomes
Contributing to civil–society, engendering respect for others and for natural heritage	Protected areas are spaces that have been defined and designated by people for conservation. Understanding how different people value nature, and avoiding incompatible user groups, can help to guide tourism and visitor management
Encouraging a stewardship ethic among the public	Involving local populations in conservation management and decision making can provide benefits to protected areas by engaging with volunteers, and appreciating different attitudes and values toward conservation
Fostering attachment to heritage through visitation and conservation education	Enhancing people’s connection with heritage can be achieved through visitation to protected areas, which helps to foster environmental awareness and a conservation ethic

Source: Adapted from Bushell and Eagles (2007) and Bushell and McCool (2007).

A content analysis of the 107 presentations and e-posters was made through a manual scan by the author, by counting the number of 2014 WPC papers that addressed one or more of the event streams (see Table 1), or of the key issues identified in 2003 (see Table 2). Furthermore, any experiences that the author considered to be particularly inspiring or noteworthy were highlighted. Information on the lead author, their organization, and country of work was also collated.

For comparison with the broader literature, a Google Scholar search was used to identify publications between 2003 and 2014 with the words “tourism” and “protected areas” or “park” in the title. By using the same approach content analysis described above, the articles addressing 2003 WPC themes could be highlighted.

Tourism at the WPC

The presenters

Presentations on tourism and visitation at the VIth WPC in 2014 were led by 91 individuals, with 13 of these involved in multiple papers during the congress. The speakers were predominately representatives of universities (27%), followed by NGOs (24%), protected area agencies (19%), and government departments (11%). Only a small minority was from the private sector (3%) or local communities (2%) (Spenceley, 2015) (see Figure 1). The presentations were led by individuals from Oceania (33%), followed by North America (20%), Africa (18%), South America (11%), Asia (11%), and Europe (8%) (Spenceley, 2015). The representatives from Oceania were almost entirely from Australia, and African participation was mainly from South Africa. While the dominance of Australia undoubtedly relates to the Sydney venue in 2014, the high proportion South Africans at the WPC may relate to the last congress having been held in Durban in 2003.

Themes addressed

All of the official WPC streams were addressed by one or more tourism presentations, and on average, each presentation covered at least two of the WPC streams. The scope was dominated by papers addressing “reconciling development challenges” (66% papers), followed by “reaching conservation goals” (51%) and “respecting indigenous and traditional knowledge and culture” (37%). Only 1% of the papers addressed climate change responses in relation to tourism (see Table 3). It is not possible to establish whether the relative coverage of the stream themes relates directly to those that were proposed, or rather which presentations the coordinating groups accepted into their stream.

Table 3.

Coverage of World Parks Congress (WPC) streams in tourism presentations.

2014 Streams	Frequency in 2014 tourism papers	Percentage of papers reviewed
Reconciling development challenges	71	66
Reaching conservation goals	55	51
Respecting indigenous and traditional knowledge and culture	31	37
Supporting human life	22	21
Enhancing diversity and quality of governance	20	19
Improving health and well-being	19	18
Inspiring a new generation	16	15
Responding to climate change	1	1

Comparing the themes addressed at the 2003 WPC, and the 2014 WPC, it is clear that many of the issues were reflected as relevant and important at both events, despite being a decade apart. The most frequently addressed themes in 2014 were sustainability (61%), working with local stakeholders and industry (46%), financing protected areas (33%), and community development and poverty alleviation (29%) (see Table 4). Only a minority addressed heritage in relation to World Heritage Sites (3%), which is perhaps surprising, given that World Heritage was a cross-cutting theme of the WPC. Notably, several papers discussed conservation education, but not in relation to heritage. Again, it is unclear whether the coverage reflects papers that were submitted or those that were selected by stream leaders.

Table 4.

Coverage of tourism themes: Comparing the 2003 and 2014 World Parks Congress (WPC).

Theme from the 2003 WPC	Frequency in 2014 tourism papers	Percentage of papers reviewed
Sustainable use of natural and cultural diversity	65	61
Working with local stakeholders and industry	49	46
Sources of financial support for protected areas	35	33
Supporting local and indigenous community development and poverty alleviation	31	29
Linking practice to conventions and guidelines	23	22
Co-management of protected areas	22	21
Contributing to civil–society, engendering respect for others and for natural heritage	22	21
Encouraging a stewardship ethic amongst the public	13	12
Fostering attachment to heritage through visitation and conservation education	3	3

Within journal and academic book literature, over 1300 publications with the words “tourism” and “protected areas” or “park” in the titles have been published over the past decade, and which have covered many of 2003 WPC themes. A summary of these articles is provided in Table 5. Among the 2003 WPC themes, there is a predominance of papers on sustainable tourism (although mainly concentrating on the environmental impacts of tourism), financial implications of tourism in protected areas (for their management and local communities), and comanagement and partnerships with communities and the private sector.

Table 5.

Summary of coverage of 2003 World Parks Congress (WPC) themes in published literature.

Theme from the 2003 WPC	Published literature between 2003 and 2014
Sustainable use of natural and cultural diversity	Pickering et al., 2003; Musa et al., 2004, Li et al., 2005; Spenceley, 2006; Zhi-yong, 2006; Bohac et al., 2006; Pickering and Hill, 2007; Pickering et al., 2007; Cengiz, 2007; Spenceley and Goodwin, 2007; Moore and Polley, 2007; Scott et al., 2007; Márquez-García et al., 2009; Erdogan and Tosun, 2009; Herrera-Silveira et al., 2010; Catlin and Jones, 2010; Cunha, 2010; Jachmann et al., 2011; Lamb and Willis, 2011; Hvenegaard et al., 2012; Cottrell and Raadik, 2012; Cumo et al., 2012; Newsome et al., 2012; Brito, 2013; Strickland-Munro and Moore, 2014; Marchand et al., 2014; Tolba, 2014
Working with local stakeholders and industry	Dewhurst and Thomas, 2003; Bruyere et al., 2009; Li et al., 2005
Sources of financial support for protected areas	Thapa and Sasidharan, 2003; Spenceley, 2004; Font et al., 2004; Buultjens et al., 2005; Mules, 2005; Yusuf and Lovelock, 2006; Zhi-yong, 2006; Riza and Lovelock, 2006; Tremblay, 2007; Eagles and Hillel, 2008; Wang et al., 2009; Lucas and Kirit, 2009; Francis, 2012; Vejsiu, 2013
Supporting local and indigenous community development and poverty alleviation	Spenceley and Goodwin, 2007; Bruyere et al., 2009; Huhtala, 2007; Strickland-Munro et al., 2010; Laudati, 2010; Strickland-Munro et al., 2010; Ahebwa et al., 2012; Cagua et al., 2014
Linking practice to conventions and guidelines	Eagles and Hillel, 2008; Pomeranz et al., 2013
Comanagement of protected areas	Wegner et al., 2004; Laing et al., 2008; Goh, 2008; Bramwell and Cox, 2009; Moore and Weiler, 2009; Powell et al., 2009; Plummer and Fennell, 2009; McCool, 2009; Laing et al., 2009; Newsome, Morre and Dowling (2012)
Contributing to civil–society, engendering respect for others and for natural heritage	Jamal & Tanase, 2005; Rugendyke and Son, 2005; Novelli and Scarth, 2007; Newsome et al., 2012; Pomeranz et al., 2013; Imran et al., 2014
Encouraging a stewardship ethic amongst the public	Lovelock, 2005; Lucas and Kirit, 2009; Mayer, 2014; Imran et al., 2014
Fostering attachment to heritage through visitation and conservation education	Tubb, 2003; Zhaojie et al., 2006; Zhi-Fei, 2006; Petrosillo et al., 2007; Knudsen and Greer, 2008; Zurc, 2008; Okello et al., 2008; Opp and Bild, 2009; Wiener et al., 2009; Huayhuaca et al., 2010; Haukeland, 2011; Bennett et al., 2012

Considering the most dominant four themes from 2014, some of the pertinent experiences shared at the WPC are summarized below.

Sustainable use of natural and cultural diversity

Sustainable tourism development was a dominant theme among the majority of presentations. Typically, the concept of sustainability provided the framework for elaborating a case study from a protected area. Frequently sustainability was linked with associated issues such as certification, indicators, and standards (e.g., Barwick, 2014; Berrini and Rosadilla, 2014; Borg, 2014; Bricker, 2014; Hillman, 2014; Hockings, 2014; Lopez, 2014; Mearns, 2014; Ritchie, 2014; Santarossa, 2014; Vorhland, 2014). For example, existing programs such as the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism and the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria were highlighted (e.g., Bricker, 2014; Ritchie, 2014; Santarossa, 2014). Also, Lopez (2014) highlighted a new voluntary international standard, ISO18065:2015, which contains guidance for tourist services provided by protected area authorities, and which speaks to conservation objectives. An new form of certification for protected areas launched during the WPC was the IUCN Green List (Hockings, 2014). Although not directly related to tourism, the use of this system may influence people’s travel decisions, as a reflection of good management standards in conservation areas. The application of sustainability indicators within community-based ecotourism in Southern Africa, was promoted by Mearns (2014) as an early warning tool to detect potential problems and to establish a baseline (Mearns, 2014). The development of criteria for Health Promoting Parks was also described, where regular health programs, games, and facilities are provided for local residents (Pang, 2014). Tourism standards and certification had also been addressed during the 2003 WPC (Honey, 2007; Foxlee, 2007), and it is interesting to see how these concepts have retained interest among practitioners, and even gained momentum during the intervening years. Further stressing the importance of sustainability, the TAPAS Group launched the third edition of WCPA Best Practice Guidelines on sustainable tourism: Tourism and Visitor Management in Protected Areas: Guidelines for Sustainability (Leung et al., forthcoming). During the launch, it was noted that the second edition (Eagles et al., 2002) had been the most frequently downloaded of all IUCN Best Practice Guidelines: a reflection of the global interest in this theme.

Working with local stakeholders and industry, community development and poverty alleviation

The importance of collaboration between local stakeholders, the tourism industry, community development, and poverty reduction was often discussed in combination during the 2014 WPC (e.g., Bhartari, 2014; Bodtker et al., 2014; Collins, 2014a, 2014b; Delgado, 2014; Eagles, 2014a; Khaled and Johnson, 2014; Maluleke, 2014a; Makuleke, 2014b; Mccann and Gerrard, 2014; Nsukwini, 2014; Paleczny, 2014; Reifschneider, 2014; Rylance and Spenceley, 2014; Telfer, 2014). Of particular note was one of the few contributions made by the private sector. Several presentations relating to Wilderness Safari’s operations in southern Africa were made by one of their employees, who illustrated the substantial contributions made toward enhancing local benefits from tourism through employment, procurement, and corporate social responsibility initiatives (e.g., Snyman, 2014a, 2014b, 2014c). For example, in 2013, the company paid over USD1.1 million in community lease fees (Snyman, 2014a). Furthermore, 93% of the company’s 2663 staff are citizens of the country, and over 75% are recruited from local communities (Snyman, 2014a). In other papers, the Makuleke people reported on their progress made the last WPC with tourism development within the northern region of the Kruger National Park in South Africa (Maluleke, 2014b). The Makuleke people had been forcibly removed from this area during Apartheid in 1969 (Elliffe, 1999). Following a land restitution process, it was returned to them for conservation purposes in 1998 (Elliffe, 1999). Reflections from a representative of the Makuleke community included that success was more likely where there was a clear rights framework and where the community association was truly accountable to its community members. Notably, it was stated that long-term technical and capacity support was essential for the community—particularly for negotiating with the private sector and to facilitate the resolution on issues of disagreement between partners (Maluleke, 2014b). Also in South Africa, progress from the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi park was presented in relation to the People and Parks Program, which had emanated from the Vth WPC in 2003 (Nsukwini, 2014). Here a profit-sharing formula had been determined in collaboration between the communities and protected area managers, with a system that was considered transparent and fair. The majority of community members participate in either ecotourism or conservation (65%), including as 80% of park staff, as guides, operating cultural tourism activities, or running craft stalls (Nsukwini, 2014). In Cambodia, the Wildlife Conservation Society shared lessons learned at the Snuol Wildlife Sancturary, where a high-quality birding tourism program had been developed to engage partnerships with tour companies (R. Sinclair, 2014). Through a process that focused on ensuring land tenure and resource rights for communties, livelihood benefits, with robust social instutions for decision making, and collaborative patrols, there had been substantial improvements. This included the populations of endangered species increasing, and the rate of deforestation and the hunting of threatened species declining. Financial benefits included that 30% of households benefited from tourism employment or by selling their services and products to the sector, and that there was an average revenue of USD2000–4000 per village per year from the USD30 per tourist fee charged. The program made USD135,000 profit during 2013 and planned to invest USD150,000 in conservation during 2014. Of paramount importance was the ability to generate enough revenue to change behavior that had adverse impacts on biodiversity (R. Sinclair, 2014).

Sources of financial support for protected areas

A series of presentations quantified the economic impacts of tourism in protected areas for conservation. In particular, the use of tourism as a mechanism to raise funds for conservation within protected areas was a strong theme in presentations at the 2014 WPC (e.g., Bodtker et al., 2014; Collins, 2014b; Huebner, 2014; J. Sinclair, 2014; Spenceley et al., 2014). At the previous WPC tourism-based income generation, options for protected areas had also been explored, with evaluations of options assessed in Bolivia, Mexico, and Belize (Drumm, 2007). Another strong theme in 2014 was the exploration of new methods of assessing economic impacts of tourism in and around protected areas (e.g., Bodtker et al., 2014; Brown et al., 2014a, 2014b; Conner, 2014; Kajala and Koontz, 2014; Urrutia et al., 2014). Linked with these papers were several regarding need to have accurate information on visitor numbers, and their expenditure, for the public sector to justify budget support for conservation (Kajala, 2014). Some of these reviewed methods of approaching such data collection and interpretation, which included the use of sensors (rather than people) to record visitor entries in remote locations (e.g., Eagles and Kajala, 2014; Kajala and Koontz, 2014). It was recognized that in some countries such as Canada, protected area financing has been changing, with a shift from from state funding toward greater emphasis on tourism fees and charges, and also stressing the value of NGOs and civil society groups in operating areas, or contributinng to the delivery of management services (Eagles, 2014b).

One of the tools used to generate funds for protected areas reported at the 2003 WPC was tourism concessions (Fernhead, 2007). Fernhead (2007) described the strategy of concessioning within South African National Parks (SANParks) and the process used to enhance proposals that incorporated environmental and empowerment commitments. The concessioning had been given technical and financial support from the International Finance Corporation, who provided an update on the achievements in 2014. It was noted that concessions in Kruger National Park had generated more than USD20 million in revenue, in addition to infrastructure and assets worth more than USD36 million that would revert to SANParks at the end of the contracts (Nicolas, 2014). A further suite of presentations were made on concessions during the 2014 WPC, which explored issues of procurement processes, commercial viability, and community equity and financial benefits (e.g., Collins, 2014c; Mackay, 2014; Maluleke, 2014b; Massyn, 2014; Sikopo, 2014; Snyman, 2014c, 2014d). Tourism concessions also provided the context for a TAPAS Group/Deutsche Gesellschaftfür Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) session on “Tourism in Transfrontier Conservation Areas,” where presentations were made on sporting events in transfrontier conservation areas (e.g., transboundary hiking, mountainbiking, canoeing), and the logistical and bureaucratic challenges that were frequently faced (Snyman, 2014e; Theron and Maluleke, 2014; Vorwerk, 2014). As an indication of the current importance of concessions in protected areas, three new technical guidance tools on the topic were presented: by UNDP, the World Bank Group, and the Southern African Development Community (Nicolas, 2014; Spenceley, 2014; Thompson, 2014). This movement from single case studies to outsourcing guidelines suggests a strengthening of the concept within protected area management over the last decade.

Another example of changes over time was illustrated in relation to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. At the 2003 WPC, partnerships on the Great Barrier Reef were reviewed in relation to operators collecting an Environmental Management Charge (EMC) that was paid to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) to finance conservation (Skeat and Skeat, 2007). At that time, it was noted that the introduction of the fees had led to some controversy and strained relationships between the GBRMPA and the private sector. By 2014, these fees were better accepted, and it was reported that operators were continuing to collect the EMC. Furthermore, the private sector was leading the way on action relating to climate change by using a Tourism Operators Emission Calculator, and also through the certification of their products (Vorhland, 2014).

Inspiring solutions and what makes it work

Tourism products that demonstrated “inspiring solutions” at the 2014 WPC frequently involved local communities, partnerships, outreach, and addressed sustainable development. One particularly inspiring paper addressed an innovative way of tackling declines in the number of visitors to protected areas, by providing free “Learn to Camp” lessons for emerging target markets in the Province of Ontario in Canada (Fauteux, 2014). It was noted that there was an aging population of traditional Canadian park users, and that young families were seldom leaving urban areas to spend time in natural areas. Ontario Parks embarked on a program to teach some families camping skills partnership with camping equipment companies. They shared information about the animals and plants that they could find in protected areas (and persuaded participants that raccoons were not as scary as they may have believed!) The program has managed to reduce barriers to camping and to inspire new visitors. A program evaluation found that a high proportion of people doing the course subsequently went camping in a protected area, and that they also told their friends and family about their experience with nature, leading to a modest snowball effect (Fauteux, 2014). Eagles (2015: Personal Communication, 23 March 2015) indicates that a key part of the program is the use of young university students to lead the skills program. These young people tend to be enthusiastic and inexpensive. Parks Canada, who operates the national parks in Canada, also reported on a similar “Learn to Camp” program operated with other recent immigrant populations in other parts of Canada during the 2014 WPC (P. Eagles, 2015, personal communication, 23 March 2015). Evidence of this practice having been inspiring to others, is that SANParks is embarking on an equivalent program for urban residents of Soweto in Johannesburg (G. Varghese, SANParks, 2015, personal communication, Discussion, 7 May 2015, Durban). Another inspiring solution related to linking natural experiences in national parks with people with diseases caused by environmental factors (Chong-Chun, 2014). The program was initiated in 2009 with a pilot project, the program has been run nearly 180 times, with about 20,000 participants. Different formulations of the program had been devised, working with local health, education, and environmental centers, with participants who are undergoing medical treatment for their illness, those with allergies, and some with severe medical problems (Chong-Chun, 2014).

Some of the dominant principles relating to “what makes it work” included approaches that incorporated partnerships and the participation of stakeholders in decision making (particularly with local communities). Successful programs were multidisciplinary and innovative; required commitment and dedication, patience and trust; had relevant, credible processes with high levels of transparency; engaged in effective communication; provided equitable benefits, and also ensured monitoring was linked to adaptive management. Several papers highlighted the value of volunteer tourists and the importance of “citizen science” (e.g., Brooks, 2014; Elmeligi and Nevin, 2014; Factor, 2014; Green and Wood, 2014; J. Sinclair, 2014). For example, Brooks (2014) described how a group of divers formed the Friends of Beware Reef Marine Sanctuary in Australia, and provide volunteer time to survey and map the underwater environment. Similarly, the Wildlife Tourism Australia’s Wildlife Research Network, engages with youth, tour operators, NGOs, and researchers to collect research data (Green and Wood, 2014). The process enables young people to assist with conservation efforts, and provides environmental education through enjoyable experiences.

Official outputs of the WPC

As major international events, WPCs produce a series of official reports. In 2003, these included the Durban Accord, the Durban Action Plan, Emerging Issues, Recommendations, and a Message to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) (IUCN, 2012). The Recommendations included one that was dedicated to tourism (WPC Recommendation V.12: Tourism as a Vehicle for Conservation and Support for Protected Areas: IUCN, 2012). This included a call for the collaboration of tourism stakeholders and communities; that decision makers work with conservationists and the WCPA TAPAS Group.¹ Recommendation V.12 states, “ . . .visitation, recreation, and tourism are a critical component of fostering support for parks and the conservation of biological and cultural heritage. Careful and strategic implementation of policy together with pro-active and effective management of tourism is essential” (IUCN, 2003:1, cited in Staiff and Bushell, 2004). Other outputs from the 2003 WPC addressed the importance of tourism as a tool to finance-protected areas and support local communities—and considering the prevalence of this theme at the 2014 WPC, this recommendation had clearly been taken forward.

Among the immediate outputs of the WPC are the Promise of Sydney, with a vision, and innovative approaches for change from each stream and cross-cutting theme (IUCN, 2014j). The word “tourism” appears five times among the 150 stream recommendations (by contrast to the 2003 WPC, when there was a full recommendation dedicated to tourism) (IUCN, 2003, 2014a, 2014b, 2014c, 2014d, 2014e, 2014f, 2014g, 2014h, 2014i, 2015). For example, the Vision promised to inspire, “all people, across generations, geography and cultures to experience the wonder of nature through protected areas, to engage their hearts and minds and engender a life-long association for physical, psychological, ecological, and spiritual well-being” (IUCN, 2014i). One of the recommendations from the Reconciling Development Challenges Stream is to “integrate protected area values into the methodologies and procedures for economic accounting, such as in tourism . . . which measure, account, monitor and report on development and human well-being” (IUCN, 2014g). Tourism businesses are also noted as key partners required in Reaching Conservation Goals, recognizing that “effectively managed protected areas are a key social and economic asset” (IUCN, 2014f). The health benefits of tourism in protected areas are recognized in the recommendations of the Improving Health and Well-being stream, which suggests that stakeholder should “Use innovative mechanisms and experiences to connect children and youth to parks and protected areas to engender a love of nature and for the restorative and preventative health and wellbeing benefits provided by nature” (IUCN, 2014c). As a concrete recommendation, the Inspiring a new Generation Stream recommended that a IUCN Inter-Commission Task Force (or similar mechanism) should be used to engage with partners across sectors such as health, outdoor recreation, citizen science, technology, and education, launch an integrated global program within IUCN’s Inter-Sessional Program 2016–2020, to connect young people to nature, thus contributing to the achievement of CBD Aichi Targets 1 and 11 (IUCN, 2014d). While tourism was not a stand-alone stream or theme, it was widely crosscutting, and sessions were held on tourism-related issues across the WPC (Spenceley, 2015). Reflecting on the 6000 delegates that participated in the 2014 WPC, the 125 papers on tourism may, indeed, have only reflected a small proportion of all those presented.

Reflections on tourism and the WPC

Comparing the WPCs held in 2003 and 2014, it is clear that many of the concepts that were reported over a decade ago still find traction among tourism and protected areas practitioners today, and reflect published research on these issues. Themes relating to sustainable tourism and certification, financing conservation, providing benefits to local communities, and forming partnerships are perhaps even stronger now. However, it is surprising that the tourism sector is only fleetingly mentioned in the 2014 WPC outputs, which implies that tourism and visitors strategic importance to conservation and protection are not being sufficiently highlighted.

The findings of this paper should be critically regard in relation to the type of presenters, which were dominated by academics, NGOs, and protected area agencies, with a low proportion of private sector and community representation. This representation is particularly significant because the private sector should be the driver of tourism innovation and sustainable business development. Furthermore, the limited presence of community representatives at the WPC is even more notable, because the theme of the 2003 WPC was Benefits Beyond Boundaries, which incorporated the need for engagement with local communities. Similarly, the dominance of representation by Australia, North America, and Africa, compared with the representation from Europe is notable, and suggests that important tourism and conservation issues from Europe may not have been adequately represented at the meeting. These reflections may have implications for the criteria used in decision making about which people, from where, are provided with a platform at the next WPC—for more a balanced delegate forum.

Being a once in a decade event running for over a week, the Congress has a complex structure with many concurrent streams, themes, side events, launches, and activities related to the overall work of the IUCN and its members. One of the limitations of this review is that it was not possible to obtain all of the tourism papers presented during the WPC. The absence of a formal process to systematically archiving of all presentations and discussions during the meeting, and make them publicly available, is considered a missed opportunity. However, a web-based platform of inspiring solutions for protected areas has been piloted, with an initial portfolio of case studies shared at the 2014 WPC (see www.panorama.solutions). This platform has the potential to reinforce some of the lessons learned at the 2014 WPC, and the tourism papers collated have been shared with the program’s coordinator for collation.

Reflecting on the sizable volume of knowledge tourism and visitation shared at the 2014 WPC, the TAPAS Group conceptualized key lessons, which included (cited in Spenceley et al., 2014: 9–10):

“Benefit-sharing from tourism and protected areas is essential in ensuring the long-term support of local communities: Without tangible, visible benefits from tourism and protected areas, it is unlikely that local communities will value and support conservation and the associated tourism. Designing and implementing effective benefit-sharing schemes is, therefore, essential to long-term conservation. Using lessons learned from past and current benefit-sharing schemes is important and should be encouraged.

There is great demand among managers for information about managing tourism and visitation, but this demand receives little recognition. Tourism is likely the largest commercial use of protected areas, and many managers struggle with managing visitation. While many NGOs and government agencies see tourism as a way to finance management and turn to the private sector to provide opportunities, there is little information that synthesizes what we know. The Best Practice Guidelines on tourism in protected areas are among the most demanded Guidelines that IUCN publishes and therefore many participants to the WPC were disappointed that tourism and visitor management were not included as a stream or cross-cutting issue in the agenda.

There was little engagement at the WPC with commercial tourism operators: The Congress had very little engagement or involvement by the profit-making private sector. It is important that NGOs, governments, and communities engage with the private sector in tourism ventures as the private sector also has an important role to play, such as educating visitors, acting as defacto representatives of management and so on. Turning tourism over to the private sector as a conduit for experiences may be appropriate in some situations, but that tourism still needs management and supervision. More needs to be done to engage with the private sector in future IUCN events.

Implications for the future

Although the WPC has always been a face-to-face meeting, there will also be constraints for people who cannot reach the meeting in person. Cognizant of this, TAPAS Group made efforts to share the tourism-related presentations with a broader global audience for those who did not attend. Presentations were uploaded to Slideshare; videos of sessions were place on YouTube, and a Twitter Hashtag was established, and links to all of these noted on the TAPAS Group’s Facebook site. Some of the links to videos on YouTube have reached over 1300 people since the WPC (e.g., tourism publication launch events, publicized on Facebook); while one sharing information on the launch of the new Best Practice Guidelines Visitor Management in Protected Areas (Leung et al., in press) reached over 1900 people. The value of this form of online outreach and dissemination should not be underestimated, not least because of a dramatically lower carbon footprint than international face-to-face meetings. This living platform can be supplemented with new examples, and explored by people seeking best practices. In the future, we should acknowledge the importance of meetings where participants are physically present, but also fully engage with the value of social media to exchange views and broadly share important information.

On the global stage, the importance of tourism is increasingly acknowledged. For example, in 2014, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution recognizing the contribution of sustainable tourism to poverty eradication, community development, and the protection of biodiversity (Resolution A/RES/69/233). The resolution calls on the UN to promote sustainable tourism, and ecotourism, as a tool for achieving global development goals (UN General Assembly, 2014). Also in 2014, the Conference of the Parties to the CBD, Decision XII/11 on Biodiversity and Tourism Development was adopted that invited parties to “ . . . build the capacity of national and subnational park and protected area agencies, . . . to engage in partnerships with the tourism industry to contribute financially and technically to the establishment, operations and maintenance of protected areas through appropriate tools such as concessions, public-private partnerships . . .” (CBD, 2014). Eagles (2014c) suggests that based on the body of research work on protected areas and tourism that exists, there are 10 key areas for protected area tourism research in the future. These are visitor use monitoring; park tourism economic impact monitoring; park finance; professional competencies for tourism management; building public support; visitor satisfaction; licenses, permits, leases, and concessions for tourism; pricing policies; management capacity; and park tourism governance (Eagles, 2014c). Furthermore, a new global program on sustainable consumption and production, called the 10-Year Framework Program (10YFP). Adopted at Rio + 20 in 2012, the 10YFP is one of the six global programs on sustainable tourism, and its mission is to catalyze changes in tourism operations that promotes transformation for sustainability, and has established a program of work (United Nations World Tourism Organization, 2015).Collectively, these decisions, analyses, and the 10YFP program demonstrate the importance of tourism as a vehicle to promote biodiversity conservation in protected areas. The decisions infer that increasingly technical expertise, knowledge, and initiatives on tourism and protected areas will be required internationally in order to realize them. In relation to the likely trends over the next decade, practitioners, researchers, and academics will need to judge carefully what actions they need to take to enhance the likelihood of sustainable tourism taking place.

Footnotes

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Notes

Author biography

Anna Spenceley is a tourism consultant focusing on sustainable tourism based in South Africa. She is the editor of the book “Responsible Tourism: Critical issues for Conservation and Development” and also co-editor of “Tourism and poverty reduction”, and “Evolution and Innovation in Wildlife Conservation”. See Author's website www.anna.spenceley.co.uk, http://annaspenceley.wordpress.com and

References

Ahebwa

van der Duim

Sandbrook

(2012) Tourism revenue sharing policy at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda: A policy arrangements approach. Journal of sustainable Tourism 20(3): 377–394.

Barwick R (2014) Partnerships and stakeholders. Presented at Global Eco, 12 November, Australia: Sydney Olympic Park.

Bennett

Lemelin

Koster

(2012) A capital assets framework for appraising and building capacity for tourism development in aboriginal protected area gateway communities. Tourism Management 33(4): 752–766.

Berrini R and Rosadilla M (2014) Turismo sostenible en las Areas Naturales Protegidas, e-poster. IUCN World Parks Congress, Sydney, 12–19 November.

Bhartari

(2014) Uttarakhand birdwatching programme. In: IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

Bodtker K, Carter M, Wright K, et al. (2014) Marine protected areas – fitting them in where commercial fishing, tourism, and marine recreation are the way of life. IUCN World Parks Congress, Sydney, 12–19 November.

Bohac

Srubar

Matejka

(2006) The impact of tourism and landscape management in the Šumava National Park and the Šumava landscape protected area on the epigeic beetle communities. Ekológia (Bratislava) 25: 41–52.

Borg

(2014) The contribution of “eco-resorts” to national conservation objectives. In: IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

Bramwell

Cox

(2009) Stage and path dependence approaches to the evolution of a national park tourism partnership. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 17(2): 191–206.

10.

Bricker

(2014) Global sustainable tourism council. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

11.

Brito

BDR

(2013) Environmental preservation and nature tourism in protected area initiatives and experiences in African context. Nature and Conservation 6(1): 6–21.

12.

Brooks

(2014) Volunteering at Beware Reef Marine Sanctuary: The benefits for volunteers, the community and the underwater environment. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

13.

Brown

Dikgang

Muchapondwa

(2014a) The revenue maximising entrance fees for South African National Parks. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

14.

Brown

Muchapondwa

Dikgang

(2014b) Finding a best conservation entry fee for South African Parks. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

15.

Bruyere

Beh

Lelengula

(2009) Differences in perceptions of communication, tourism benefits, and management issues in a protected area of rural Kenya. Environmental Management 43(1): 49–59.

16.

Bushell R and Eagles PFJ (2007) Tourism and Protected Areas: Benefits Beyond Boundaries: The Vth IUCN World Parks Congress. CABI.

17.

Bushell R and McCool SF (2007) Tourism as a tool for conservation and support of protected areas: Setting the agenda. In: Bushell R and Eagles PFJ (eds), op. cit, pp. 12–26.

18.

Buultjens

Ratnayake

Gnanapala

(2005) Tourism and its implications for management in Ruhuna National Park (Yala), Sri Lanka. Tourism Management 26(5): 733–742.

19.

Cagua EF, Collins N, Hancock J, et al. (2014) Whale shark economics: a valuation of wildlife tourism in South Ari Atoll, Maldives. PeerJ 2: e515. Available at: https://peerj.com/articles/515/ (accessed 18 May 2015).

20.

Cagua EF, Collins NM, Hancock J, et al. (2014)Visitation and Economic Impact of Whale Shark Tourism in a Maldivian Marine Protected Area (No. e360v1). PeerJPrePrints.

21.

Catlin

Jones

(2010) Whale shark tourism at Ningaloo Marine Park: A longitudinal study of wildlife tourism. Tourism Management 31(3): 386–394.

22.

Cengiz

(2007) Tourism, an ecological approach in protected areas: Karagöl-Sahara National Park, Turkey. The International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology 14(3): 260–267.

23.

Chong-Chun

(2014) Healthy parks, healthy people—Focusing on Green healing Sharing Camp in Korea National Park Service (KNPS). IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

24.

Collins

(2014a) Chemucane community concession: A new partnership approach for Mozambique. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

25.

Collins

(2014b) Funding community conservation areas. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

26.

Collins

(2014c) The Makuleke community land in the Kruger National Park: A 15 year assessment of benefits and challenges. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

27.

Conner N (2014) Linking protected areas to local community socio-economic development in New South Wales, Australia. In: IUCN World Parks Congress, Sydney, 12–19 November, pp. 1–9.

28.

Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) (2014) Decision adopted by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity: XII/11. Biodiversity and tourism development, Pyeonchang, Republic of Korea, 6–17 October 2014, UNEP/CBD/COP/DEC/XII/11, 17 October 2014: p. 1. Available at: https://www.cbd.int/decision/cop/default.shtml?id=13374 (accessed 9 April 2015).

29.

Cottrell S and Raadik-Cottrell J (2014) The protected area network of plarks: monitoring the balance between nature conservation and sustainable tourism. In: Bricker KS, Black R and Cottrell S (eds) Sustainable tourism and the millennium development goals: Effecting positive change, Burlington MA, USA: The International Ecotourism Society, Jones & Bartlett Learning, pp. 307–329.

30.

Cumo

Cinquepalmi

Pennacchia

(2012) High performing building as a pier for sustainable tourism in the protected area of Bracciano Lake in Italy. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment 165: 175–182.

31.

Cunha

(2010) Negative effects of tourism in a Brazilian Atlantic forest National Park. Journal for Nature Conservation 18(4): 291–295.

32.

Delgado

(2014) Ecoturismo Comunitario en Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia, una estrategia de participación social en la conservación y de desarrollo local. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

33.

Dewhurst

Thomas

(2003) Encouraging sustainable business practices in a non-regulatory environment: A case study of small tourism firms in a UK national park. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 11(5): 383–403.

34.

Drumm A (2007) Tourism-based revenue generation for conservation. In: Bushell R and Eagles PFJ (eds), op. cit., pp. 191–209.

35.

Eagles

PFJ

(2014a) Ecotourism and Community Benefit Tambopata National Reserve. Presented at Global Eco, 12 November, Australia: Sydney Olympic Park.

36.

Eagles PFJ (2014b) The State of Finance in Canadian Parks. In: IUCN World Parks Congress, Sydney, 12–19 November, pp. 1–7.

37.

Eagles

PFJ

(2014c) Research priorities in park tourism. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 22(4): 528–549.

38.

Eagles PFJ and Kajala L (2014) Administrative procedures for operation of a national visitor use monitoring program in protected areas. In: IUCN World Parks Congress, Sydney, 12–19 November, pp. 1–13.

39.

Eagles P and Hillel O (2008) Improving protected area finance through tourism. In: Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (2008) Protected Areas in Today’s World: Their Values and Benefits for the Welfare of the Planet. Technical Series No. 36, pp. 77–86.

40.

Eagles PFJ, McCool SF and Haynes CD (2002) Sustainable tourism in protected areas: Guidelines for planning and management. World Commission on Protected Areas Best Practice Protected Area Guidelines Series No. 8, IUCN Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.

41.

Elmeligi

Nevin

(2014) Balancing grizzly bear habitat needs and recreational access in protected areas: Visitor perspectives of grizzly bear management in the Canadian Rocky Mountain Heritage Area. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

42.

Elliffe S (1999) Guidelines for the release/development of dormant state or community assets for ecotourism development in the context of community involvement, land issues and environmental requirements. Unpublished paper presented at the Community Public Private Partnerships conference, 16–18 November, Johannesburg, cited in Spenceley A (2006) Tourism in the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park. Development Southern Africa 23(5): 649–667.

43.

Erdogan

Tosun

(2009) Environmental performance of tourism accommodations in the protected areas: Case of Goreme Historical National Park. International Journal of Hospitality Management 28(3): 406–414.

44.

Factor

(2014) Running free—Parkrun. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

45.

Fauteux

(2014) Tourism and conservation. Global Eco, 2014. Sydney, Australia. DOI:10.1016/0261-5177(82)90049-8.

46.

Fearnhead P (2007) Concessions and commercial development: Experience in South African National Parks. In: Bushell R and Eagles PFJ (eds), op. cit., pp. 301–314.

47.

Foxlee J (2007) Key principles and directions for tourism in protected areas: A review of existing charters, guidelines and declarations. In: Bushell R and Eagles PFJ (eds), op. cit. pp. 44–70.

48.

Font X and Cochrane J and Tapper R (2004) Tourism for Protected Area Financing: Understanding tourism revenues for effective management plans. Project Report. Report for WWF, Leeds Metropolitan University. Available at: http://eprints.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/888/ (accessed 16 May 2015).

49.

Francis

(2012) Developing a self-sustaining protected area system: A feasibility study of national tourism fee and green infrastructure in the Solomon Islands. Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment 2(3–4): 287–302.

50.

Goh

(2008) Sustainable Tourism and the Influence of Privatization in Protected Area Management: A Case of Kinabalu Park, Malaysia, Friedrich-Wilhelms University, Bonn, Germany, ZEF.

51.

Green

Wood

(2014) Network for tour operations involved in wildlife research. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

52.

Haukeland

(2011) Tourism stakeholders’ perceptions of national park management in Norway. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 19(2): 133–153. Bonn, Germany: Friedrich-Wilhelms University.

53.

Herrera-Silveira

Cebrian

Hauxwell

(2010) Evidence of negative impacts of ecological tourism on turtlegrass (Thalassiatestudinum) beds in a marine protected area of the Mexican Caribbean. Aquatic Ecology 44(1): 23–31.

54.

Hillman

(2014) Programs of excellence. Presented at Global Eco, 12 November, Australia: Sydney Olympic Park.

55.

Hockings M (2014) Tourism certification and quality standards: The IUCN green list of protected areas. Presented at Global Eco, 12 November, Australia: Sydney Olympic Park.

56.

Honey M (2007) The role of certification and accreditation in ensuring tourism contributes to conservation. In: Bushell R and Eagles PFJ (eds), op. cit., pp. 168–190.

57.

Huayhuaca C, Cottrell SP, Raadik J, et al. (2010) Resident perceptions of sustainable tourism development: Frankenwald Nature Park, Germany. International Journal of Tourism Policy 3(2). DOI: 10.1504/IJTP.2010.034207.

58.

Huebner

(2014) Tourism on the fast track: Challenges for sustainability development in Phong Nha—Ke Bang National Park, Central Vietnam. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

59.

Huhtala M (2007) Assessment of the local economic impacts of national park tourism: the case of Pallas-Ounastunturi National Park. Forest Snow and Landscape Research 81(1/2): 223–238.

60.

Hvenegaard

Halpenny

McCool

(2012) Editorial: Protected area tourism and the Aichi targets. Parks 18(2): 6.

61.

Imran

Alam

Beaumont

(2014) Environmental orientations and environmental behaviour: Perceptions of protected area tourism stakeholders. Tourism Management 40: 290–299.

62.

IUCN (2012) WPC V 2003, Vth IUCN World Parks Congress. Available at: https://www.iucn.org/about/work/programmes/gpap_home/gpap_events/gpap_wpc/copy_of_wcpa_wpc_31082012_1316/ (accessed 15 March 2015).

63.

IUCN (2014a) A strategy of innovative approaches and recommendations for respecting indigenous and traditional knowledge and culture in the next decade. In: IUCN World Parks Congress, Sydney, 12–19 November, pp. 1–4.

64.

IUCN (2014b) A strategy of innovative approaches and recommendations to enhance the diversity, quality and vitality of governance in the next decade. In: IUCN World Parks Congress, Sydney, 12–19 November, pp. 1–6.

65.

IUCN (2014c) A strategy of innovative approaches and recommendations to improve health and well-being in the next decade. In: IUCN World Parks Congress, Sydney, 12–19 November, pp. 1–4.

66.

IUCN (2014d) A strategy of innovative approaches and recommendations to inspire a new generation in the next decade. In: IUCN World Parks Congress, Sydney, 12–19 November, pp. 1–3.

67.

IUCN (2014e) A strategy of innovative approaches and recommendations to maximize capacity development in the next decade. In: IUCN World Parks Congress, Sydney, 12–19 November, pp. 1–4.

68.

IUCN (2014f) A strategy of innovative approaches and recommendations to reach conservation goals in the next decade. In: IUCN World Parks Congress, Sydney, 12–19 November, pp. 1–6.

69.

IUCN (2014g) A strategy of innovative approaches and recommendations to reconcile development challenges in the next decade. In: IUCN World Parks Congress, Sydney, 12–19 November, pp. 1–3.

70.

IUCN (2014h) A strategy of innovative approaches and recommendations to support human life in the next decade. In: IUCN World Parks Congress, Sydney, 12–19 November, pp. 1–5.

71.

IUCN (2014i) The promise of Sydney vision. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

72.

IUCN (2015) A strategy of innovative approaches and recommendations for responding to climate change in the next decade. In: IUCN World Parks Congress, Sydney, 12–19 November, pp. 1–2.

73.

Jachmann

Blanc

Nateg

(2011) Protected area performance and tourism in Ghana. South African Journal of Wildlife Research 41(1): 95–109.

74.

Jamal

Tanase

(2005) Impacts and conflicts surrounding Dracula Park, Romania: The role of sustainable tourism principles. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 13(5): 440–455.

75.

Kajala L (2014) Regional economic impacts of national park visitation in Finland. In: IUCN World Parks Congress, Sydney, 12–19 November, pp. 1–15.

76.

Kajala

Koontz

(2014) Understanding the economic contributions of protected area visitation. Congress, Sydney 2014.

77.

Khaled

Johnson

(2014) Tourism as an instrument for biodiversity conservation and socioeconomic development: The Jordan Story. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

78.

Knudsen

Greer

(2008) Heritage tourism, heritage landscapes and wilderness preservation: The case of National Park Thy. Journal of HEritaGETourism 3(1): 18–35.

79.

Laing

Lee

Moore

(2009) Advancing conceptual understanding of partnerships between protected area agencies and the tourism industry: A postdisciplinary and multi-theoretical approach. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 17(2): 207–229.

80.

Laing

Wegner

Moore

(2008) Understanding Partnerships for Protected Area Tourism: Learning from the Literature, Gold Coast, Qld: CRC for Sustainable Tourism.

81.

Lamb

Willis

(2011) Using coral disease prevalence to assess the effects of concentrating tourism activities on offshore reefs in a tropical marine park. Conservation Biology 25(5): 1044–1052.

82.

Laudati

(2010) Ecotourism: The modern predator? Implications of gorilla tourism on local livelihoods in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda. Environment and Planning D Abstract 28(4): 726–743.

83.

Leung Y-F, Spenceley A, Hvenegaard G, et al. In collaboration with 54 contributors (In press) Tourism and visitor management in protected areas: guidelines for sustainability. World Commission on Protected Areas Best Practice Protected Area Guidelines Series IUCN Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.

84.

Liu

(2005) Hiking trails and tourism impact assessment in protected area: Jiuzhaigou Biosphere Reserve, China. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 108(1–3): 279–293.

85.

Lopez

(2014) The international standardization process: Tourist service provided by NPA. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

86.

Lovelock

(2005) Tea-sippers or arsonists? Environmental NGOs and their responses to protected area tourism: A study of the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 13(6): 529–545.

87.

Lucas

Kirit

(2009) Fisheries–marine protected area–tourism interactions in Moalboal, Cebu, Philippines. Coastal Management 37(5): 480–490.

88.

Mackay

(2014) Encouraging investment in ecotourism in protected areas. Presented at Global Eco, 12 November, Australia: Sydney Olympic Park .

89.

Maluleke

(2014a) Makuleke case study. IUCN World Parks Congress, Sydney, 12–19 November.

90.

Maluleke

(2014b) The Makuleke Joint venture partnerships in the GLTFCA: Tourism as a nature based solution. IUCN World Parks Congress, Sydney, 12–19 November.

91.

Marchand

Garel

Bourgoin

(2014) Impacts of tourism and hunting on a large herbivore’s spatio-temporal behavior in and around a French protected area. Biological Conservation 177: 1–11.

92.

Márquez-García

Serrano

Bravo

(2009) Relevant issues of sustainable tourism in a protected area in region of Coquimbo. Documento Técnico-Chile Forestal 193. Santiago, Chile: CONAF, 2009. 8 p. : il (Documento Técnico: 193). Available at: http://biblioteca1.infor.cl/index.asp?param=o%AD%88%92bi%95%8Fqc&Op=12 (accessed 15 May 2015).

93.

Massyn

(2014) Concessions for development. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

94.

Mayer

(2014) Can nature-based tourism benefits compensate for the costs of national parks? A study of the Bavarian Forest National Park, Germany. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 22(4): 561–583.

95.

Mccann

Gerrard

(2014) Integrating community upliftment into protected area development on communal land in South Africa. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

96.

McCool

(2009) Constructing partnerships for protected area tourism planning in an era of change and messiness. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 17(2): 133–148.

97.

Mearns

(2014) Use of sustainability indicators in community-based ecotourism in Southern Africa. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

98.

Moore

Polley

(2007) Defining indicators and standards for tourism impacts in protected areas: Cape Range National Park, Australia. Environmental Management 39(3): 291–300.

99.

Moore

Weiler

(2009) Tourism–protected area partnerships: Stoking the fires of innovation. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 17(2): 129–132.

100.

Mules

(2005) Economic impacts of national park tourism on gateway communities: The case of Kosciuszko National Park. Tourism Economics 11(2): 247–259.

101.

Musa

Hall

Higham

(2004) Tourism sustainability and health impacts in high altitude adventure, cultural and ecotourism destinations: A case study of Nepal’s Sagarmatha National Park. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 12(4): 306–331.

102.

Newsome D, Moore SA and Dowling RK (2012) Natural Area Tourism: Ecology, Impacts and Management. Vol. 58. USA, Boston: Channel View Publications.

103.

Nicolas

(2014) Tourism concessioning: Launch of the WBG Practitioner’s Toolkit. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

104.

Novelli

Scarth

(2007) Tourism in protected areas: Integrating conservation and community development in Liwonde National Park (Malawi). Tourism and Hospitality Planning & Development 4(1): 47–73.

105.

Nsukwini

(2014) The socio-economic impacts of ecotourism in rural areas: A case study of Nompondo, a community bordering the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park (HiP), KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

106.

Okello

Manka

D’Amour

(2008) The relative importance of large mammal species for tourism in Amboseli National Park, Kenya. Tourism Management 29(4): 751–760.

107.

Opp C and Blid C (2009) Tourism in protected areas: Potential or risk? A case study from the world heritage area Lake Baikal. In: Proceedings of 4th symposium of the Hohe Tauern National Park for research in protected area. Castle of Kaprun, September, pp. 17–19.

108.

Paleczny

(2014) Valley of the Whales World Heritage Site, Egypt. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

109.

Pang R (2014) Health in parks partnerships – the Singapore Perspective. IUCN World Parks Congress, Sydney, 12–19 November.

110.

Petrosillo

Zurlini

Corliano

(2007) Tourist perception of recreational environment and management in a marine protected area. Landscape and Urban Planning 79(1): 29–37.

111.

Pickering

Bear

Hill

(2007) Indirect impacts of nature based tourism and recreation: The association between infrastructure and the diversity of exotic plants in Kosciuszko National Park, Australia. Journal of Ecotourism 6(2): 146–157.

112.

Pickering

Harrington

Worboys

(2003) Environmental impacts of tourism on the Australian Alps protected areas: Judgments of protected area managers. Mountain Research and Development 23(3): 247–254.

113.

Pickering

Hill

(2007) Impacts of recreation and tourism on plant biodiversity and vegetation in protected areas in Australia. Journal of Environmental Management 85(4): 791–800.

114.

Plummer

Fennell

(2009) Managing protected areas for sustainable tourism: Prospects for adaptive co-management. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 17(2): 149–168.

115.

Pomeranz

Needham

Kruger

(2013) Stakeholder perceptions of indicators of tourism use and codes of conduct in a coastal protected area in Alaska. Tourism in Marine Environments 9(1–2): 95–115.

116.

Powell

Cuschnir

Peiris

(2009) Overcoming governance and institutional barriers to integrated coastal zone, marine protected area, and tourism management in Sri Lanka. Coastal Management 37(6): 633–655.

117.

Reifschneider

(2014) Huilo Huilo Biological Reserve “Sustainable tourism as a core tool for conservation” Patagonian Rainforest. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

118.

Ritchie

(2014) Europarc Federation: People, passion, protected areas, 40 years working for nature. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

119.

Riza

Lovelock

(2006) Optimizing economic returns from protected area tourism–tourism-related income and expenditure trends of the Department of Conservation, New Zealand. Tourism Economics 12(4): 659–666.

120.

Rugendyke

Son

(2005) Conservation costs: Nature‐based tourism as development at Cuc Phuong National Park, Vietnam. Asia Pacific Viewpoint 46(2): 185–200.

121.

Rylance

Spenceley

(2014) Living outside the fence: Opportunties for neighbouring communities to supply products and services to the Sabi Sand Game Reserve, South Africa. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

122.

Santarossa

(2014) Mediterranean Experience of Eco-Tourism (MEET). IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

123.

Scott

Jones

Konopek

(2007) Implications of climate and environmental change for nature-based tourism in the Canadian Rocky Mountains: A case study of Waterton Lakes National Park. Tourism Management 28(2): 570–579.

124.

Sikopo

(2014) Concession policy in Namibia—A tool for poverty alleviation and rural development. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

125.

Sinclair

(2014) Volunteers add vitality and energy to Fraser Island management Fraser Island Defenders Organisation. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

126.

Sinclair

(2014) What you see is what you pay: Profiting from eco-tourism in Cambodia. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

127.

Skeat A and Skeat H (2007) Tourism on the Great Barrier Reef: A partnership approach. In: Bushell R and Eagles PFJ (eds), op. cit., pp. 315–328.

128.

Snyman

(2014a) Making the protected area concession work for communities. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

129.

Snyman

(2014b) Making the protected area concession work for communities: Importance of engaging communities around protected areas. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

130.

Snyman

(2014c) Private sector contributions to conservation in protected areas. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

131.

Snyman

(2014d) Socio-economic impacts of ecotourism on local communities living in and around PAs. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

132.

Snyman

(2014e) Supporting transboundary conservation and tourism: Tour de Tuli. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

133.

Spenceley

(2004) Responsible nature-based tourism planning in South Africa and the commercialisation of Kruger National park. In: Dimitrios

(ed.) Ecotourism: Management and Assessment. 267–280.

134.

Spenceley

(2006) Tourism in the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park. Development Southern Africa 23(5): 649–667.

135.

Spenceley

(2014) Tourism in transfrontier conservation areas: A vehicle for development and sustainable life. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

136.

Spenceley

(2015) Tourism and the IUCN World Parks Congress 2014. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 23(7): 1114–1116.

137.

Spenceley

Goodwin

(2007) Nature-based tourism and poverty alleviation: Impacts of private sector and parastatal enterprises in and around Kruger National Park, South Africa. Current Issues in Tourism 10(2–3): 255–277.

138.

Spenceley

Rylance

Snyman

(2014) Financing protected areas using tourism. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

139.

Spenceley A, Hvenegaard G, Snyman S, et al. (2015) TAPAS Group Strategy 2015–2020.

140.

Staiff

Bushell

(2004) Tourism and protected areas: Benefits beyond boundaries. Annals of Tourism Research 3: 723–726. Available at: http://www.cabi.org/bookshop/book/9780851990224 (accessed 15 May 2015).

141.

Strickland-Munro

Allison

Moore

(2010) Using resilience concepts to investigate the impacts of protected area tourism on communities. Annals of Tourism Research 37(2): 499–519.

142.

Strickland-Munro

Moore

(2014) Exploring the impacts of protected area tourism on local communities using a resilience approach. koedoe 56(2): 1–10.

143.

Strickland-Munro

Moore

Freitag-Ronaldson

(2010) The impacts of tourism on two communities adjacent to the Kruger National Park, South Africa. Development Southern Africa 27(5): 663–678.

144.

Telfer

(2014) Odzala-Kokoua: A model of conservation commerce. Presented at Global Eco, 12 November, Australia: Sydney Olympic Park.

145.

Thapa B and Sasidharan V (2003) Debt-for-nature swaps and protected area tourism in coastal and marine environments: A symbiotic relationship for developing countries. In: Miller M, Auyong J, Hadley N (comp., eds) Proceedings from the international symposium on coastal and marine tourism: Balancing tourism and conservation, pp. 161–167.

146.

Theron

Maluleke

(2014) Pafuri Cross Border Trail_WPC TAPAS session_14 November 2014. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

147.

Thompson

(2014) What can tourism concessions do for protected areas? IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

148.

Tolba

(2014) Strengths and weaknesses in the assessment of sustainable tourism: A case study of the Nabq protected area in Egypt. Sustainable Tourism VI 187: 147.

149.

Tremblay

(2007) Economic Contribution of Kakadu National Park to Tourism in the Northern Territory, Darwin: Sustainable Tourism CRC.

150.

Tubb

(2003) An evaluation of the effectiveness of interpretation within Dartmoor National Park in reaching the goals of sustainable tourism development. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 11(6): 476–498.

151.

United Nations World Tourism Organization (2015) Information note. The Sustainable Tourism Program (10YFP STP) of the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns. IUCN World Parks Congress, Sydney, 12–19 November.

152.

United Nations (UN) General Assembly (2014) Eradication of poverty and other development issues. Report of the Second Committee, A/69/472. Available at: http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/69/472 (accessed 9 April 2015).

153.

Urrutia

Ida

Takenouchi

(2014) Economic impacts of protected areas in urban environments: The urban pressure problem. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

154.

Vejsiu

(2013) Forest protected area and their economic impact on tourism. International Journal of Ecosystems and Ecology Science(IJEES) 3(3): 443–446.

155.

Vorhland (2014) Tourism partnerships supporting conservation. Presented at Global Eco, 12 November, Australia: Sydney Olympic Park.

156.

Vorwerk

(2014) Desert Knights Tour_Presentation at World Parks Congress_SADC TFCAs presentation. IUCN World Parks Congress. Sydney, 12–19 November.

157.

Wang

Little

(2009) The economic impact of tourism in Xinghai Park, China: A travel cost value analysis using count data regression models. Tourism Economics 15(2): 413–425.

158.

Wegner

Moore

Macbeth

(2004) Building better collaborative management between protected area managers and the tourism industry. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 11(22): 123–127.

159.

Wiener

Needham

Wilkinson

(2009) Hawaii’s real life marine park: Interpretation and impacts of commercial marine tourism in the Hawaiian Islands. Current Issues in Tourism 12(5–6): 489–504.

160.

Yusuf

Lovelock

(2006) Research note: Optimizing economic returns from protected area tourism-tourism-related income and expenditure trends of the Department of Conservation, New Zealand. Tourism Economics: The Business and Finance of Tourism and Recreation 12(4): 659–666.

161.

Zhaojie

Lianke

Lei

(2006) The research of eco-tourism model by using the cultural resources in Chinese Protected Area [J]. Science Technology and Engineering 13: 020.

162.

Zhi-fei

(2006) On the perception and attitude of mountainous residents in national minorities towards tourism impacts—A case study of Chaibuxi National Forest Park [J]. Tourism Tribune 2: 008.

163.

Zhi-yong

BAI

(2006) A research on eco-environment protection and economic benefit in the eco-tourism park planning [J]. Journal of Zhuzhou Institute of Technology 6. . Available at: http://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTOTAL-ZZGX200606035.htm (accessed 15 May 2015).

164.

Zurc J (2008) Opportunities for tourism in and around protected area in Slovenia. Participating in nature. Communities and protected areas in Central and Eastern Europe 27(4): 2014. Available at: http://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/research/humaneco/romania-conference08.php (accessed 15 May 2015).