New Challenges for Managing Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas: An Exploratory Study of the European Landscape Convention in Sweden

Abstract

“Sustainable tourism” has emerged as the dominant paradigm for managing visitor use in protected areas. An important consequence of this approach is that management tends to focus on issues inside protected-area boundaries. Recently, broader landscape-oriented approaches have gained attention (e.g., the European Landscape Convention [ELC]). These strategies strive to achieve sustainable landscape protection and often identify tourism as a key development strategy. Using Sweden as an example, this article explores the intersection of the landscape concept—as articulated in the ELC—with the contemporary notion of sustainable tourism management in protected areas. This exploratory study was conducted using qualitative research methods. While study participants reported strong potential in landscape-oriented approaches, they also identified key challenges including “institutional negotiation and conflict” and “confusion and uncertainty about the landscape concept.” The article concludes by addressing the implications for enhancing sustainable tourism management through adoption of landscape-oriented approaches.

Keywords:

• land use policy
• parks and protected areas
• sustainability

Notes

In Swedish, the term “stovepiped” (stuprör) can used to describe organizations that lack horizontal integration across divisions, departments, or policy areas. The use of the term in Sweden mirrors the use of the term in North America from this organizational perspective.

This notion is adapted from Wildavsky's (1973) seminal paper, “If Planning is Everything, Maybe It's Nothing.”

Since Howe, McMahon, and Propst (1997) described the concept, the “gateway community” has become widely associated with park planning and management issues. The term is commonly used in reference to communities adjacent to protected areas (e.g., Mules 2005).