Towards sustainable tourism practices in National Parks: Exploring lessons learned from diverse European approaches

摘要: In this guide we aim to explore how tourism can become organized in sustainable ways by looking into best practices found across Europe. In these practices tourism is typically embraced as a positive contributor to national park objectives. This at times stands in stark contrast with Dutch experiences with tourism and recreation as these are usually seen as a necessary evil in the context of Dutch nature reserves. The high volume of visitors due to the COVID-19 pandemic is just a foretaste of what’s to come, with recreational pressure expected to continue to rise. Local interest groups are opposed to this, and within national parks this pressure is often considered unacceptable. Many nature managers agree that a large portion of nature must be better protected against the arrival of all these visitors.However, rather than limiting visitor numbers, national parks want to focus on broadening and scaling up in the direction of the National Parks New Style (NP+). The goals of this style are: for national and international visitors to appreciate Dutch natural beauty, for the quality of nature to be improved, and for local communities to be given the opportunity to be more connected with nature. The new national parks would primarily embody iconic natural spaces that have national and international appeal for this generation and those to come.