Abstract
The rapid increase of tourism in the Arctic highlights the critical importance of holistic planning of land use for tourism to ensure that recreational activities are only developed where natural and cultural environment is able to sustain their impact. This paper aims to devise a holistic plan for use of land for Icelandic tourism based on landscape analysis and stakeholders’ perceptions, and to critically discuss the role of holistic approaches and zoning principles in such planning with regard to different market groups of visitors. A case study was conducted in Skaftárhreppur municipality in southern Iceland. Geographical information systems (GIS) were used to analyse its suitability for the various forms of recreational activity based on stakeholders’ perceptions, landscape sensitivity, the area’s recreational opportunity spectrum (ROS), and visitor type according to the purism scale model. The results reveal a lack of balance between the area’s current recreational use and its landscape sensitivity, something which reflects many of the negative aspects of the exponential growth within Icelandic tourism which has taken place over the past decade. The results further stress the importance of appropriate infrastructure to channel the increasing flow of mass tourism and to direct this flow to carefully chosen focal points. In seeking to develop site-specific zoning for the different market groups, focal points have proven to be a critical management tool. By controlling the number, type and location of visitors, their flow is regulated, and thereby the impact of tourism is managed. The use of well-defined focal points in the zoning procedures will reduce the environmental and social pressure from tourism, reduce the cost of maintaining infrastructure incurred by communities, ensure visitor satisfaction, and protect the most sensitive areas from overexploitation by tourism.
Highlights
It is well known that a flourishing tourism industry can have a range of positive impacts on a society and thereby benefit the economic development of its communities
This paper aims to devise a holistic plan for use of land for Icelandic tourism based on landscape analysis and stakeholders’ perceptions, and to critically discuss the role of holistic approaches and zoning principles in such planning with regard to different market groups of visitors
This paper focuses on sustainable leisure landscapes in Icelandic rural communities, attempting to preserve and stimulate their ecological quality, economic prosperity, social wellbeing and cultural history
Summary
It is well known that a flourishing tourism industry can have a range of positive impacts on a society and thereby benefit the economic development of its communities. Tourism is usually regarded as a positive counteraction in many Arctic rural communities experiencing the migration of their inhabitants to more densely-populated areas. It is well known that, if not properly managed, tourism can have considerable negative impacts, such as overtourism, pollution, littering and trampling, bringing about the deterioration of natural and cultural resources and of the tourist destination itself. In Iceland tourism has grown rapidly in the past decade, with an escalating annual increase as high as 40% from 2015 to 2016 (ITB, 2017). Iceland’s dynamic landscapes and diverse natural scenery have long been the Icelandic tourism industry’s primary resource. In the past few years there has been a vast increase in recreational outdoor activities such as hiking, horse riding, mountain biking and trail running as well as the use jms.ccsenet.org
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