Abstract
The expansion of urban areas around the world and the application of the sustainability paradigm to tourism discourses has favored an increase in the number of people visiting natural protected areas (NPAs) in their leisure time. While tourism is desired to boost the economy of destinations, mismanagement can bring negative consequences for social–ecological systems, particularly in post-conflict rural scenarios. In the context of a broader ethnographic research, we analyzed the perceptions of the local population about tourism development in the NPA Jaltepeque Estuary (El Salvador, Central America) and the establishment of a Biosphere Reserve in the area, using structured questionnaires and Multiple Correspondence Analysis for the typification of social actors. We found that overall, the population regards positively the development of tourism in the area. Fishermen are the only ones who highlight the negative economic consequences of tourism development, claiming disparity in the distribution of benefits and an increase in the cost of living. We conclude that although tourism development is an activity desired by local people, there is a need in the community to discuss how this process of socio-economic transformation should be approached and an evident conflict between two different models: the one desired and offered by the population and the one that is currently being developed in the nearby Costa del Sol corridor.
Highlights
Natural protected areas (NPAs) are experiencing a rise as tourism destinations [1]
The area, with a size of 49,454 ha, is a NPA listed as a Conservation Area and a Ramsar Site, since 2011 (“Jaltepeque Complex”, the second biggest brackish water area and intertidal forested wetland in El Salvador)
From the analysis of the declarations of the stakeholders, our results show that the development of nature-based tourism in the Jaltepeque Estuary generates two conflicts in the local community; the first of them related to the divergence of opinions within the population itself and the second derived from the disagreement with the touristic model proposed by the authorities of El Salvador
Summary
Natural protected areas (NPAs) are experiencing a rise as tourism destinations [1]. This increase seems related to the expansion of urban areas and indoor activities [2,3,4], and to the perception of the benefits that human–nature interactions provide to mental wellbeing [5,6] and physical health [7,8]. The world’s tourism panorama shows a greater tendency to interregional tourist flows due to spending, speed, and comfort issues [12], nowadays interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic This dynamic has begun to vary due to the decrease in prices of international travel and the market introduction of remote, emerging destinations with competitive prices. New destinations which generate interest among tourists [10] often include developing countries, NPAs established on fragile rural fabric [13] and after war territories [14] These places usually have an unexplored and an unexploited natural and cultural capital that often fits into de imaginary of alternative tourism and that can be used to attract tourism [15,16,17]. The list of exploitable tourist resources contains both natural areas and territories devastated by war [15]
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