Abstract
In recent years, nature tourism has increased its prominence in the tourism market due to sociocultural change and greater concern for the environment in our society. In this sense, Spanish national parks have become important tourist destinations, increasing the number of visitors significantly in the last decade, exceeding 14.81 million in 2019. In addition to their incalculable ecological value, these protected natural spaces are a key factor in achieving the socioeconomic development of their rural area of influence. The main objective of the study is to contrast the development experienced by tourist businesses in the areas of socioeconomic influence of the Spanish national parks. This has been done from a multidimensional perspective: infrastructures, socioeconomic development, and the perception of the residents belonging to the area of influence of the parks. The indicators associated with each dimension have been compiled and a logit model was used to contrast the relationships between the different variables. The results confirmed that perceived economic development and infrastructure have a significant impact on tourism businesses. In conclusion, local socioeconomic development requires greater effective public–private partnerships to achieve business prosperity and a better quality of life as factors for the sustainability of nature tourism in national parks.
Highlights
Taking into account the business perspective, tourism companies located in the zones of socioeconomic influence of the inland national parks have an average operating income of € 315,237.30
This study analyses the relationships that exist between the different dimensions present in the management of Spanish national parks, from the point of view of the tourist business offer
According to the results of the analysis, it appears that the tourist companies located in the municipalities of the zones of socioeconomic influence of the Spanish national parks in the interior have a productive capacity and performance that are very different from each other
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. The tourism industry has a great weight in the world economy. In 2019, it accounted for 10.4% of global GDP [1]. In the case of Spain, this percentage was even higher, reaching 12.4% [2]
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