Tourism Impacts and Local Communities in Estonian National Parks

Abstract

Several studies have shown that tourism income can raise local communities' support for conservation. At the same time, many studies have shown that crowds and traffic can cause negative impacts on the local community. All five Estonian national parks have permanent residents and tourism entrepreneurs inside their boundaries. This paper presents the results of an investigation into tourism impacts on local communities, where a total of 273 inhabitants from all of Estonia's five national parks were interviewed. The investigation showed that with few exceptions national park inhabitants agreed that local natural and cultural heritage is valuable and needs to be protected, but several respondents did not agree with some of the national parks' restrictions. The investigation also showed that the majority of local communities within Estonia's national parks are tolerant towards visitors; locals see some threats from tourism such as disturbance and damage to nature but also possibilities for income and improvement of their quality of life. Experienced tourism entrepreneurs considered a high level of support for national parks as a label of good quality and effective marketing. The paper shows the importance of maintaining good communication between park authorities and communities.