Abstract
Nature-based tourism has become increasingly popular in recent years. However, the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically impacted the tourism sector and triggered contradictory processes, even in protected areas. This phenomenon opens up new opportunities for nature-based tourism from the perspective of rural development. In this study, we assess the relations between tourism and nature conservation and examine the characteristics of practical cooperation in three Hungarian national parks. Based on in-depth interviews (n = 76), document review, and analysis of tourism-related data, our research proves that nature-based tourism could play an essential role in rural development, but this is far from being fulfilled. None of the sectors have been able to impact the comprehensive development of the rural areas concerned. We conclude that sectoral partnership is inadequate, and there is no effective policy coordination. There is a lack of multiday tourism programs, and the currently available tourism infrastructure is insufficient. Initiatives such as the national park product trademark exist but are not well managed, so they do not have a meaningful impact. The results point out that cross-sector collaboration must be strengthened after the epidemic to provide a basis for policy coordination and joint planning.
Highlights
The simultaneous importance of rural tourism, nature conservation, and related sectoral cooperation has prompted central questions in national parks for three reasons.First, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen dramatic shifts in how we travel [1,2,3,4,5,6]
To answer the research questions, we chose rural areas where (1) tourism involving national parks has been present for a long time, (2) there is specific cooperation between the two sectors, and (3) nature-based tourism can play an essential role in rural development
Promoting natural attractions and exploiting their tourism potential have been primary since establishing the national parks
Summary
The simultaneous importance of rural tourism, nature conservation, and related sectoral cooperation has prompted central questions in national parks for three reasons.First, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen dramatic shifts in how we travel [1,2,3,4,5,6]. We have witnessed new trends worldwide, which are likely to change our travel choices and habits for a long time [7,8,9,10,11,12,13]. Nature-based tourism has grown steadily and become the most rapidly expanding sector within tourism across Europe [20,21,22,23]. Sustainability narratives, such as “eco-conscious experience”, “travel like a local”, “simple pleasures”, or “familiarists not tourists” [24], have come to the fore
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