National parks as tourist attractions Estanislao Plantada Siurans, Spain Joost Brandsma, the Netherlands Mathilde Jomain, France Anne Maria Sparf, Finland

Introduction Four National Parks in Europe Emphasis: relationship between tourism and national parks What challenges and opportunities have arisen in these parks? Can we draw conclusions based on these examples?

The examples Finland: The UKK National park in Lapland The Netherlands: Nationaal Park De Hoge Veluwe France: Parc National des Ecrins in the Alpes Spain: National Park Aigüestortes in Catalonia

The Urho Kekkonen National Park in Lapland Finland

The Urho Kekkonen National Park in Lapland Established: 1983 Visitors: a year Size: 2500 sq. km Objectives of park: –protect wilderness, mainly forest, fell and peatland ecosystems –provide recreation/hiking possibilities –preserve preconditions for traditional reindeer herding

The Urho Kekkonen National Park in Lapland Challenges: –Increasing amount of visitors –Use of vehicles, such as snowcats –Too large amount of reindeer Consequences: –Erosion –Threats to wildlife

The Urho Kekkonen National Park in Lapland Opportunities: –Management plan –Increasing visitor awareness –“Friend” parks across the border –Park fees – increased funding –Limiting visitor amounts during sensitive times

Nationaal Park De Hoge Veluwe The Netherlands

Nationaal Park De Hoge Veluwe Established: 1935 Visitors: a year Size: 55 sq. km Objectives of park: provide a synergy between arts and nature, nature protection, leisure Attractions: Kröller-Müller Museum, St. Hubertus hunting lodge, Museonder, wildlife

Nationaal Park De Hoge Veluwe Challenges: Funding Nature and wildlife protection Landscape preservation Opportunities: High educational value in both art and nature Leisure function Combination of nature and culture opens up the way for new attractions

Nationaal Park De Hoge Veluwe Culture... Kröller-Müller Museum St. Hubertus hunting lodge Museonder Leisure... Restaurant ‘De Koperen Kop’ Cycling visitors Nature... Red deer Sunlight in the forest The heathland

Parc National des Ecrins France

Parc des Ecrins between protection and development Established: 1973 Visitors: a year Size: 270 sq. km Objectives of park: Protection of alpine flora and fauna

Visitor management in Parc National des Ecrins Classification of national park visitors:  Pedagogical discoverers  Faithful walkers  Young sportsmen  Low motivated tourists Impacts of the concentration of visitors on main sites  negative for the environment, positive for the management

11% growth of secondary residences between 1990 and 1999 in the villages situated in the Parc National des Ecrins Car frequentation in protected areas Massive because of the individual organisation of the journeys Challenges in Parc National des Ecrins

Artificialisation of space Low economic consequences Growth of the prices of land and property Housing difficulties Traffic jams during summer Consequences:

The growing importance of tourism at Parc National des Ecrins Visitor awareness has increased New objectives of park management:  Management of visitors in central zones  Tourism marketing  Sustainable tourism promotion

National Park d’Aigüestortes. Catalonia, Spain. National Park d’Aigüestortes. Catalonia, Spain

12 Nationals parks in Spain in Spain 1 National Park in Catalonia

Established: 1955 Visitors in 2001: persons Size: 408 sq. km Objectives of park: ecological preservation, fauna protection, environmental research and public use

Leisure time in the National Park Nature routes, trekking, hiking, Ascent high mountains, Climbing and mountain refugees…

Attractions Rivers and lakes Some Romanesque churches are UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Conclusions Rural Tourism around and in National Parks has increased lately...which has lead to growing tourism in parks Tourism causes problems (mainly concerning nature protection), but is a necessary means to provide income for a National Park It seems that expectations on national parks differ by nationality, i.e. what is wilderness to one is a park to another National Parks can be centered on cultural as well as natural landscapes The concept of a National Park is an attraction by itself