The protected areas: are they still in the 'pleasure periphery' or are they destinations for sustainable tourism activities?

Josef Navrátil, Jaroslav Knotek, Kamil Pícha, Jitka Fialová
2015 European Journal of Tourism Research  
The protected natural areas play an important role in recreation. This paper discusses the issue of recreational activities in these areas. The National Park and Protected Landscape Areas in the southern part of the Czech Republic were selected for the purposes of illustration. It has been revealed that relaxation is the most important activity among tourists in the large-area protected natural territories, according to a recent survey of 1,500 participants. Entertainment is the second most
more » ... rtant activity. Recreational sport activities (such as swimming, tennis, etc.) are respectively in the third and fourth places. We can talk about the large-area protected natural reservations as destinations for "nature-based tourism", whose prerequisite is the existence of a pristine natural environment, which is primarily bound to protected natural areas in today's world, and it is not for sustainable tourism. According to the participation in recreation activities, four segments of demand have been identified in visits to these large-area protected natural territories: (1) passive visitors, (2) visitors focused on exploring but not participating in any physical activity, (3) active visitors with a dominant interest in bicycle touring, and (4) active visitors with a dominant interest in history.
doi:10.54055/ejtr.v11i.194 fatcat:gvqsd43dm5crjk6xubqv7ukika