Protected Areas, Sustainable Tourism and Neo-liberal Governance Policies Issues, management and research

From its late nineteenth century origins, the concept of protected areas has increased in scope and complexity. It now has to come to terms with the twenty first century world of neo-liberal politics, performance metrics and the growing and complex demands of tourism. This international collection of papers explores how this might be done, detailing the issues involved, and the value and values that protected areas have for economies, peoples and environments. Special attention is given to World Heritage Sites, tourism planning and their communities, to the growth of private protected areas, and to the health values of protected areas. Other subjects include private sector business involvement in protected areas, concessions policy experiments, and how the work of the world’s largest protected area agency, the US National Park Service, is adapting to changing political and market demands, and to the challenges of sustainable development. It concludes with a searching interview with a member of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee. The chapters were originally published in a special issue in the Journal of Sustainable Tourism.

1. Protected Areas in a neoliberal world and the role of tourism in supporting conservation and sustainable development: an assessment of strategic planning, zoning, impact monitoring, and tourism management at natural World Heritage Sites Hubert Job, Susanne Becken and Bernard Lane 2. Values in nature conservation, tourism and UNESCO World Heritage Site stewardship Janne J. Liburd and Susanne Becken 3. Developing a typology of sustainable protected area tourism products Elias Butzmann and Hubert Job 4. The effects of local context on World Heritage Site management: the Dolomites Natural World Heritage Site, Italy Maria Della Lucia and Mariangela Franch 5. Estimating the value of the World Heritage Site designation: a case study from Sagarmatha (Mount Everest) National Park, Nepal Nabin Baral, Sapna Kaul, Joel T. Heinen and Som B. Ale 6. Private protected areas, ecotourism development and impacts on local people’s well-being: a review from case studies in Southern Chile Christopher Serenari, M. Nils Peterson, Tim Wallace and Paulina Stowhas 7. Tourism concessions in National Parks: neo-liberal governance experiments for a Conservation Economy in New Zealand Valentina Dinica 8. The health and well-being impacts of protected areas in Finland Riikka Puhakka, Kati Pitkänen and Pirkko Siikamäki 9. Operationalising both sustainability and neo-liberalism in protected areas: implications from the USA’s National Park Service’s evolving experiences and challenges Susan L. Slocum 10. Visitor spending effects: assessing and showcasing America’s investment in national parks Lynne Koontz, Catherine Cullinane Thomas, Pamela Ziesler, Jeffrey Olson and Bret Meldrum 11. Fringe stakeholder engagement in protected area tourism planning: inviting immigrants to the sustainability conversation Anahita Khazaei, Statia Elliot and Marion Joppe 12. An interview with a protected area insider Barbara Engels, Susanne Becken, Hubert Job and Bernard Lane

Hubert Job is Professor of Geography and Regional Science at Würzburg University, Germany, specialising in protected areas. Susanne Becken is Director of the Griffith Institute for Tourism, based in Australia. Bernard Lane was founding editor of the Journal of Sustainable Tourism, and is now a consultant, advisor, writer and speaker.