Sustainable Tourism and Natural Protected Areas: Exploring Local Population Perceptions in a Post-Conflict Scenario

Delia M. Andries, Cecilia Arnaiz-Schmitz, Pablo Díaz-Rodríguez, Cristina Herrero-Jáuregui and María F. Schmitz
Additional contact information
Delia M. Andries: Diffuse Pollution of Water Resources and Soil Research Group, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Spanish National Research Council, 28006 Madrid, Spain
Cecilia Arnaiz-Schmitz: Department of Civil Engineering, Transport, Territory and Urbanism, Higher Technical School of Engineering of Roads, Channels and Ports, Polytechnic University of Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Pablo Díaz-Rodríguez: Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of La Laguna, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, 38200 Tenerife, Spain
Cristina Herrero-Jáuregui: Department of Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution, Complutense University of Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
María F. Schmitz: Department of Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution, Complutense University of Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 3, 1-18

Abstract: The expansion of urban areas around the world and the application of the sustainability paradigm to tourism discourses has favored an increase in the number of people visiting natural protected areas (NPAs) in their leisure time. While tourism is desired to boost the economy of destinations, mismanagement can bring negative consequences for social–ecological systems, particularly in post-conflict rural scenarios. In the context of a broader ethnographic research, we analyzed the perceptions of the local population about tourism development in the NPA Jaltepeque Estuary (El Salvador, Central America) and the establishment of a Biosphere Reserve in the area, using structured questionnaires and Multiple Correspondence Analysis for the typification of social actors. We found that overall, the population regards positively the development of tourism in the area. Fishermen are the only ones who highlight the negative economic consequences of tourism development, claiming disparity in the distribution of benefits and an increase in the cost of living. We conclude that although tourism development is an activity desired by local people, there is a need in the community to discuss how this process of socio-economic transformation should be approached and an evident conflict between two different models: the one desired and offered by the population and the one that is currently being developed in the nearby Costa del Sol corridor.

Keywords: biosphere reserve; El Salvador; sustainable tourism; local development; community-based tourism; post-conflict scenarios (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/3/331/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/3/331/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:10:y:2021:i:3:p:331-:d:522710

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().