Resumen de Tourism as a tool for promoting the sustainable development of protected areas: a comparative case study
This study makes evident the contribution that the protected areas and nature tourism give to local development. In particular, it investigates and discusses the controversial question of whether or not nature tourism posses an inherent ability to produce more positive (or less negative) socio-cultural, environmental and economic impacts on host communities and destinations in comparison to other kinds of tourism segments. To address such an issue the paper develops a comparative analysis between two types of tourist based on an a priori segmentation, that is the nature-based tourists and the beach tourists. The major goal of the survey was to verify profiles, attitudes and behavioral patterns of tourists and to test if and to what extent they depend on the typology of tourist one belongs to rather than on the socioeconomic characteristics. Data were simultaneously collected by means of a questionnaire at two sites located in the Maremma, each specific to the typology of tourist investigated. Tourists were segmented using an activity-based method. The research confirms, on one side, some of the findings of other studies concerning the market profile of nature tourist, and, on the other, that nature tourism has more positive impact both from the socio-economic and natural point of view. Three main innovative findings, concerning the relationship between income, education and personal commitment, and the typology of tourist one belongs to, are discussed at the end.
