A presentation by Yu-Fai Leung on the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas - Tourism and Protected Areas Specialist Group's work revising the IUCN Best Practice Guidelines on Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas. This presentation was made at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in September 2012

1. BEST PRACTICE GUIDELINES FOR SUSTAINABLE
TOURISM IN PROTECTED AREAS (3RD EDITION):
AN OVERVIEW AND DISCUSSION
Yu-Fai Leung
Professor, North Carolina State University, USA
Ralf Buckley
Professor, Griffith University, Australia
Glen Hvenegaard
Professor, University of Alberta, Canada
Anna Spenceley
Spenceley Tourism and Development (STAND)
TAPA-SG Chair, South Africa

2. PRESENTATION OUTLINE
The needs for sustainable tourism
BPG for protected areas
The past two editions of ST-BPG
The Third Edition
Objectives and guiding principles
Contributors
Timeline
This workshop
Input on outline and contents
Potential contributors

3. TOURISM IN PROTECTED AREAS
Major incentive for protected area
establishment and special designations
(e.g. World Heritage sites, Global Geoparks)
Public and political support for
protected areas
Key ecosystem service with
conservation and community benefits
Visitor experience and conservation
education opportunities

4. CONCERNS ABOUT TOURISM
Development pressure and
habitat loss/degradation
Strain on natural resources
Tourist activity impacts
Leakage of tourism revenues
Impacts on local communities

5. NEEDS FOR BEST PRACTICE GUIDELINES
Tourism has a significant role to play in
protected area conservation
Enhancing the positive impacts of tourism
while minimizing negative impacts
Operationalizing sustainable tourism with
best practice examples (environmental
management, finances, partnerships,
education, etc.)
Collaborative learning and global
knowledge sharing
Proactive and adaptive management in face
of changes

6. PAST EDITIONS OF ST-BPG
First Edition: 1992
McNeely, J. A., Thorsell, J. W., & Ceballos-Lascurain,
H. (1992). Guidelines: Development of National
Parks and Protected Areas for Tourism (UNEP-
IE/PAC Technical Report Series No. 13). Madrid:
WTO and UNEP.
Second Edition: 2002
Eagles, P. F. J., McCool, S. F., & Haynes, C. D. A.
(2002). Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas:
Guidelines for Planning and Management. Gland,
Switzerland: IUCN, 183pp.

7. OBJECTIVES OF THE THIRD EDITION
To update the background information
used to develop the current best
practices guidelines
To engage TAPAS members and other
stakeholders of protected area tourism
in enhancing the contents and utility of
the guidelines;
To publish the BPG in concert with the
2014 World Parks Congress

8. SOME GUIDING PRINCIPLES
Collaborative project
Balanced collection of global
knowledge
Proactive, strategic and participatory
approaches
Evidence-based management
Starter reference for PA managers

9. CONTRIBUTORS
Editorial Team (TAPA-SG Knowledge
Development and Dissemination subgroup)
Dr. Yu-Fai Leung (chief editor), Dr. Ralf Buckley, Dr.
Glen Hvenegaard, Dr. Anna Spenceley
Contributors from TAPA-SG members
Other contributors
Types of contribution
Chapter, subsection, case study, digital images

10. TIMELINE IN BRIEF
Nov. 2011: Project approved by WCPA
Sep. 2012: Identify contributors
Dec. 2012: Draft contributions
Apr. 2012: Final contributions
Aug. 2013: First complete draft
Dec. 2013: Final draft
Aug. 2014: English version published online
Nov. 2014: Release of print version at 2014
World Parks Congress

11. ST-BPG OUTLINE (CURRENT VERSION)
Chapter Proposed Contents
Introduction and Concepts • Brief introduction to the potential role of tourism in protected areas
(PA), tie to 2014 World Parks Congress themes, 2012 WWC themes,
IUCN strategic plan, etc.
• Brief introduction of the old and new challenges (and opportunities)
of tourism management in protected areas
o Here we acknowledge the notion of carrying capacity in the
tourism management literature but we emphasize that this
BPG will move beyond the flawed conceptualization and
instead focus on a holistic/adaptive approach to sustainable
tourism management
o Lack of visitation/tourism as a problem in PAs
• Contextual (concise) description of global issues and forces influencing
management of tourism (climate change, financial crisis, economic
restructuring, security, technology, changes in governance, etc.)
• Key concepts and scope: What do we mean by sustainability and
tourism in protected areas?
o Emphasize that “sustainable tourism” is not a form of tourism
but rather an overarching principle
o Tourism management vs. visitor management, what is our
focus
• What is the tourism/visitor experience? Diversity of tourism/visitor
experience as related to PAs; why is visitor experience important?
• What is included in the book? What is outside the scope? Who is the
intended audience?
• Brief outline of the book
Historical and Geographical Context • Why is tourism in PA? How has the tourism-PA relationship evolved?

12. INSTRUCTIONS FOR GROUP DISCUSSION
20 minutes:
Form groups of 5-6
Review the handout (draft BPG outline)
and discuss important topics or issues that
are missing
Brainstorm best practice examples
Write on the A3 paper provided
10 minutes:
Rank the topics and issues (1-10,1 being
the most important)
20 minutes:
Each group reports the top 2 issues/topics

13. QUESTIONS?
COMMENTS?