The United Kingdom is embracing a new strategy for managing and promoting its national park system—regenerative tourism.
The policy shift comes 75 years after the UK first established its national park system. The UK is home to 15 national parks and will soon establish its 16th national park in Scotland.
UK National Parks says it will strive to be a leader in pursuing a parks management approach that involves “managing tourism in such a way that we don’t merely minimize its impact but strive towards tourism making a net positive contribution to our National Parks.”
The national parks officials say what they have in mind goes beyond basic concepts of sustainability or sustainable tourism.
Among their plans, officials at UK National Parks say they plan to explore ways to enlist tourists not only for the protection of national parks, but also in their improvement. Their new strategy paper is sparse on specifics, but the idea suggests visitors to some parks will be enlisted in restoration projects.
The agency also says it will steer tourism at the national parks in a way that “helps reduce carbon emissions and increases nature recovery.”
Tom Hind, the tourism lead at UK National Parks, said the move toward regenerative tourism is necessary because the nation’s park system is under stress. Rising visitor numbers, peak season crowding, record demand for camping, and traffic in and out of UK national parks require more than just managing environmental impacts, he said.
“National parks face significant challenges,” Hind said. “To achieve truly positive transformation, we need to move from minimizing the impacts of tourism to ensuring visitors leave our National Parks as better places.”
Step one involves a massive data collection effort. National park managers across the UK will be charged with collecting information on the state of their parks. That includes data on how tourism is impacting the parks and what the future holds.
Then comes strategy development and project planning. Money will have to enter the discussion at some point, as well.
“As national assets, it is important that National Park Authorities have sufficient resources so that they can fulfill their twin purposes of looking after these special places, while helping people to enjoy and understand them sustainably,” UK National Parks said in the new strategy paper.
The parks authority is assuring UK taxpayers that they will get real value for their money.
“A little investment goes a long way,” the parks authority said. “For every £1 the government invests in National Parks, they lever in additional funds and generate significantly more health and wellbeing benefits.”
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Park Info
Park:
UK National Parks
Location:
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
