Tourism Participative Management in Protected Areas: Case Study in the Protected Area of Parco Naturale Regionale Sirente Velino

Community engagement and adaptive management are generally considered excellent techniques for the long-term success of environmental policies; nevertheless, several challenges emerge when faced with practice. In this research study, we analyze the joint governance design introduced in the protected area of Parco Naturale Regionale Sirente Velino (Abruzzo, Italy) through the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism (ECST). The ECST is a tool that can be likened to process certification, which allows better management of protected areas for the development of sustainable tourism in coherence with the spatial planning tools of the parks. The central element of the ECST is collaboration among all stakeholders to develop a common strategy and an action plan for tourism development based on an in-depth analysis of the local situation and the creation of a permanent forum. The objective is the protection of natural and cultural heritage and the continuous improvement of tourism management in the protected area for the benefit of the environment, the local population, businesses, and visitors. The research, combining in-depth interviews carried out with the main territorial actors with a survey carried out with the tourism actors, shows how the partnership created with ECST has contributed to the emergence of a process of improvement in tourism management in the protected area, encouraging cooperation between the territorial public institutions and private actors.