Puhakka, Riikka
Kansallispuistot murroksessa
Tutkimus luonnonsuojelun ja matkailun tavoitteiden kohtaamisesta
Abstract
Riikka Puhakka: National Parks in Transition. A Study of the Interaction between Nature Conservation and Tourism. University of Joensuu. Publications in Social Sciences. N:o 81. Joensuu 2007. 305 pp.
Keywords: national park, tourism, nature-based tourism, nature conservation, protected area, discourses, concepts of nature
Since the first national parks were established, they have been given a double role both as the destinations of nature conservation and recreation and tourism. As a result of the recent growth of nature-based tourism, national parks have become important tourist attractions in Finland.
This doctoral dissertation examines the interaction between nature conservation and tourism in Finland from the perspective of cultural geography. The study analyses how the central stakeholders of national parks – park authorities, tourists and tourism entrepreneurs – understand the role of tourism as part of the grounds of nature conservation and the use of national parks. Moreover, the study examines what kind of concepts of nature the meanings given to national parks are based on. Besides the current meanings of national parks, the study includes a review of the Finnish discussion about the interaction between nature conservation and tourism from the latter part of the 19th century until the present.
In this study, national parks are understood as spaces constructed by historical and social practices; nature is culturally defined as worth protecting, and the management and land use of parks are based on socially defined principles. Nature conservation is political and societal activity, and, thus, the role of tourism in national parks is neither historically nor culturally unchanging or indisputable.
On the basis of the research materials – planning documents and interviews– analysed with the methods of discourse analysis, it is not reasonable to examine the stakeholders of national parks as uniform entities, but it is more suitable to identify various social discourses, which may conflict with each other but may also be common to different stakeholders. The study identifies four discourses that define the interaction between nature conservation and tourism in national parks: national parks as conservation areas, national parks as tourist destinations, national parks as destinations of sustainable nature-based tourism, and national parks as resources of local people.
According to the study, the role of tourism has increased in Finnish national parks as a result of the growth of nature-based tourism and changes in conservation thinking. In this decade, national parks as areas of sustainable nature-based tourism has become the dominant discourse directing the management and land use of national parks. At present the aim is to combine the ecological goals of nature conservation and the economic goals of naturebased tourism in national parks by implementing the principles of sustainable development. By setting the goal of regional development, the interests of local people are taken into account more widely than previously. Accordingly, the different discourses defining the interaction between nature conservation and tourism have come closer to each other. The discursive change shows that nature conservation has become more instrumental and marketoriented.
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