Journal of Sustainable Tourism
Editors: Bill Bramwell (Sheffield Hallam University) and Bernard Lane (Visiting Research Fellow, Sheffield Hallam University)
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Volume: 11 Number: 4 Page: 348–375
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Environmental Performance Reporting for Natural Area Tourism: Contributions by Visitor Impact Management Frameworks and Their Indicators
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Susan A. Moore, Amanda J. Smith and David N. Newsome
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Environmental performance reporting is being increasingly demanded of many sectors of society, including those responsible for managing natural area tourism. Recent approaches include corporate reporting,
state-of-the-environment reporting, and environmental management systems. This paper evaluates the usefulness of visitor impact management frameworks and associated resource and social indicators, both
of which have a rich history of application to wilderness and backcountry management, for performance reporting on natural area tourism management. The evaluation draws on a recently developed evaluation
framework for protected area management, plus detailed criteria, to address today's environmental performance reporting needs. Against these criteria, the visitor impact management frameworks rated well,
with the Limits of Acceptable Change rating the highest. Resource and social indicators also showed great potential for performance reporting provided they are meaningful to senior managers, politicians
and other stakeholders. Integrating these frameworks and their resource and social indicators into today's performance reporting, especially into state-of-the-environment reporting and environmental management
systems, could significantly advance meaningful performance reporting for natural area tourism management.
© Multilingual Matters 2003
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