Abstract
The context and nature of PAN Parks Tourism is one of the largest sectors in Europe, and has the potential to become a key element of the preservation of rural European landscapes and social structures, through the regeneration of economically depleted areas with the economic input of tourism. Although coastal and city tourism are still the highest in terms of visitors numbers, it is rural and mountain tourism that is growing fast in the European context, and this is mostly around protected areas. The IUCN (1994; in Blangy & Vautier, 2001) lists four reasons why the nineties have offered increased opportunities for protected areas, all of which apply to Europe: • Human populations are relatively stable and affluent; • There are declining pressures on land in many areas because of agricultural surpluses and reduced military activity; • There is a high level of public support for conservation, and • There is a climate of international cooperation Therefore the threat on protected areas in Europe has diminished in some aspects such as resource extraction and agriculture, some of the greatest threats in other regions (WWF, 2000), yet increased in aspects such as land use pressures due to limited land availability. Tourism and recreation are one of the greatest contributors to land use pressure in Europe’s national parks (FNNPE, 1993), yet despite being a threat, it is also one of the key levers for the preservation of Europe’s remaining wilderness areas (Font & Tribe, 2000).