European Charter for Sustainable Tourism

							   MEETING ON EUROPEAN CHARTER FOR
SUSTAINABLE TOURISM FOR THE COTSWOLDS
                 AONB

      Cotswolds Conference Centre, Broadway
                18th February 2010
     Introducing the European Charter
for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas


     Rosie Simpson, Europarc Consulting
The story of the Charter ...



1.   Evolution

2.   Aims & Essentials

3. The Principles

4. Summary & where next?
Issues with non-sustainable tourism
         in protected areas

                • Visitor pressures

                • Pressure on resources & pollution

                • Reactive management

                • Disturbance to species, special
                  qualities & local people

                • Benefits of tourism not
                  realised/unevenly spread

                • Visitors don’t understand the
                  special qualities of the areas
                        Evolution of the Charter…
Loving them to Death?    • 1991: EUROPARC Working Group on
                           Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas

                         • 1993: ‘Loving them to death –
                           Sustainable Tourism in Europe's Nature
                           & National Parks” (Revised 2001)

                         • 1995: Development of Charter
                           methodology

                         • 2001: First seven pilot protected areas
                           signed the Charter

                         • 2007: Start of European CharterNet
                           project

                         • 2009: Pilot of DIY Toolkit and Mentoring
  ISBN: 3-9806882-8-3      Scheme
          What is the European Charter for
          Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas?


• Practical
  management tool
• Recognition of protected
  areas


• Voluntary agreement
• A process & methods for
  managing sustainable
  tourism
Aims of the European Charter
              • Increase awareness of, &
                support for, Europe’s
                protected areas

              • Improve sustainable
                development & management
                of tourism there….

              • taking account of needs of
                environment, local people,
                businesses & visitors
         Some Charter Protected areas

UK: Brecon Beacon, Cairngorms & Exmoor NPs, Mourne
    Mountains & Forest of Bowland AONBs,

France: Cevennes NP, Luberon Parc Naturel Régional

Spain: Zona Volcanica de Garrotxa Nature Park
  The Five essential Charter requirements
• Vision and commitment to Charter principles
• Strategic & partnership approach
• Well-functioning Stakeholder Forum
• Separate Sustainable Tourism Strategy
• 5 year Action Plan with implementation resources
 Commitment to 10 Charter principles

                             6. Tourism products relate to
                                discovery & understanding

                             6. Capacity building on
                                sustainability

3. Protect natural & cultural 7. Tourism supports local
   heritage                      quality of life

4. High quality visitor      8. More tourism benefits to
   experiences                  the local economy

5. Clear communication of    9. Monitor visitors and
   PA special qualities         reduce negative impacts
        Charter Principle 4
To provide visitors with a high quality
experience in all aspects of their visit

• Visitor surveys
• Meeting special needs of disadvantaged
  visitors
• Check and improve quality of facilities and
  services
           Charter Principle 6
Encourage specific tourism products
which enable discovery & understanding
of the area:

•New product development, activities events &
packages related to the area’s character

•Interpretation of the area’s special qualities
   Parc natural régional Luberon: results of
 positive cooperation with tourism businesses

     • New image of sustainable tourism

     • New lines of alternative tourism in villages

     • Tourism in keeping with the park’s Charter &
       the European Charter

     • Tourism for local people as well as visitors




16
           Charter Principle 7
 To increase knowledge of the protected
area and sustainability issues amongst all
           involved in tourism
• Education & awareness programmes

• Training for staff of protected areas, tourism
  enterprises & other organisations
European Charter Areas: News and Networking

                               • Charter website – regular
                                 news updates

                               • Biannual newsletter

                               • Network meetings

                               • Stands at tourism trade
                                 fairs


                               www.european-charter.org
      The European Charter - Summary

• A Practical
  management tool
• Working in Partnership
• An approach for
  managing sustainable
  tourism
• A process & commitment
  to continued improvement
  EUROPARC
and the European
   Charter for
  Sustainable
    Tourism:

The prospect of
  sustainable
    tourism
across Europe
                    So the story of the EUROPARC
                       Charter continues ………


                                    For more information:
                                   www.european-charter.org

                               rosie.simpson@btinternet.com



With thanks to the EUROPARC Tourism Charter Team & to Wilf
Fenten, Richard Partington & Jacques Décuignières for providing some
of the pictures & slides
Sustainable Tourism Strategy: Outline Structure



  2. Diagnosis of characteristics, key issues,
  strengths, weaknesses , opportunities, threats

  3. Current visitor types/numbers & potential
  markets

  4. Strategic objectives arising from the diagnosis

  5. Action plan to meet these objectives & who will
  act monitoring & evaluation

  6. Staff & financial resources allocated

  7. Proposals for monitoring & evaluation
Benefits for the protected area of well-managed
sustainable tourism...
                         • Economic, social and environmental
                         • Strengthened relations with local
                           tourism stakeholders
                         • Higher profile regionally, nationally
                           and across Europe
                         • New ideas and improvements through
                           internal and external assessment
                         • Exchange of expertise and experience
                           within the Charter network
                         • Public relations opportunities with
                           visitors and media
                         • Greater credibility amongst potential
                           funding partner organisations
   Benefits for tourism businesses...

• Close co-operation with the
  protected area
• Provision of high-quality
  information about the protected
  area
• Co- operation with other
  economic sectors in the area
• Engagement with protected area
  staff and other local stakeholders
• Participation in a European wide
  network
• Opening of new markets