General Information
| Relevant operative para(s) of Res/Rec | Activities Overview | Description | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
Scientific/technical activities
|
Scoping is under way within TAPAS for the update of IUCN Best Practice Guidelines No. 27, Tourism and visitor management in protected areas (2018), as mandated by OP2. The revision will address climate change, mass tourism and visitor pressure, carrying capacity and limits of acceptable change, and the compatibility of tourism with the objectives of categories I and II.
|
On-going
|
|
2
|
Scientific/technical activities
|
A stocktaking paper on tourism and visitor management in protected and conserved areas is in preparation for the 2027 IUCN World Protected and Conserved Areas Congress, co-led by Ante Mandić and Thiago Beraldo Souza. It reviews current practice and the available evidence base, and provides the evidence foundation for the guidelines update and the report-back required by OP2.
|
On-going
|
|
3
|
Convene stakeholders/Networking
|
Stream 1.2 of the 2027 Congress, "Integrating PCA systems into sectoral strategies, governance and policies", is led by the TAPAS Chair and includes dedicated sessions on the tourism-protected areas interface. It is the venue for presenting the guidelines update and accompanying recommendations to the next Congress, as OP2 requires.
|
On-going
|
|
4
|
Scientific/technical activities
|
TAPAS is reconciling terminology across existing tourism assessment tools and guides, to support the standardised assessment of ecotourism practice referred to in OP6 and to make assessment approaches usable by operators in different national contexts, including in developing countries.
|
Planned
|
|
5
|
Convene stakeholders/Networking
|
Continuing collaboration with UNESCO and the IUCN World Heritage Programme on tourism and visitor management in World Heritage sites supports alignment of site management with IUCN guidelines and tourism best practice, as encouraged by OP3.
|
On-going
|
|
6
|
Education/Communication/Raising awareness
|
TAPAS continues to work with the #NatureForAll initiative on visitation as a route to building conservation constituencies, and on communicating responsible visitor behaviour in protected areas.
|
On-going
|
|
7
|
Fundraising
|
TAPAS will submit a proposal to the Commission for a resourced work plan covering Resolutions 8.075 and 8.129, including the drafting group, review process and publication budget required to deliver the guidelines update in time for the 2027 Congress.
|
Planned
|
|
8
|
Policy influencing/advocacy
|
TAPAS has had no involvement in the Albania file to date and has not been asked for input. The group is available to provide technical review of revised national legal frameworks against IUCN category I and II standards, should the Director General or the Secretariat request it.
|
Planned
|
|
1
|
Scientific/technical activities
|
Scoping is under way within TAPAS for the update of IUCN Best Practice Guidelines No. 27, Tourism and visitor management in protected areas (2018), as mandated by OP2. The revision will address climate change, mass tourism and visitor pressure, carrying capacity and limits of acceptable change, and the compatibility of tourism with the objectives of categories I and II.
|
Planned
|
Actors involved in these activities
| Challenges / lessons learned | Description |
|---|---|
|
Insufficient / lack of resources
|
Implementation depends entirely on volunteer time. No dedicated funding has been secured and no Secretariat counterpart has been designated for this Resolution. Both the guidelines update and the research agenda are currently carried by members of the Specialist Group alongside their own institutional commitments. |
|
Insufficient / lack of resources
|
Quantifying the local environmental impacts of overtourism, as requested by OP3b, implies sustained site-level data collection across a wide range of protected areas. This is beyond what a volunteer specialist group can carry without an institutional research partner. Identifying such a partner is a priority for the next reporting period. |
|
Coordination issues
|
Resolutions 8.075 and 8.129 overlap substantially and converge on the same instruction to WCPA: the update of Best Practice Guidelines No. 27. TAPAS is implementing them as a single work package rather than as separate streams. An explanatory note on this arrangement is attached to both Activity Reports. |
|
Insufficient / lack of resources
|
Implementation depends entirely on volunteer time. No dedicated funding has been secured and no Secretariat counterpart has been designated for this Resolution. Both the guidelines update and the research agenda are currently carried by members of the Specialist Group alongside their own institutional commitments. |