General Information
| Relevant operative para(s) of Res/Rec | Activities Overview | Description | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
Convene stakeholders/Networking
|
TAPAS maintains standing collaboration with UNESCO and the IUCN World Heritage Programme on tourism and visitor management in World Heritage sites. This is established as a continuing line of work in the TAPAS 2026-2029 strategy, completed in 2026.
|
On-going
|
|
2
|
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
|
|
3
|
Convene stakeholders/Networking
|
Stream 1.2 of the 2027 IUCN World Protected and Conserved Areas 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 provides a structured multi-stakeholder venue for exchange on preventing and mitigating overtourism.
|
On-going
|
|
4
|
Scientific/technical activities
|
A stocktaking paper on tourism and visitor management in protected and conserved areas is in preparation for the 2027 Congress, co-led by Ante Mandić and Thiago Beraldo Souza. It reviews current management practice and the available evidence base on measuring visitor pressure, and will serve as the evidence baseline for the update of the IUCN tourism guidelines.
|
Planned
|
|
5
|
Scientific/technical activities
|
Scoping is under way within TAPAS for the update of IUCN Best Practice Guidelines No. 27 (2018), mandated by Resolution 8.129 OP2. The revision addresses carrying capacity and limits of acceptable change, overtourism and visitor pressure, and climate change. It is the main vehicle for delivering the assessment tools referred to in OP2a of this Resolution.
|
On-going
|
|
6
|
Scientific/technical activities
|
TAPAS is reconciling terminology across existing tourism assessment tools and guides, so that assessment approaches can be applied consistently by protected area managers and tourism operators across different national contexts.
|
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
|
|
1
|
Convene stakeholders/Networking
|
TAPAS maintains standing collaboration with UNESCO and the IUCN World Heritage Programme on tourism and visitor management in World Heritage sites. This is established as a continuing line of work in the TAPAS 2026-2029 strategy, completed in 2026.
|
On-going
|
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. |
|
Monitoring and accountability issues
|
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. |