National Parks as Tourism Attractions

Ensuring visitor satisfaction and the simultaneous protection of natural resources, by minimising negative environmental influences by visitors, are the main tasks of a national park. This paper explores how knowledge about the management of the load limit and visitors can be used to ensure that these goals are met. Extensive literature research was carried out, existing theories investigated and contemporary applied concepts identified. Furthermore, expert interviews were conducted in five Austrian national parks to learn about their approach, as well as about new and innovative concepts in national park management. Literature served as the basis for the interpretation of the research results. It is shown that although there are many approaches to setting sustainability limits and negative visitor influences, there are difficulties in implementing them globally. Connections and interdependencies between management concepts are examined in the course of this thesis and it is explained how knowledge about it can be applied in practice.