Sustainable tourism
The Adamello Brenta Nature Park is committed to promoting a type of tourism which is both sustainable for the areas involved and attractive for the market. It is based on three principles:
- the participation and active involvement of all parties with interests in the tourism district;
- protection of diversity and therefore the safeguarding of existing motives for tourism;
- promotion of diversity, namely the discovery and invention of new opportunities for tourism.
Tourism and the natural environment are closely knit. An unspoilt environment is a strong attraction for tourists. Vice versa, the high level of human pressure and resulting impact on the territory makes tourism a risk factor for the environment. The debate underway at European level on the theme of tourism and the environment has led to the assertion that tourism and the natural environment are closely interconnected and that, if not managed correctly, "nature and biodiversity may be severely damaged by uncontrolled tourism development"; and again, that "fragile areas such as the mountains contain a wealth of biodiversity deserving particular attention and special integrated management methods when tourism development is involved". The Adamello Brenta Nature Park has been strongly committed to sustainable tourism and associated issues from the 2000-2005 legislature until the recent signing of the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism. This tool provided the Park with a positive experience of dialogue with the local community, with whom it identified a joint strategy for sustainable development.
Dialogue between the Park and the tourism sector is almost obligatory, given that the protected area includes three of the most important winter tourism districts in the Trentino (Madonna di Campiglio-Pinzolo, Andalo-Molveno and Folgarida-Marilleva), together attracting a quarter of the province's entire flow of tourists each year. It is becoming ever more a mass tourism pattern, with seasonal peaks of very high numbers concentrated in limited areas. The Park's efforts are aimed at promoting different ways of offering tourism and enjoying a holiday in the mountains. Some fear that on the matter of sustainability, the Park risks becoming excessively biased, placing its institutional mission of safeguarding and protection in second place. However, in embarking on its mission, the Park cannot escape dialogue with the most important economic activity in the area, tourism.
In this sense, it is part of the Park's work to encourage sustainable tourism practices, respectful of the needs of the environment and residents and aware of the pressures from the local economy and visitors. This is the context for projects aimed at promoting the widespread adoption of an environmental management model in the holiday accommodation sector, action in favour of sustainable mobility and the development of environmental education proposals and low impact tourism activities. On the other hand, through its activities and own logo, the Park can become an element of attraction, characterising the tourism offer in the area by orienting it towards sustainable models.
