Abstract

DE LA CRUZ, Azucena et al. Participative management of tourism in protected areas: Case-study from Lands of Priolo, São Miguel, Azores. RGCI [online]. 2014, vol.14, n.2, pp.289-299. ISSN 1646-8872.  https://doi.org/10.5894/rgci479.

Community participation and adaptive management are commonly considered as good approaches for long-term success of environmental policies, however several challenges arise when confronted with practice. This paper presents the case-study of the application of the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism (ECST) in the Lands of Priolo (Eastern councils of São Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal). The participatory planning process took place in 2011 including a diagnosis, a strategy and an action plan (2012-2016). More than one hundred people participated in the process, representing 50% of the stakeholders identified. Participation was higher in the initial diagnosis meetings (47%), which were held in every parish, than in the Forums (15%), despite the later being the actual decision meetings. After concluding the ECST process, in 2012, a Priolo brand was created to encourage and to allow companies to join the process; so far 15% of the stakeholders have applied for the brand. A clear reduction of participation of local institutions, little local businesses and individual people could be verified, while larger tourism related companies maintained their participation and joined the Priolo Brand. In terms of planning results, 55 actions were defined, of which 32 were of the responsibility of the Regional Government, 10 of the municipality of Nordeste, 5 of a national NGO, 3 of the Local Rural Development Association and 5 of other entities. Although preliminary, these results allow to highlight some important conclusions in relation with the practical application of this kind of environmental planning processes such as: the importance of close-by or parish meetings; the relevance of non-formal information; the need for a balance between the number of stakeholders involved and the duration of the process; the importance of a facilitation entity that can rise trust among all involved stakeholders and the need of effective results to avoid disappointment.

Keywords : Sustainable Tourism; Participative methodologies; Social-ecological systems; Governance.

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