Community perceptions of tourism impacts on coastal protected areas

Abstract

The Dominican Republic is one of the countries with the highest growing number of tourists in coastal protected areas. The objective of this study was to examine the perceived impact of tourism on three coastal national parks, involving all the sectors related to these protected areas and tourism. Workshops were carried out in the coastal protected areas studied. The results revealed the poor integration of local communities in the management plans, the lack of information on protected areas, and the poverty of the majority of the resident families despite income of tourism. The findings of this study highlighted the concept of a carrying capacity or threshold for tourism development. Lower to moderate levels of tourism development appeared beneficial, but as tourism development increased, perceptions of the community worsened. The results also confirmed that tourism contributes to environmental degradation, mainly due to contamination of rivers and coastlines, accumulation of waste, and over-exploitation of natural resources. A series of strategies is proposed to minimize this impact.