National Parks as Tourism Attractions

Ensuring visitor satisfaction and at the same time protecting natural resources by minimizing negative environmental influences by visitors are the main tasks of a national park. This paper explores how knowledge about the management of the load-bearing capacity limit and can be used by visitors to ensure the achievement of these goals. 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 a basis for the interpretation of the research results. It is shown that although many procedures exist regarding the setting of load-bearing capacity limits as well as negative visitor influences, there are difficulties in implementing them globally. Relationships and interdependencies between management concepts are examined in the course of this thesis and it is explained how the knowledge about this can be applied in practice.