As part of an international project, national parks and nature parks established in karst regions are examined, with a primary focus on how local residents, visitors and influential figures (i.e., park managers, mayors) perceive the advantages and disadvantages of a specific park. The study area in this paper is the Apuseni Nature Park (Romania). The main natural resources of this park are: the karst (morphology and hydrology), the forests and the landscape. In order to explore the perception and motivation of tourists visiting the park, a field survey using a convenience sampling strategy was conducted in 2019 and 2021 at eleven sites in the park. The results show that among the motivations, the “search for relaxation” option is the most frequently selected (43%), but “interest in caves” (34%) and “interest in karst terrains” (29%) were also relatively popular. In terms of public support for potential developments, one positive result of the questionnaire is that developments involving sustainability and nature conservation (visitor centre, education trails and viewpoints) enjoy significantly more support than developments that put a strain on the environment (adventure parks and expansion of entertainment facilities). The awareness of geotourism should be improved, but even at the current level it can be said that geotourists are an important segment of the park’s visitors. A careful development of tourism can be recommended for the park, but it must ensure that the principles of sustainability are taken into account during the developments. Given the environmental and economic challenges, strengthening the organization of the park is suggested in order to better protect the threatened natural resources.

Nature parks are protected natural areas whose purposes are the protection and conservation of landscapes in which the interaction of human activities with nature over time has created a distinct area, with significant landscape and/or cultural value, often with great biological diversity. This is the case of Apuseni Nature Park, which includes a significant karst terrain and is a very important tourist destination. In this article, we examine the attitude of local people towards the protected area with the help of a questionnaire composed of 32 questions. After the general questions, the economic situation was examined first. Then the respondents had to evaluate the values and the difficulties of their region and their relation to tourism. The answers reveal that they are aware of the importance of tourism, which may represent a serious complementary income for them. The most intriguing questions were some open-ended questions, which focused on the relationship of locals to Apuseni Nature Park. Based on the answers, we can conclude that the negative opinions slightly dominate. The dissatisfaction of the locals, the feeling of limitations due to the park are expressed in many different ways. But probably the most relevant problems can be linked to the rules and laws. As it is a nature park, people in fact, live inside the park, thus, the equilibrium between their lives and the purposes of the park should be approached. The administration of the nature park should involve local people more closely in decision-making, and maybe certain rules should be changed.