Alpine parks between yesterday and tomorrow – a conceptual history of Alpine national parks via tourism in charismatic parks in Austria, Germany and Switzerland

Abstract

The history of national parks in Austria, Germany and Switzerland reaches back to the late 19 th century. Based on a historic content analysis (ATLAS.ti), this study investigates the different conservation concepts through the example of tourism in charismatic parks in the Alps, such as Swiss National Park, Berchtesgaden National Park and Hohe Tauern National Park. A conception is considered a particular co-occurrence of protagonists, perceived threats, desired conservation goals and instruments applied. Analysing these co-occurrences sheds light on relations between historic milestones in nature conservation and the broader context of debates, changes and developments in society. Such an analysis reveals recurring archetypical conservation narratives and, in the context of tourism, allows identifying six different conceptions to better compare and understand the developments these parks have gone through: 1) fundamental antagonism, 2) selective antagonism, 3) opportunistic co-operation, 4) opportunistic appropriation, 5) co-operative development, and 6) integrative development. The parks' histories differ greatly, but nowadays the conception of integrative development appears to be generally acknowledged.

Visiting national parks during the COVID-19 pandemic - an example of social adaptation of tourists in the perspective of creating social innovations

“…These are of great social, cultural and economic significance, and have an influence on the development of the regions in which they are found. Many of them are considered to be charismatic parks (analogically to charismatic species) and are of importance not only to the region, but to society as a whole ( Pichler-Koban and Jungmeie, 2017 ). National parks were created for a noble purpose to protect the areas of wild nature for the whole nation, not for privileged layers ( Butler, 2018 ).…”

“…Often, there is a clash between the conflicting interests of various social groups, which leads to conflicts related to providing access to parks for various activities. This problem is particularly relevant to national mountain parks in Europe, which have long economic and touristic traditions, and over one hundred years of complicated environmental protection ( Pichler-Koban and Jungmeie, 2017 , Jodłowski, 2020 ). It is not only the conflict between visitors and administrative bodies and ecological NGOs but also between various group of visitors.…”

Tourists’ Attitudes towards Visitor Management and Restrictions in the National Parks in the Carpathian Mountains

“…The scope of restrictions on access to national parks varies greatly between countries, or even regions within one country, depending on the approach to environmental protection, which is reflected in specific regulations. Visitor management models in the national parks in the Alps were analysed by Pichler- Koban and Jungmeier (2017). In Poland, like in other countries of Central Europe (Slovakia, Czechia), regulations governing access to national parks are much more restrictive than in other European countries (Gawrysiak-Zabłocka, 2020;Jodłowski, 2020).…”