The value of protected areas is often hidden from direct view. Once managers understand the number and behaviour of visitors they host, and the revenues and costs they generate, informed decisions on management plans and tourism strategies can be made. Demonstrating the positive impact of protected areas on the local economy can lead to greater buy-in and ownership of conservation practices and places, less poaching and land encroachment, and may also help offset some of the human-wildlife conflict where it occurs. 

Drawing on case studies from around the world, the Tourism and Protected Areas Working Group (TAPAS/WCPA) launches its new guideline, 'Visitors Count! Guidance for protected areas on the economic analysis of visitation' that aims to build awareness, knowledge and capacity internationally on how to best undertake economic evaluations of tourism in protected areas, and thereby contribute towards a globally acknowledged standard methodology. These guidelines aim to provide a standardized approach for measuring economic impacts of tourism in protected areas, in order to help national stakeholders, protected area managers and researchers to count visitation consistently, and also to reliably evaluate its economic impacts. The guidelines contain methodological guidance on consistent visitor counting and surveys, while explaining how economic analysis works and how to apply this analysis in the protected area context. Guidance on reporting and communicating the results is also provided, as a way of using the findings to adapt protected area tourism management strategies.

Download the guidelines here: Visitors count! Guidance for protected areas on the economic analysis of visitation - UNESCO Digital Library

Read more about the IUCN WCPA Tourism and Protected Areas Specialist Group here: https://www.iucn.org/commissions/world-commission-protected-areas/our-work/tourism-tapas