Managing cultural values in sustainable tourism: conflicts in protected areas

Abstract

This article addresses the role of cultural values in sustainable tourism.It evaluates cultural confl icts between indigenous groups, recreation users and management agencies over the appropriate amenity use of protected areas in the USA,Australia and New Zealand. It assesses both social values conflicts and interpersonalconflicts between groups with different worldviews about landscapes, resource use and recreation. This article identifies six types of cross-cultural conflicts between indigenous peoples and recreation users: sacred sites / religious beliefs, resource use, land use, visitor infrastructure, recreation activity and place names. Management strategies to address cultural values in sustainable tourism and cultural confl icts over recreational use of natural areas are presented