Browsing by Author "Rio, Dora Alexandra Ramos Leal do"
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- Monitoring and evaluation tools for nature-based tourism: case studies from Ukraine and BrasilPublication . Rio, Dora Alexandra Ramos Leal do; Nunes, LuisNature-based tourism is any type of tourism that relies mainly on attractions directly related to the natural enviromnent. Therefore when managed in a sustainable way Nature-based tourism may provide important economic revenues to local communities and help support nature conservation efforts. However, when not well managed naturebased tourism may have serious impacts on ecosystems and on local communities” social structure. Monitoring and evaluation has been proved to be an essential tool to evaluate long-term sustainability of nature-based tourism projects and destinations. This dissertation aims to develop two monitoring and evaluation tools for two different levels of nature-based tourism: one tool for projects and another tool for destinations. Both tools aimed to be used in conditions of low technical or/and economic resources. A mountain tourism destination in Ukraine and an ecotourism project in Brazil were used as case studies. Two different methodologies were used. The M&E tool for a mountain tourism destination was based on the use of relationship indicators to analyze the relationships between natural resource, local community and tourism industry in the destination. Two rounds of Delphi questionnaires were carried out with local stakeholders and researchers to identify suitable indicators for monitor and evaluate the case study. An evaluation questionnaire was carried out to evaluate the destination. The M&E tool for ecotourism projects was based on the use of performance indicators and benchmark derived from ecotourism certification programs to monitor and evaluate the compliance of the ecotourism project with the principles of ecotourism. Stakeholders” information, direct obselvation and factual data were used to collect information to evaluate the project. Results of the both case studies, shows that tourism causes positives and negative impacts on the destinations. Results showed that both tools are suitable for monitoring and evaluation tourism in conditions of low technical or/and economic resources which makes it very useful for small projects and rural destinations. The tools also provide useful benchmark data for future monitoring of case studies as well as to be used in other similar projects.