Our aim is to compile a Special Issue that highlights research on recent trends in nature-based tourism, protected areas, and sustainability. Nature-based tourism is a growing segment of the tourism market and one that is often dependent on the natural attractions found in and around protected areas. Nature-based tourism can also be an economic driver for gateway communities. However, increasing visitation and associated impacts can threaten the ability of protected areas to manage visitation and protect natural resources. Surrounding communities can be inundated with visitors, threatening the integrity of local cultures. Conversely, protected areas and local communities can become economically dependent on income generated from nature-based tourism and a decline in visitation can prove detrimental to conservation and local economies. At a larger scale, rapid environmental, social, and technological change increase complexity and create conditions that impact nature-based tourism in and around protected areas. Sustainability is key to the long-term health of nature-based tourism and the places where it occurs. Therefore, we seek papers that address the complexities of maintaining resilient and sustainable protected areas and local communities in the context of a turbulent and complex world. Papers can address emerging trends, provide innovative methodological approaches, and/or challenge current assumptions in thinking about nature-based tourism, protected areas, and sustainability. Topics may include: emerging trends in nature-based tourism and protected areas (event tourism, adventure racing, health and wellness tourism, new technologies, changing demographics, motivations and preferences); interactions between nature-based tourism, communities, and protected areas; governance and adaptation; planning and management of protected areas for nature-based tourism and sustainability; responses to environmental, social, and economic change and disturbance; indigenous approaches to conservation and nature-based tourism development; social-ecological systems and resilience thinking; and innovative approaches to management and use of technology.
Keywords: nature-based tourism; ecotourism; sustainable tourism; protected areas.