The stakeholders' point of view about the impact of recreational and tourism activities on natural protected area: a case study from Kure Mountains National Park, Turkey

The aim of this study was to emphasize the need for considering the stakeholders' opinions on the planning, implementation and monitoring processes in determining the adverse effects created by the recreational and tourism activities in the protected natural areas. Natural protected areas are rich in terms of resource values. Therefore, the impact assessment of the stakeholders turns into a multi-criteria decision-making problem. In this respect, Kure Mountains National Park (KMNP), which joined Protected Areas Network (PAN) in 2012 and is one of the most important protected areas in Turkey, was selected as a sample area. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP), a multi-criteria decision-making approach, was used to compare the resource values dually between each other. As a result of the assessment, it was found that all the area stakeholders (managers, local people, experts and visitors) expressed that the adverse impacts of the recreational and tourism activities were observed primarily in the air and water quality. It was identified that the stakeholder groups assessed the recreational and tourism activities' impact on the fauna, flora and vegetation at the same level. Consequently, the active involvement of the stakeholders in all processes in KMNP, which is run through a participatory approach, allowed them to have a common opinion on the impact assessment as well.