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Adapting to Increased Visitation: Practical Approaches to Visitor Management in Protected Areas

Published on: 30/04/25

Four case studies highlighting successful approaches to visitor management in Protected Areas.

Adapting to Increased Visitation: Practical Approaches to Visitor Management in Protected Areas

The post-pandemic era has witnesses a remarkable surge in visitors to Protected Areas, creating both opportunities and challenges for park management. This article explores four case studies of visitor management approaches. Each case demonstrates successful practical strategies for balancing public access with environmental protection.

©Petra Niskanen

Case Study 1: Limits of acceptable changes (LAC) as a method for sustainable nature tourism in Sipoonkorpi National Park

Situated close to Finland’s capital city, Sipoonkorpi National Park has noticed a significant increase in nature based tourism since Covid-19. Though it is great for people to be out in nature, this increase of visitors has had negative social and ecological impacts such as visitor compaints and negative effects on wildlife. To manage this change, Sipoonkorpi National Park has implemented a new strategy that aims to dynamically track these negative impacts and to take necessary measures.

©Strava.com Heatmap

Case Study 2: Detecting cycling activities with the use of Strava Heatmaps; Use of online available data in questions of visitor management

Lobau, a protected area of riparian forest along the Donnau in Vienna, is within a district that is expected to have a population increase of 50% in the next few years. This poses a threat to wildlife and recreational visitors in the Donau-Auen National Park. Fitness tracking applications like Strava can provide evidence of misuses of trails. The park staff have begun to collaborate with key stakeholders and partners to enable quick action such as key communication strategies in order to ensure the proper use of the park’s trails.

©Parc Natural de Cap de Creus

Case Study 3: Regulation of frequentation and access at Cap de Creus Natural Park

Parc Natural de Cap de Creus has encountered challenges with visitors disrespecting pre-existing park rules and regulations. Addressing this issue became a priority to safeguard natural sites, particularly those that are environmentally sensitive. Strict measures were taken up to enforce the regulations with physical barriers and clear communication by both the park staff and local businesses. Monitorring the result has demonstrated improvements in visitor behaviour.

Case Study 4: Carrying capacity: visitors study in Parco Nord Milano, a periurban park

©Parco Nord Milano

In order to make better assessment for the development of an effective park management plan, data is required, and that is what the Parco Nord Milano aims to pursue. The park set an ambitious goal to understand its visitor demographic using both new technology and on site staff members.

These case studies show that effective visitor management in Protected Areas requires an integrated approach, combining scientific monitoring, technology, community engagement and dynamic strategies. As nature tourism continues to grow, the lessons learnt from these parks provide valuable inspiration for park managers looking to address similar challenges.

Do you have interesting initiatives that you would like to share with us? Or would you like to submit a case study? Please visit our Knowledge Hub!

Out now: EUROPARC’s Protected Areas In-Sight Volume 16!

Published on: 28/04/25

The Protected Areas In-Sight is EUROPARC’s annual journal, which follows the theme of the EUROPARC Conference. Discover the latest edition now! Available in English, French and German.

Effective Management, Better Parks

The Protected Areas In-Sight aims to inspire its readers with success stories from across the EUROPARC Network. This issue of the Protected Areas In-Sight explores how we can strengthen the management effectiveness of Protected Areas through collaboration, learning and innovation.

New approaches are emerging to bridge gaps and drive meaningful change through more effective and inclusive management.

Michael Hošek

writes EUROPARC’s President, Michael Hošek, in the Magazine’s editorial.

The 2024 edition of our Protected Areas In-Sight explores four key pillars to the E-Forum theme “Protected Area Management Effectiveness”:

Planning
Governance
Capacity Building
Communication

It includes 12 articles from Protected Area Professionals across Europe, showcasing the stories and projects with a shared commitment to building resilient and well-managed conservation areas that benefit both nature and people.

Powered by the EUROPARC Community

As always, the Protected Areas In-Sight would not exist without the dedication of our network! In this edition, you will find articles from:

The European Environmental Angency writes about dangerous tipping points;
Metsähallitus Parks & Wildlife Finland share experiences of their management effectiveness evaluation;
Fungobe sharing their experience on good governance in Protected Areas;
Youth voices from Biosphere Reserves share their journey from dialogues to formalising a national network;
The E.C.O Institute for Ecology shares how to communicate effectively to close the science-practice divide;
The “Frame of Life” movement shares how effective citizen science can drive nature conservation;

Furthermore, interesting insights from our projects such as the LIFE ENABLE, MPA4Change, LIFE PAME Europe , Interreg Europe GREENHEALTH and Horizon Europe NaturaConnect projects explore what is needed for nature conservation that is future-ready.

Discover it yourself! You can flip through all three versions here:

English

Français

Deutsch

If you’d prefer to download the Protected Areas In-Sight, we invite you to check out our digital library, where you can also find all previous editions.

EUROPARC members will receive a physical copy of the Protected Areas In-Sight in the upcoming weeks.

The publication of the Protected Areas In-Sight is co-funded by the European Commission. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor CINEA can be held responsible for them.

National parks as promoters of stays and exercise in nature

Published on: 28/04/25

Finland’s adoption of the 3-30-300 Nature Recommendation in 2025, promoting outdoor exercise and nature engagement, is the focus of this guest article by Juho Jäppinen. The 3-30-300 model encourages visiting nature 3 times a week for at least 30 mins each time, aiming for 300 mins weekly. This initiative encourages physical activity and nature connectedness.

Juho Jäppinen is both author of the 3-30-300 Nature Recommendation and promoter of connectedness with nature and physical activity through Meijän Polku, “Our Path” promoting community health and wellbeing.

In early 2025, the 3–30–300 Nature Recommendation was published in Finland to promote spending time in nature and outdoor exercise. The Nature Recommendation was inspired by the 3-30-300 model (https://www.330300rule.com) that has attracted a great deal of attention in urban planning in recent years. As a Nature Recommendation, the 3-30-300 model offers an easy-to-remember rule for exercise and spending time in nature:

Visit nature at least 3 times a week.
Spend at least 30 minutes at a time in nature.
Aim at spending a total of 300 minutes in nature every week.

The 3-30-300 Nature Recommendation also advocates combining the 300 minutes spent in a natural environment with brisk physical activity. This allows you to maximise the wellbeing and health benefits of both exercise and natural environments. Spending time in nature and outdoor exercise can be effortlessly combined in national parks, where people spend more time and go on longer excursions. There is a great need to increase physical activity and time spent in nature in Finland, Europe and elsewhere in the world.

Image – Kuvateksti: Humans derive wellbeing and health benefits from nature through different mechanisms. The time spent in diverse natural environments and the frequency and recurrence of exposure to nature are important from the perspective of increased wellbeing. This is why the 3-30-300 Nature Recommendation advises people to visit natural environments at least 3 times a week for at least 30 minutes at a time and sets the weekly target of 300 minutes in total. In national parks and other larger areas intended for outdoor activities, you can achieve the 300-minute weekly target on a single visit.

Back to nature

Finns are known as a people living close to nature. However, our relationships with nature vary a great deal depending on such factors as where we live and what age we are. Around 4% take no outdoor exercise, and about one out of three Finns do so once a week or less frequently. (LVVI3)
At the European level, the demand for the wellbeing and health benefits of spending time and exercising in nature would be even greater, as almost one half of Europeans engage in no physical activity at all. Only one half of those who engage in physical activity exercise in parks or other outdoor environments. (Special Eurobarometer 525).
Urbanisation, motorization and our changing lifestyles have significantly reduced our contacts with diverse nature. In the meantime biodiversity around us is disappearing, which contributes to reducing our wellbeing. (Hanski et al.2012).

We suffer from nature deficiency, the effects of which are seen as the rising prevalence of lifestyle diseases, including mental health problems, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes and cancers. This is why spending more time and being physically active in nature would be increasingly important for not only public health but also the national economy.

According to Finnish estimates, the health economic value of natural environments is approx. EUR 2.5 billion annually. (Tyrväinen et al. 2024) It has been estimated that by reducing sedentary behaviour, in other words being physically active, we could save EUR 3.2 billion a year in health expenses in Finland. (Kolu et al. 2022) While exposure to nature and increase in physical activity largely take place close to home, national parks do and could play a major role in promoting wellbeing and health.

National parks’ role in increasing the length of stays and fostering our relationship with nature

National parks generally differ from local natural environments near our homes in terms of their scale, biodiversity and location; large and connected areas of protected nature are usually located at a distance from urban centres. This is also true in Finland. For example, the four national parks in Central Finland are located 50 to 120 km from Jyväskylä, the largest city in the region with 150,000 residents.

The remote location not only creates logistic challenges from the perspective of sustainable travel but also increases the visitors’ length of stay in the area – once you make your way to a national park, you stay there longer. For example, the average length of stay in Central Finland’s national parks, excluding overnight trips, is 3 to 5 hours, which in practice makes up the weekly total of the 3-30-300 Nature Recommendation.

National parks are also suitable destinations for overnight excursions. Such longer trips have increased in popularity, and in some Finnish national parks they already account for a significant proportion of visits.

Caption: Most people’s contacts with nature in Finland take place in their local environments, or less than 300 metres from home. However, a visit to natural sites further away from home usually lengthens the duration of individual visits and also enables new experiences of nature activities and outdoor exercise. In terms of accessibility, the longer distances are a challenge.

National parks are also excellent environments for developing connectedness with nature, building up knowledge of the natural environment, and gaining new experiences of hiking and exercise in nature. For example, many of us try longer hikes, overnight stays in nature, mountain biking, paddling or snowshoeing for the first time under the guidance of hiking and tourism entrepreneurs operating in national parks. National parks are also where many of us enjoy our first visits to old-growth forests with a high level of biodiversity.

The significant difference between national parks and local natural environments in residential areas is not only extensive nature areas with high biodiversity and various small ecosystems but also silence, darkness and the possibility of following a natural daily rhythm, which we rarely get to enjoy in urban areas and cities any more. Silence, the soundscape of nature and a natural daily rhythm improve human wellbeing but also enable holistic nature experiences.

There and back again

From the perspective of accessibility, improving public transport connections plays a key role for national parks. Positive signs of such services becoming available have been seen in recent years in Finland, and some of our national parks can be reached either by bus or train. Next summer, you can also get to the nearby national parks by bus from Jyväskylä. Among others, this makes visits to national parks possible for persons in a weaker social position, senior citizens and families with young children who have no private car. Spending more time in nature and taking more outdoor exercise have a significant impact on the wellbeing and health of these groups.

Better availability of public transport will reduce the loading and congestion of parking areas in national parks and, above all, environmental loading and emissions produced by visitors to national parks. Reaching natural environments without burdening the ecosystem should indeed be possible regardless of the visitor’s socio-economic background, age or state of health. The growing trend of cycling tourism should also be considered when improving the accessibility of national parks. Better public transport will also significantly reduce the noise and particulates in the air caused by private car use. While natural environments can absorb and filter anthropogenic noise and particulate matter from traffic, the busy road networks close to urban environments often mean that these disadvantages cannot be completely eliminated. National parks located at a distance from major traffic corridors already avoid most of these problems just by their location, and guiding transitions towards public transport and cycling tourism also reduces the disadvantages caused by private car use in the neighbouring areas of national parks.

To conclude

National parks offer a great opportunity for promoting exposure to nature, understanding of nature and exercise in nature. Consequently, the number and extent of national parks should be significantly increased in Finland and Europe in order to foster the wellbeing of both humans and nature. Increasing the number of national parks and expanding the size of existing areas will reduce wear and tear in them as visitors can choose between several similar sites. The accessibility of national parks with both public transport and bikes should similarly be improved in order to reduce the environmental footprint caused by transitions. In the meantime – in order to maximise the most significant potential for our wellbeing and health – we should also rapidly increase and diversify natural environments in our cities. At European level, the original 3-30-300 recommendation can be used as a good guideline for this work.