TY - CPAPER
KW - Atlantic ocean
KW - Baltic Sea
KW - Baltic States
KW - Cultural environment
KW - Estonia
KW - Eurasia
KW - Europe
KW - Indicators
KW - Kihnu
KW - Northern Europe
KW - Participatory methods
KW - Tourism impact assessment
KW - assessment method
KW - conference proceeding
KW - economic activity
KW - environmental impact assessment
KW - Landscape change
KW - participatory approach
KW - Tourism
AU - P.-K. Parts
AU - K. Sepp
AB - Issues of the assessment of the impact of tourism on the cultural environment will be discussed using the example of Kihnu island (Estonia), which has been included in the list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO as the Kihnu Cultural Space. Kihnu is a small island (16.9 km2) near the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, and has a population of about 530 residents. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, traditional economic activities like fishery and agriculture have undergone a severe decline; instead, new economic activities such as tourism, the sale of traditional delicacies, handicrafts etc., have become an important source of income on Kihnu. These changes have had a great influence on the cultural and natural landscapes of the island, as well as on social and political relationships, and have brought together manifold conflicts between the interests of tourism and the traditional economy, the different agendas of local interest groups and the cultural and economic elite, national policies etc. The interpretive analysis of official planning texts and interviews with different local actors indicated the remarkable sensitivity of the issues concerning tourism, resulting often in a euphemistic way of defining problems and development priorities in the field. As environmental impacts can only be assessed in relation to certain socially defined objectives, the described situation makes it very complicated to assess the impact of tourism or to offer up-to-date recommendations concerning tourism for the protection of both the natural and cultural environment. Nevertheless, in order to advance a further discussion on the assessment of the impact of tourism, initial explorative indicators will be set out, relying on the example of Kihnu.
C2 - 3rd International Conference on Sustainable Development and Planning, Sustainable Development III, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 2007, SDP07
DO - 10.2495/SDP070331
LA - English
N1 - Place: Algarve
N2 - Issues of the assessment of the impact of tourism on the cultural environment will be discussed using the example of Kihnu island (Estonia), which has been included in the list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO as the Kihnu Cultural Space. Kihnu is a small island (16.9 km2) near the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, and has a population of about 530 residents. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, traditional economic activities like fishery and agriculture have undergone a severe decline; instead, new economic activities such as tourism, the sale of traditional delicacies, handicrafts etc., have become an important source of income on Kihnu. These changes have had a great influence on the cultural and natural landscapes of the island, as well as on social and political relationships, and have brought together manifold conflicts between the interests of tourism and the traditional economy, the different agendas of local interest groups and the cultural and economic elite, national policies etc. The interpretive analysis of official planning texts and interviews with different local actors indicated the remarkable sensitivity of the issues concerning tourism, resulting often in a euphemistic way of defining problems and development priorities in the field. As environmental impacts can only be assessed in relation to certain socially defined objectives, the described situation makes it very complicated to assess the impact of tourism or to offer up-to-date recommendations concerning tourism for the protection of both the natural and cultural environment. Nevertheless, in order to advance a further discussion on the assessment of the impact of tourism, initial explorative indicators will be set out, relying on the example of Kihnu.
PB - WITPress
PY - 2007
SN - 1746-448X
SP - 341
EP - 355
TI - Assessing the impact of tourism: intellectual and economic struggles and landscape changes on Kihnu island
UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-36248953747&doi=10.2495%2fSDP070331&partnerID=40&md5=4565bcbdf8d00c0cfe6014807a0bd20c
VL - 102
ER -