The Threshold of Sustainability for Protected Areas

the necessary levels to build capacity for managing the growth in park visits. As a result, tourism is now a threat to bio diversity rather than a benefit. It is not just the megastars of international nature tourism destinations that are becoming crowded. Visitors are coming in increasing numbers to parks such as Guatemala’s Yaxha, Bolivia’s Eduardo Avaroa, Tanzania’s Manyara, and Indo nesia’s Komodo. Indeed, conservation scientists at the Nature Conservancy have identified tourism as a threat in 78 international conservation area plans it has produced over the past seven years. The failure of destination countries to budget adequately for tourism management in parks is eroding the very natural capital that visitors travel to see. If the current levels of investment continue, the tourism boom is likely to be followed before long by a bust. Prime habitats will become degraded, wildlife will become scarce, the quality of the visitor experience will decline, and eventually people will choose