Tourism sustainability in a Protected Area: Case Loreto Bay National Park

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the sustainable tourism performance trend in Loreto Bay National Park in Baja California Sur, Mexico and its areas of influence, covering from 2007-2017. For this purpose, indicators of socioeconomic, tourism, environmental and technological dimensions were selected. Data was obtained from bibliographic searches, as well as interviews with decision- makers and tourism operators, calculating sustainability indexes for each dimension and the general sustainability index. Correlation and principal component analyses were performed to determine the contribution degree of each indicator to sustainability. The results indicated that sustainability had increased. However, one of main obstacles during this study was information availability at municipal level and even more at protected area level. Thus, the proposed model may contribute in decision-making about managing a protected area with visitors. The study concludes with a series of recommendations and method contributions.