Managing Cultural Values in Sustainable Tourism: Conflicts in Protected Areas

This article addresses the role of cultural values in sustainable tourism. It evaluates cultural conflicts between indigenous groups, recreation users and management agencies over the appropriate amenity use of protected areas in the USA, Australia and New Zealand. It assesses both social values conflicts and interpersonal conflicts between groups with different worldviews about landscapes, resource use and recreation. This article identifies six types of cross-cultural conflicts between indigenous peoples and recreation users: sacred sites/religious beliefs, resource use, land use, visitor infrastructure, recreation activity and place names. Management strategies to address cultural values in sustainable tourism and cultural conflicts over recreational use of natural areas are presented.