Tourism impact of monfragüe’s designation as a national park

Abstract

Protected areas have steadily increased in size over the last century, while their different denominations have been officially established—National Parks among them. This paper is based on the premise that National Parks promote tourism activity, according to what their own regulations indicate and to what research has shown. Based on the above premise, the purpose of this essay is to assess whether there has been a substantial increase in tourism in the area surrounding Monfragüe ever since it was made into a national park—specifically, in terms of the increase in both the supply and demand for accommodation. The data obtained suggest that the impact of the National Park status has been modest: On the one hand, there has been a substantial growth in the number of businesses providing accommodation for rural tourists, while it is nonetheless true that no significant rise in the number of visitors has been attested for the period 2007-2016, according to our sources.