Sustainable Tourism in Protected Area—A Case of Fruška Gora National Park, Vojvodina (Northern Serbia)

Abstract

Sustainable development can be an element of tourism success if its principles are included in the process of strategic tourism development planning, and if such a concept is one of the strategic development goals. The paper analyzes the impact of the perception of the local population and visitors and their satisfaction with the development of tourism in the protected mountain area of Fruška Gora National Park, which has an abundance of natural, cultural, and social tourism resources that are directly included in the tourism offer. Maintaining natural and social values within this sensitive tourist destination, eliminating negative effects of tourism, strengthening the role of residents and visitors in tourism planning and development, and initiating special and other forms of tourism should be the basis of tourism development in this preserved area. The purpose of the research was to obtain important results on the residents’ attitudes and visitors’ satisfaction with the state of sustainable tourism within this national park, using quantitative methodology and an SPSS analysis of the conducted questionnaire. The respondents’ attitudes referred to environmental, economic, sociocultural, and institutional sustainability as being significant foundations of sustainable tourism development. The results revealed not only that tourism in Fruška Gora National Park was partially sustainable, but also that there was a need to improve all dimensions of sustainability. Such results could be used to transform tourism development strategies by emphasizing the growth of sustainable forms of tourism activities. The construction of tourist facilities and infrastructures must be based on environmental protection and residents must be directly involved in tourism development planning.