In some cases, but rarely, this can include small-scale private tourism lodges4,21. In most countries and cases, private tourism development in public protected areas creates public costs for private profit1. There are many commercially successful nature-based tourism lodges on private lands, but Big Tourism wants publicly subsidised developments in public lands. In the recent World Conservation Congress and its lead-up, Big Tourism has used the IUCN tourism subgroup as a catspaw, to infiltrate its goal of co-managing national parks into an IUCN publication. We call upon IUCN to release a definitive statement on the functions of protected areas worldwide as assets for conservation, not tourism.

Source: The Guardian February 02, 2026 19:04 UTC