Potential Trade-Offs Between Nature-Based Tourism and Forestry, a Case Study in Northern Finland

Forests 2011, 2(4), 894-912; doi:10.3390/f2040894

Author 

Anssi Ahtikoski ^1,* , Seija Tuulentie ¹

, Ville Hallikainen ¹

, Vesa Nivala ¹

, Eero Vatanen ²

, Liisa Tyrväinen ³

 and Hannu Salminen ¹

¹

Finnish Forest Research Institute, Northern Unit, Eteläranta 55, P.O. Box 16, FI-96301 Rovaniemi, Finland

²

University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland

³

Finnish Forest Research Institute, Southern Unit, P.O. Box 18, FI-1301 Vantaa, Finland

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. 

Received: 15 September 2011 / Revised: 6 October 2011 / Accepted: 19 October 2011 / Published: 28 October 2011

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Expanding Forests’ Benefits: Forest-based Recreation and Tourism)

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Abstract 

Forestry, as a large industry, has significant impacts on the quality of nature-based tourism landscapes in boreal forests. In Finland, the rapid growth of nature-based tourism has expanded outdoor recreation activities from protected areas into timber production forests; this is particularly so in northern Finland. This paper focuses on assessing balanced local net impacts of three alternative land-use scenarios, in which the level of integration between nature-based tourism (NBT) and traditional forestry is varied. The study is located in northern Finland in the area between two top-rated tourist resorts, Ylläs and Levi. The results of the case study support the idea of an eligible integration between NBT and forestry, which takes into account scenic qualities of forested landscapes by restricting traditional management practices. In our case, the increased number of tourists (due to a more attractive forest environment) offset the losses accrued in forestry (due to restricted forest management). View Full-Text

Keywords: nature-based tourism;  input-output analysis;  MOTTI stand simulator;  value added;  employment

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0).

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