Esperienze di viaggio nel Parco Nazionale del Vesuvio

Recent developments have given us a newly framed definition of tourism which offers a more complex and multidimensional perspectives than the standard one based upon the concepts of abstract spaces and “mass tourism bubbles” (Marra and Ruspini, 2010; Rojek, Urry,1997). In particular, sustainable tourism has achieved widespread relevance in this new approach and natural protected areas are at its very core. The challenge for natural protected areas is twofold. On the one hand, they need an environment friendly tourism model which is able to preserve the territories. On the other hand, they must achieve a relevant presence of visitors throughout the year. Therefore, the so-called “slow tourism” for protected natural areas gives an important tool for enhancing the tourism offer in terms of environmental sustainability. Furthermore, this evolution of tourism provides a new range of experiences together with an active support in preserving local traditions.This contribution addresses the characterization of the Vesuvius National Park in terms of the concepts above. Namely, it analyses the results of a structured questionnaire administered to 500 park users during the period of May-October 2018. It is worth noticing that the Vesuvius National Park has a unique location being the only Italian national park in metropolitan area containing an active volcano. Moreover, the historical background spanning more than three thousand years and the richness of the local traditions offer a faceted experience, highly uncommon amongst natural parks.The aim of this contribution will be, on the one hand, to identify the profile of tourists on Vesuvius and on the other, to reflect on the management of the tourist offer by considering the whole territory of the National Park.