The Protected Areas as Accessible Walking-Destinations: Propensity and Limits in the Partenio’s Park in Campania

This study considers the case of an internal protected area in Campania to test its propensity to be a tourist no-car destination. The concept of accessibility thus assumes a larger mining relating also to global quality of the tourist services supply, of the usability of the cultural attractions, and of the administrative ability to have a system vision of the natural park area. Considering the municipalities’ territorial extension as minimal units, the study elaborates a territorial classification through a complex synthetic index that expresses the present potentialities of the territorial system to become a sustainable tourist destination. The outputs, elaborated through GIS methodologies, may represent a useful means to support decision-makers in the elaboration of territorial policies aimed at promoting the Partenio’s Park as a system. The territorial classification in fact allows for the individualization of lacks as well as of potentiality and in this it can be a useful tool to define priorities and adequate strategies, with coherence, in respecting both the environmental value of the space and the exigencies of the local collectivities. Further in-depth analyses are needed to validate the outputs of this study, but it can be considered as a first attempt for experimenting new ways to planning the territorial use of protected areas trying to go beyond the restriction perception of these areas.