The exceptionally high values of nature and landscape are simultaneously the treasure and the attraction of the Carpathians, in particular in protected areas.
The higher and better preserved these values are – the higher is their attractiveness for different forms of tourism and recreation, and resulting tourist and development pressures. The higher and better preserved are the diversity of species and naturalness of landscapes – the more tourists will choose the protected areas as their holiday destination.
This is why several most popular mountain tourism destinations and most scenic protected areas in the Carpathians are already flooded by mass tourism well over any acceptable, much less sustainable limits. Needless to say, the quality of visitor experience in such overcrowded destinations declines, some tourists tend to avoid such places, at least during the main tourist high season/s.
In order to improve the visitors experience and to reduce the tourism impact on natural habitats it is neccessary to promote and support the development of sustainable tourism in less sensitive and developed areas, to foster the sustainable economic development of the regions around Carpathian protected areas, to mitigate the impacts of tourism on fragile mountain ecosystems of the Carpathians, to redirect and channel part of the tourism flows towards less ecologically sensitive areas with sufficient potential to absorb and accommodate part of the main tourist traffic.