Developing ecological indicators of sustainable tourism in new protected areas: A case study of saline steppe and forest steppehabitats in Serbia

Abstract

This paper is one of the results of three years research (2016-2019) of specific habitats of salinesteppes and forest steppes along the Mostonga River, in the northern part of Serbia (Autonomous Province of Vojvodina), with the aim of their valorization and protection in the future. Here is also situated a natural areain the process of protection known as "Middle Mostonga".An integral part of protection declaration procedure is the creation of so-called "Protection study", as a basic document for the planning of protection guidelines for certain natural areas, buttt also includes tourism development analysis. Therefore, the working group, composed of representatives of the Institute for Nature Conservation of Vojvodina Province in Novi Sad and the University of Novi Sad (Faculty of Sciences - Department of Geography, Tourism and Hotel Management), examined the opportunities for ecotourism development in the area of "Middle Mostonga". The main objective of this article is to forthwith frame the possibility for consistent application of sustainable development goals in the future protected area "Middle Mostonga" and its surroundings by setting a scheme of indicators of sustainable tourism. Total of 160 indicators were analyzed by the team of the experts in the field relying mostly on BACI design of ecological indicators of sustainable tourism. Five main steps in identification of the relevant indicators were defined. The results showed that it is possible to apply indicators related to the number of protected species, the number of individuals (units) within populations and habitat endangerment, as well as indicators that reflect the interest of the tourism industry for the development of tourism in this particular area.