{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,18]],"date-time":"2026-03-18T02:12:11Z","timestamp":1773799931025,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":53,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"16","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,8,17]],"date-time":"2019-08-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1566000000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sustainability"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Local people\u2019s perception of nature-based tourism evolution and consequent impacts on their well-being are crucial in promoting ecotourism and achieving sustainable development. This study focused on indigenous populations\u2019 attitudes concerning tourism activities taking place in the Iona National Park, located in the Namibe Province of Angola, where ecotourism is considered an anchor product and is expected to become an economic driver of major importance. To obtain information that is useful for a changing tourism management in order to increase rural communities\u2019 well-being, we conducted a survey addressing local people\u2019s perceptions about the following main topics: perception of the presence of visitors and of their activities; present and prospective positive and negative effects of the park; and government policies that should be developed in the near future. The research shows that most respondents\u2019 perceptions strongly vary according to locality. The level of urbanization and the distance to the core areas of touristic activities appear to be the main factors driving the villagers\u2019 perception polarization. Thus, conflicting interests between nature conservation and local populations\u2019 well-being should be addressed and managed according to locality profiles, with some exceptions, such as ensuring the entire population has access to pastoral lands.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/su11164448","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,8,19]],"date-time":"2019-08-19T06:10:14Z","timestamp":1566195014000},"page":"4448","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":22,"title":["Villagers\u2019 Perceptions of Tourism Activities in Iona National Park: Locality as a Key Factor in Planning for Sustainability"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Jorge","family":"Morais","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Landscape, Environment and Planning, School of Science and Technology, University of \u00c9vora, 7000-671 \u00c9vora, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1882-4801","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rui Alexandre","family":"Castanho","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Applied Sciences, WSB University, 41-300 D\u0105browa G\u00f3rnicza, Poland"},{"name":"Institute of Research on Territorial Governance and Inter-Organizational Cooperation, 41-300 Dabrowa G\u00f3rnicza, Poland"},{"name":"VALORIZA\u2014Research Centre for Endogenous Resource Valorization, 7300 Portalegre, Portugal"},{"name":"Environmental Resources Analysis Research Group (ARAM). University of Extremadura, 06071 Badajoz, Spain"},{"name":"CITUR\u2014Madeira-Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation, University of Madeira, 9020-105 Funchal, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6611-3417","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Luis","family":"Loures","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Research on Territorial Governance and Inter-Organizational Cooperation, 41-300 Dabrowa G\u00f3rnicza, Poland"},{"name":"VALORIZA\u2014Research Centre for Endogenous Resource Valorization, 7300 Portalegre, Portugal"},{"name":"Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre (IPP), 7300 Portalegre, Portugal"},{"name":"Research Centre for Tourism, Sustainability and Well-being (CinTurs), University of Algarve, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9452-6449","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Carlos","family":"Pinto-Gomes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Landscape, Environment and Planning, School of Science and Technology, University of \u00c9vora, 7000-671 \u00c9vora, Portugal"},{"name":"Institute of Mediterranean Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (ICAAM), University of \u00c9vora, 7000-671 \u00c9vora, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Pedro","family":"Santos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Landscape, Environment and Planning, School of Science and Technology, University of \u00c9vora, 7000-671 \u00c9vora, Portugal"},{"name":"Institute of Mediterranean Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (ICAAM), University of \u00c9vora, 7000-671 \u00c9vora, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,8,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Fennell, D. 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