**1. Introduction**

The tourism business is a very important factor in economic and social development. In 2018 it contributed to 10.4% of the world's GDP, which was 3.9% higher than the previous year [1]. Spain is a tourist power and is positioned as the second-largest tourist destination in the world in terms of visitor reception [2].

Tourist activity can be particularly interesting in rural areas due to the deterioration of their main sources of wealth generation, agriculture and livestock [3,4]. The economic marginalisation of these rural areas and the ageing of their residents are causing their impoverishment and depopulation [5]. In particular, nature tourism is strongly associated with these rural areas. This type of tourism has shown constant growth in recent years, both in the world and in Spain. Thus, nature tourism can contribute to the development of rural areas that have a natural environment that is institutionally recognised for its high biological value [6].

In Spain, the figure with the greatest biological recognition and legal protection are the National Parks. This country has 15 National Parks that represent 0.76% of its territory. Likewise, this figure is the best known by society among all the protection categories and has a grea<sup>t</sup> tourist attraction, registering millions of visits annually [7,8]. Furthermore, Spanish National Parks represent exceptional environments with their own culture and biological personality, due to the authenticity of their resources, which is one of the country's distinguishing characteristics [9].

In accordance with the above, protected areas are considered an appropriate means of combining traditional activities with new business niches associated with rural and nature tourism, with the aim of promoting sustainable development in the area of influence of the protected natural area [10–13]. In this sense, public use of National Parks cannot be limited only to activities such as contemplation or preservation [14]. Consequently, these wonderful natural spaces must extend their potential to the social and economic sphere, and it is advisable to design sustainable development strategies [15–19].

Economic development in the areas of influence of protected natural environments should not be understood as a form of over-exploitation [19]. Achieving the self-su fficiency and sustainability of the areas bordering these natural spaces would achieve the objective set by the legal norm, since these areas of influence are usually economically disadvantaged rural areas due, among other factors, to the decline of agriculture and the limitations on the use of natural resources as a result of the declaration of a protected space [20,21].

In the previous literature, you can find quite a few studies on rural development and sustainable tourism from an economic and social perspective using macroeconomic indicators. This paper contributes to the previous literature since there are very few studies referring to the perception of sustainability of this type of tourist destinations. In addition, the controversy that justifies this study would be the one that occurs when a National Park is declared and regulated by a law where an important set of limitations to its public use are related. At the same time, the main objectives include the enjoyment of the protected area and the development of its area of socioeconomic influence. These aims will be achieved through the appropriate exploitation of the attraction of the tourist destination, which is a privileged natural environment.

Thus, analysing the limited public use, recognized by law, of the National Parks and the tourist exploitation carried out in the last ten years, the study aims to answer the following question: do the residents near the National Parks perceive that their community is sustainable? According to the above, the main objective of the paper is the analysis of the perception of the economic and social development and the quality of life of the residents in the villages closest to the National Park. In addition, the relationships that are occurring between these latent factors will be measured, and also between these factors and the villagers' perception of the sustainability of their environment.

This paper is structured as follows. In Section 2, the legal framework a ffecting the public use of Spanish National Parks is analysed, as well as its evolution. In Section 3, the conceptual framework referring to the importance of nature tourism in the socio-economic development of a given geographical demarcation is analysed; here, too, the study hypotheses are defined. In Section 4, the sample and methodology used are detailed. In Section 5, the results of the study are drawn up.Finally, the conclusions and limitations of the paper are shown.

#### **2. Literature Review**

#### *2.1. Protected Natural Areas. Public Use of Spanish National Parks*

A protected natural area is a clearly defined geographical area recognised, dedicated and managed, through legal or other e ffective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature and associated cultural values [22].

The beginning of the international protectionist trend dates back to 1872 when Yellowstone National Park was declared in the United States [23,24]. The objective of this first declaration was based on the preservation of natural space for the enjoyment of people, due to the devastating e ffect of human actions on natural resources [25–27]. Focusing on the European landscape, Russia, Switzerland and Spain were the first to regulate the protection of National Parks [28,29].

The concepts of National Park and public use are closely linked and are in constant evolution, as can be seen in Table 1.


**Table 1.** Evolution of the concept of public use.

Source: Authors [30].

Table 1 shows that the mere conservationist approach has been evolving towards a model in which the relationship of the human being with nature is promoted through the harmonization of the objectives of preservation and socioeconomic development, turning the National Parks into authentic drivers of sustainable development [26,31].

In particular, in the case of Spain, the protective regime of the National Parks has undergone a significant evolution until today [28]. At the beginning, the public use of the National Parks was only related to environmental interpretation and education [20], while, at present, public use is understood as the set of activities, services and infrastructures whose aim is to bring visitors to protected natural areas closer to their natural and cultural values, from an orderly managemen<sup>t</sup> that guarantees the conservation of these resources and the enhancement of values such as environmental education and sustainable development [32,33].

After a review of the Spanish regulations that allow the recognition of a National Park, from the first law approved in 1916 to the last one in force since 2014, we can see how two objectives are repeated, such as the biological preservation of the protected area and paying attention to the socio-economic development of the park's area of influence. Currently, the Autonomous Communities are competent in regulatory matters and the managemen<sup>t</sup> of their own protected areas [34]. The basic regime for public use of the National Parks is the responsibility of the State and is regulated by Law 30/2014, currently in force.

#### *2.2. Nature Tourism: E*ff*ects on Sustainable Rural Development*

As previously argued, the tourism sector is one of the most prominent in the global economy, due to its capacity to generate income, employment and taxes [35,36]. This wealth-generating power can also be seen in the form of nature tourism, as it is an activity that is fully compatible with environmental preservation, allowing the promotion of traditional values and the improvement of the quality of life of the local residents [37]. All of the above can have a positive effect on the attitude of the residents of the tourist destination's area of influence, which in turn has an impact on the sustainability of the destination [38]. In this sense, the perceptions of local residents are shown to be a key factor in the development of sustainable tourism [39–42].

In the last decade, nature tourism has achieved grea<sup>t</sup> importance in international tourism [43]. Nowadays, there has been an increase in the number of tourists who are looking for tranquillity, a link with nature, the practice of sports activities or recreational value in the open air [26,30,44–46].

Tourism in National Parks can be of grea<sup>t</sup> socio-economic value to them and their respective areas of influence [21,47]. Among the benefits generated by nature tourism are: increased income; greater job creation; improved financing of the protected environment; or a higher level of environmental education and, consequently, a greater appreciation of the natural and cultural heritage by human beings [44,48,49].

On the contrary, nature tourism can also generate important negative impacts, such as the undermining of environmental conservation, seasonal unemployment, loss of tranquillity, increased pollution, the alteration of local customs, or the increase in prices of local products and services [26,44,50]. In addition, the declaration of National Parks carries with it a significant limitation on the use of the occupied land demarcation and traditional activities rooted in the area that can be detrimental to local development [21,50]. In particular, current Spanish legislation limits certain activities such as hunting, fishing, certain extractions, building, among others [51].

The National Parks in Spain have become important tourist destinations. Thus, the number of visits has grown considerably since 1991, exceeding 15.44 million in 2017, as shown in Figure 1 [52]. Nature tourism, through an adequate managemen<sup>t</sup> model, constitutes a valuable tool through which multiple benefits can be obtained [13,19,32,53,54]. This approach represents one of the grea<sup>t</sup> challenges of the current panorama, that is, the search for a balance between public use for recreational purposes, the socio-economic development of the area of influence of the National Park and the conservation of the ecosystem [27,31,55].

**Figure 1.** Evolution of visitors to National Parks in Spain [49].

In addition to the clear relationship between economic development and the sustainable development of a rural area, a number of other factors associated with the sustainability of that tourist destination can be distinguished. Thus, the perception of social development and quality of life would be factors that influence the decision to maintain residence in the village and, moreover, can have an impact on an active contribution to the maintenance of the area's resources, including those related to tourism and the biological value of the area [11,56,57]. According to the above, the preservation of natural and cultural heritage in villages can be reinforced by policies that involve greater community empowerment [41].

Considering the externalities caused by tourism in protected areas, as well as the legal limitations on public use implicit in the declaration of National Parks, it is necessary to determine the e ffects on the perception of environmental sustainability caused by the declaration of Spanish National Parks in their respective areas of influence. Through this study, we will be able to ratify whether the declaration of these spaces has generated a positive perception of the sustainability of the environments from a triple perspective: economic, social and quality of life. This would be an indicator of the sustainability of the area near the National Park as a tourist destination.

Several studies have demonstrated the facilitating role of economic development in social development. In particular, tourist activity can be a tool for keeping alive the customs and authenticity of a village if they are properly managed as products of interest to a tourist destination [45,58].

In this way, previous studies researching the local community's perceptions of the sustainability of tourism can be consulted in the literature, taking the theory of social exchange as a starting point. According to this theory, local residents who perceive positive e ffects derived from tourism will agree with the development of tourism, and vice versa. Aspects such as community attachment, participation and capacity to influence society in the managemen<sup>t</sup> of tourism, improvement of the quality of life or low negative impact in the environmental scope result in positive perceptions towards tourism and, consequently, its success and sustainability [39–42]. In this sense, tourism activities related to the traditions and culture of the destination involve greater participation by residents and are presented as an opportunity to strengthen the identity of the local community, which also translates into a positive perception of sustainable tourism development and greater support for tourism development by local residents [39].

In the previous literature, there are many references that have demonstrated the influence of economic development on the residents' quality of life [57,59]. Thus, in the study, there is a hypothesis that reflects this relationship between the perceptions of the quality of life associated with the residents' perception of economic development.

Therefore, the perception of economic development, in addition to influencing the sustainability of the environment, maybe influencing the other latent factors. Thus, the following hypotheses can be put forward, all of which refer to the perceptions of the residents of the villages closest to a National Park:

**Hypothesis 1 (H1).** *Hypothesis 1 (H1). The perception of economic development influences the residents' perception of sustainability*.

**Hypothesis 2 (H2).** *The perception of economic development influences the residents' perception of social development*.

**Hypothesis 3 (H3).** *The perception of economic development influences the residents' perception of quality of life*.

Confirmation of each of these hypotheses would confirm the e ffect of the three dimensions analysed on the overall satisfaction of the declaration of a National Park and, therefore, on its sustainability.

Satisfaction with the area of residence, together with the feeling of belonging and pride in the value of the biological space, maybe the motivation that facilitates the social development of the village and also on the perception of their overall satisfaction with the environment [59,60].

**Hypothesis 4 (H4).** *The residents' perception of quality of life has influence on their perception of social development*.

**Hypothesis 5 (H5).** *The residents' perception of quality of life has influences on their perception of sustainability*.

In the case of social development, there are also studies that analyse the relationships between social perceptions or attitudes, referring to traditions and customs, with the sustainable development of a tourist destination [11,56,57]. The last hypothesis reflects this relationship:

**Hypothesis 6 (H6).** *The residents' perception of social development influences the on their perception of sustainability*.
