Nature-based tourism impacts on national GDP and local communities: insights from systematic and narrative literature review

Purpose The study aims at addressing two key policy questions: (1) how much revenues/returns are derived from nature-based tourism (NbT) and how much are they contributing to national budgets/GDP? and (2) what is the impact of NbT on local communities, especially in developing countries?Material and methods The study adopts systematic and narrative literature review techniques.Results and conclusion Preliminary results show that far from being a developing country’s growth panacea, NbT has controversial impacts (many negative spillovers on local communities and low impact on national GDP) that need to be further analysed, understood, and measured.