This Special Issue addresses the intersections of outdoor recreation, nature-based tourism, and sustainability. Outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism provide essential benefits to individuals, communities, and society and thereby contribute to sustainability. Equitable provision of opportunities, cultural variations in desired experiences, barriers to outdoor recreation, and diverse perceptions of both nature and recreation add to the complexity in outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism service delivery. Outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism occur within a socioecological system with feedback loops to changing social, economic, technological, and ecological conditions. On a global scale, climate change and other disturbance factors are impacting ecosystems and opportunities, increasing the importance of adaptation strategies for longer-term planning. Population growth and regional shifts in demographics and distribution (e.g., urbanization), as well as socioeconomic trends, affect who engages in outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism, opportunities sought, nature access, and governance of outdoor services. Overall the complexity of sustainable outdoor recreation and tourism may suggest a need for different approaches to service delivery, culture change among service providers and managers of natural spaces, and novel approaches to inclusive governance and shared stewardship. Given the clear importance of outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism to society, we invite you to consider this initial introduction to our assembled collection, which is meant to advance our understanding of the intersections of outdoor recreation, nature-based tourism, and sustainability.

Tourism in protected areas not only plays an essential role in terms of contributing to the financial sustainability of protected areas but through effective and efficient benefit-sharing can positively impact numerous stakeholders within and beyond the protected area. This paper provides a brief analysis of the evolution of benefit-sharing from protected area tourism, discussing tangible and intangible benefits and highlighting that revenue-sharing is only one way of sharing benefits from tourism and protected areas. The paper highlights the complexity of benefit-sharing, the importance of identifying all relevant stakeholders, the challenges of ensuring equity and sustainability and the critical importance of good governance. The evolution of benefit-sharing mechanisms over time emphasises a continuing need to evolve and adapt to each unique situation, as much evidence indicates that little has changed for those living on the edge. Although this paper focuses on benefit-sharing from protected area tourism, it is essential to acknowledge that along with these benefits are costs associated with tourism, including possible increased local prices, loss of access to land, human-wildlife conflict, and other related costs. Recommendations for future research are included to encourage an ongoing evolution and improvement in benefit-sharing mechanisms.

Appreciative Inquiry was employed to understand the mutual impact of Theodore Roosevelt National Park and nearby communities’ relationships with tourism. Specifically, the goals of this study were to: understand the role of Theodore Roosevelt National Park related to stimulating regional tourism; to ascertain gateway community resident perceptions of benefits from tourism as it relates to economic development and quality of; and, to explore nearby communities’ relationships with the park and how those communities may help influence quality visitor experiences, advance park goals, and develop and leverage partnerships. Results include a collection of emergent themes from the community inquiry related to resource access and tourism management, citizen and community engagement, conservation, marketing, and communication between the park and neighboring residents. These findings illuminate the need to understand nearby communities’ relationship to public lands and regional sustainability support between public land managers and these communities.

Tourism is frequently put forward as a potential tool for conservation and sustainable development, but without local community support for tourism and conservation, the sustainability of protected...