Medicinal herbs as part of the development of sustainable tourism in Nature park 'Stara Planina'

Abstract

Implementation of the concept of sustainable exploitation of medicinal plant resources facilitates the development of tourism offering and the related activities that would enhance the development of rural areas in this region. When managed in a sustainable manner, tourism can bring many advantages to protected areas, tourism industry and a local community. By using high-resolution satellite images and application of GIS technology, a method is developed for monitoring periodic changes in eco-systems. The collected data enable design of models that incorporate in themselves dynamics of changes taking place in natural ecosystems. By means of periodic imaging of characteristic areas, the spatial representation of eco-systems will be monitored, along with the changes in their composition and structure, which may seriously endanger the development of tourism potential in the region. The integral approach to the management of medicinal herb resources in the region of Mt. Stara Planina, based on the results of this study, necessitates the integration of these results with the results of the studies investigating views and needs of the local population, whose quality of life depends on sustainability of the process of collection and valorization of this resource.

Keywords

• Nature park
• Mt. Stara Planina
• medicinal plants
• sustainable tourism
• GIS techniques