Abstract
Show caves represent an important tourist attraction, especially when located in rural territories where not many sites of interest, except those naturalistic, are present. For people working on karst and cave science, they are the main way to allow great number of people to visit a cave, experience safely the underground world, transfer information to raise public awareness about karst environments, and understand the need to protect and develop them in a sustainable way. Some considerations about management of show caves in peninsular Southern Italy are presented through description of lessons learned from direct and indirect experience in show caves in Campania and Apulia. Overall, many problems have to be faced, starting from the lighting system (often quite old and promoting the lampenflora growth), the quality in the guides’ explanations as well as updating safety measures. In addition, the high number of tourists allowed, regardless of the visitor capacity of each cave, has also to be mentioned, since it determines degradation in the cave atmosphere and the overall underground environment.
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Parise, M. (2011). Some Considerations on Show Cave Management Issues in Southern Italy. In: van Beynen, P. (eds) Karst Management. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1207-2_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1207-2_7
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