Land-use for tourism has been growing significantly in certain European areas, such as the Alps (ski resorts), the Mediterranean coast (hotels, camping resorts, beaches) and the North Sea coast. More extensive forms of tourism such as hiking, cycling, fishing, and hunting are also on the rise. This increase in land-use for tourism is expected to continue, at the expense of land previously used for natural resource or agricultural purposes. The Tovel project tackled the general problem of unsustainable tourism in an alpine area - Val di Tovel - which is an area well-known for the reddening of its lake waters and its extremely interesting flora and fauna. Every year, Val di Tovel is visited by an increasing number of tourists, which are concentrated during the summer months and are usually day-trippers. This has created a socio-environmental imbalance, in which the 'tourism' factor is not contributing to the economic and social growth of the local communities, but is instead deteriorating the natural resources. Therefore, action was needed to avoid the phenomena of deterioration resulting from human pressure on a fragile eco-system.