Over the last few decades, Sicily has faced both erosion-related difficulties and limited Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM). In particular, a lack of synergy between regional bodies, an absence of information exchange between scientific and administrative communities, the application of not-updated national and international best practices and the misrepresentation of environmental laws, have resulted in a system focused on risk erosion rather than on coastal area development.

Protected area managers rely on relevant, credible, and legitimate knowledge. However, an increase in the rate, extent, severity, and magnitude of the impacts of drivers of change (e.g., climate change, altered land use, and demand for natural resources) is affecting the response capacity of managers and their agencies. We address temporal aspects of knowledge governance by exploring time-related characteristics of information and decision-making processes in protected areas.

The increasing role of the tourism industry in the global economy and the growing competition makes it necessary to ensure constant performance and continually improve quality. The paper draws attention to the necessity of conducting research on tourist attraction quality also in post-industrial areas which have become attractive tourist sites. It is emphasised that industrial tourism is a new yet quickly developing phenomenon in Poland, which compels managers to differentiate their service range and improve quality standards.