Ecotourism

1. Ecotourism Definitions & Concepts

2. Definition • The term ‘ecotour’ was first used by Parks Canada in the 1960s. • heavily quoted by Ceballos-Lascurain in 1992 • Buckley (1994) analysed various definitions of ‘ecotourism’ and found that it was always related to: • Nature based products • Minimal impact management • Environmental education • Contribution to conservation • In 2002, an official international definition was adopted at the UN International Year of Ecotourism • In 2007, TIES (The International Ecotourism Society) also came up with a definition of ecotourism but it was described as ‘bare-bones’ – too simple and needed expansion. • In 2008, Martha Honey wrote a book called ‘Ecotourism and Sustainable Development: Who Owns Paradise?’ In her book, she expands on TIES definition. According to Honey, real ecotourism has the following seven characteristics:

3. Involves travel to natural destinations • These destinations are often remote areas, whether inhabited or uninhabited. • Natural destinations are usually under some kind of environmental protection at the national, international, communal or private level.

4. Minimizes impact • Tourism causes damage. Ecotourism thus strives to minimize the adverse or negative effects of hotels, trails, and other infrastructure by using • either recycled or plentifully available local building materials, renewable sources of energy (such as solar energy, wind energy and hydro-electric power which uses water), • recycling and safe disposal of waste and garbage • environmentally and culturally sensitive architectural design. • Minimization of impact also requires that the numbers and mode of behaviour of tourists are regulated to ensure that limited amount of damage is done to the ecosystem.

5. Builds environmental awareness • Ecotourism means education for both tourists and residents of nearby communities. • Tour operator should supply travellers with reading materials about the country, environment and local people as well as a code of conduct for both the traveller and the industry itself. This information will help prepare the tourist. • Essential to good ecotourism are well-trained, multi-lingual naturalist guides with skills in natural and cultural history, environmental interpretation, ethical principles and effective communication. • Ecotourism should also help educate members of surrounding communities, including schoolchildren and the broader public in the host country. • To do so they must offer greatly reduced entrance and lodge fees for nationals and free educational trips for local students and those living near the tourist attraction.

6. Provides direct financial benefits for conservation • Ecotourism helps raise funds for environmental protection, research and education through a variety of mechanisms, including park entrance fees; tour company, hotel, airline and airport taxes; and voluntary contributions. • Many national park systems were first created to protect the land, facilitate scientific research and, in Africa, promote sport hunting. Only later did parks open access to the public and only recently have they begun to be viewed as potential sources of funding for scientific investigation and conservation.

7. Provides financial benefits and empowerment for local people • Ecotourism holds that national parks and other conservation areas will survive only if there are ‘happy people’ around the perimeters. So the local community must be involved with and must receive income and other tangible benefits (portable water, roads, health clinics etc) from the conservation area and its tourist facilities. • Campsites, lodges, guides services, restaurants, and other concessions should be run by or in partnership with communities surrounding national parks or other tourist destinations. • If eco-tourism is to be viewed as a tool for rural development, it must also help to shift economic and political control to the local community, village, cooperative or entrepreneur. • This is the most difficult and time consuming principle in the eco-tourism equation, the one that foreign operators most often let fall through the cracks or that follow only partially or formally.

8. Respects local culture • Ecotourism is not only “greener” but also less culturally intrusive and exploitative than conventional tourism. Whereas prostitution, black markets and drugs are often by-products of mass tourism, ecotourism strives to be culturally respectful and have minimal effect on both the natural environment and the human population of a host country. • This is not easy especially since ecotourism often involves travel to remote areas where small and isolated communities have had little experience in interacting with foreigners. And like conventional tourism involves an unequal relationship of power between the visitor and the host and a commodification of the relationship through exchange of money. •  Part of being a responsible ecotourist is learning beforehand about the local customs, respecting dress codes and other social norms, and not intruding on the community unless invited, either individually or part of organised tours.

9. Supports human rights and democratic movements • The UN sponsored WTO proclaims that tourism contributes to “international understanding, peace, prosperity and universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedom for all”. • Such sentiments however are little reflected in conventional mass tourism. Although tourism is often hailed as a tool for building international understanding and world peace, this does not happen automatically