Ecotourism is defined as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people” (The International Ecotourism Society, 2012).
Ecotourism emerged in 80s with the aim of protecting the environment for the future generation.
Ecotourism focuses on promoting conservation, communities and sustainable travel.
Principles of Ecotourism
Minimize impacts on the environment and local communities.
Create cultural awareness.
Offer positive experiences for tourists and host communities.
Offer financial benefits for supporting conservation efforts.
Promote host countries’ political, environmental, and social climate.
Current Trends in Ecotourism
The commonly held perception of ecotourism is that it is “a large and growing sector, both in terms of arrivals and income generated … the indicators however point to a decent, though less optimistic market” (Rawlinson, 2014).
Ecotourism is the most well-known, widespread and the oldest in tourism niches.
Trends
Ecotourism is practiced across a wide geographical range such as national parks, coastlines, rainforests and mountains.
Its longevity shows that ecotourism occupies a significant, well-established, stable and mature niche.
Ecotourism possesses the advantage of being the first and only form sustainable tourism.
Trends: Ecotourism’s Economic Impact
It has generated $77 billion of the global market with double-digit gains.
Issues of global warming could accelerate the growth of the niche.
It spreads wealth and jobs in emerging economies than any other sectors globally (Center for Responsible Travel, n.d).
Tourists believe in protection of the environments and local communities.
Global Growth in Tourism
1950: 25 million tourist arrivals.
2004: 760 million tourism arrivals.
2007: 903 million tourist arrivals.
2020 Forecast: 1.6 billion international arrivals.
In 2007, ecotourism was responsible for 7 percent of the international market (Center for Responsible Travel, n.d).
Improving Sustainability
Ecotourism service and product providers require a global standard of accreditation to differentiate ecotourism firms based on their levels of environmental commitment and responsibility.
There is a need to develop an environmental assessment plan for the niche with a focus on specific local conditions.
The niche requires guidelines and education.
A focused local control will enhance the growth of ecotourism.
Impacts on the Industry in the Future
Long-term natural resource management.
Ecotourism activities and programs should protect natural resources.
Ecotourism will continue to grow as the number of environmentally conscious tourists rises.
Periods of recession negatively affect ecotourism.
Ecotourism products and services will continue to operate under strong brands with wider outreach for the security of the niche.
Criticism
Critics’ are concerned that movements of tourists are threats to ecosystems.
They claim that ecotourism is:
Environmentally destructive.
Economically exploitative.
Culturally insensitive at its worst (Tuohino & Hynonen, 2001).
Mislead tourists and manipulate their support for nature.
Ecotourism continues to evolve with new names, which do not necessarily reflect core principles of the term:
Nature tourism.
Sustainable Tourism.
Low impact tourism.
Responsible Tourism.
Green tourism.
Geotourism.
Bio-tourism.
Ecologically responsible tourism.
Pro-poor tourism.
All these terms cause confusion to marketers and academics alike
Recommendations
Ecotourism continues to grow as players find innovative ways to position their products and services.
Sustainability requires an industry-wide pursuit and therefore ecotourism must borrow from other practices.
The niche requires a strong, global brand to market its products and services globally for mass outreach.
Ecotourism should rise beyond the long-haul market and offer new destinations as well as new experiences for their customers.
The business community should adopt core elements of ecotourism and other products and services in the tourism sector to enhance growth and profitability.
The niche should promote three basic elements which are conservation, communities and education to attract environmental-friendly and sensitive tourists.
Ecotourism should offer its products and services to both small and large businesses with the aim of attracting mass market and meet the need to conserve the natural habitat simultaneously.
Ecotourism requires nature-based, sustainably management, conservation and environmentally friendly approach.
It needs constant evaluations of impacts on local communities (Schaller, n.d), the environment, management and possible threats to cultures.
There is a need for government and private entity partnership for conservation and promotion of the niche.
Summary
Ecotourism is unique niche in the tourism industry.
The niche’s core principles guide most aspects of its operations.
It continues to grow at a modest rate.
There are negative criticisms associated with ecotourism.
The niche requires a strong focus on its core principles and the need to promote partnership across the industry, with governments, private organizations and other stakeholders to achieve its sustainability efforts.
References
Center for Responsible Travel. (n.d). Responsible Travel: Global Trends & Statistics. Web.
Tuohino, A., & Hynonen, A. (2001). Ecotourism—imagery and reality. Reflections on concepts and practices in Finnish rural tourism. Nordia Geographical Publications, 30(4), 21–34.
The earth is evolving at a remarkable rate. It is also changing rapidly. To many, evolution refers to better species and strength. However, change also refers to negative things. The major cause of change and evolution is human interaction. The rising population of mankind has also led to physical changes, like the building of cities to accommodate the population.
Such activities have led to the destruction of natural forests to create space for human occupation. This essay looks at the impact of human influence, urbanisation, and economic class divisions on sustainable development. The essay aims to show that all these factors are against sustainable development.
Sustainable development entails achieving progress in all areas of life without interfering with the ecosystem. Currently, there are communities that try to achieve sustainable development, but most communities pursue development unsustainably. For example, the La Cienaga community does not observe sustainable development.
Carruyo (41) indicates that there is only one environment conservation organisation in the whole region. The scholar adds that people are only interested in knowing how much they affect the immediate environment they live in, while everything else is wasted.
In spite of illiteracy, many communities, just like the La Cienaga community, value the environment and use guidelines on how to interact with the wild. The values and guidelines are passed down from one generation to the next.
Sustainable development is important for the present and future generations. From the study books provided, all scholars blame ecotourism for the destruction of exotic places on earth. Martha Honey explained that it is highly suspected that an ecotourist passed on a dangerous disease to the Golden Frog in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Costa Rica.
The same is echoed by Davenport, who argues that ecotourism has destroyed the lives of the locals in Zanzibar. However, one difference that can be cited is that both Honey and Davenport agree that the communities have fought ecotourism, while Carruyo explains that the community in La Cienaga does not care about the environment, except the places they reside.
The data collected from the resources shows that all the scholars are in favour of sustainable development. The main reason cited for the support of sustainable development is the impact it has on the environment and the communities nearby.
The impact is so great and negative that it has changed the ecosystem completely. For example, all scholars cite different things that will now only be read in history due to extinction. Sadly, the main cause of the extinction is unwanted human interaction.
Indeed, there is inequality in the various communities, which is the main reason why ecotourism has gained momentum all over the world. For example, Davenport (257) argues that greed, corruption, and politics have influenced tourism and its impact to Zanzibar.
The scholar adds that the local communities have been forced to come to terms with lavish living because of ecotourism. Some have even staged riots, thereby destroying hotels and curio shops in frustration. In the film, The Golf War, the poor Philippines are affected most by ecotourism, as the rich cut down trees to make golf courses.
It is crucial to note that the communities and their surroundings have changed a lot due to the lack of sustainable development. It is at this juncture of the essay that the thesis statement will be stressed. Governments have the responsibility to ensure that their communities are safe.
Therefore, it is the governments’ job to ensure sustainable development. However, major communities and even living things like frogs (Honey 3) have become extinct due to governments’ support for ecotourism. The extinct things are only to be read in history books.
Having this in mind, it is crucial to always consider environmental factors when discussing sustainable development. One major factor that has to be discussed is pollution. Arguably, it is pollution that led to the suspected extinction of the Golden Frog in Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Costa Rica. Moreover, the interference with nature by allowing tourists to go into exotic places disturbs the ecosystem.
However, it is important to point out that the communities that live in such areas do not interfere with the ecosystem because they have studied nature over time. The unexposed communities have lived peacefully with other animals and creatures in the forest for many years. Thus, it is believed that they do not cause any harm or danger to the environment.
Apart from ecotourism, rapid urbanisation and climate change also impact sustainable development. In The Golf War film, the director highlights a community that has been fighting developers who want to change their land into a golf course.
Not only does the film highlight the impacts of economic class divisions, but it also shows the impact of urbanisation. The cutting down of trees will lead to the destruction of the ecosystem, which will affect the climate in return.
The Philippine community in the affected jungle has come up with several ways of resisting the developers. For instance, as can be seen in The Golf War film, the community has established a New People’s Army that lobbies for the communities. In addition, the people usually create human barricades to prevent bulldozers from penetrating the forest.
Davenport (3) explains that in Zanzibar, people try on numerous occasions to frustrate the ecotourism industry. They chase away tourists, burn down curio shops, and invade hotels just to frustrate the industry and save their community. All over the world, there are numerous other forms of resistance that also support sustainable development.
For example, there are organisations that fight ecotourism, thereby ensuring that the most exotic places in the world are not disrupted. In the same vein, there are organisations that protect communities living in the exotic places by restricting tourists from interacting with them.
This has been done to ensure that the tourists do not influence such unexposed communities. Any sort of influence can change the behaviour of the community and affect the environment.
In conclusion, the future of sustainable development is shaky. The rich in the society are making it extremely difficult to enhance sustainable development, despite the resistance being forged by communities and organisations that support sustainable development. It is not only the rich that appear to be against sustainable development, but the governments also promote unsustainable development.
Some government officials are corrupt and greedy. They supported ecotourism, which is evidently one of the factors that go against sustainable development. The example of the Philippine jungle and the creation of a golf course is a classic example of how politics, wealth, and corruption have bad influence on sustainable development.
Works Cited
Carruyo, Light. Producing Knowledge, Protecting Forests: Rural Encounters with Gender, Ecotourism, and International Aid in the Dominican Republic. University Park: Penn State Press. 2008. Print.
Davenport, Audrey. Ecotourism and Sustainable Development. Self-Published. 2005. Print.
Honey, Martha. Who Owns Paradise? London: Island Press, 2008. Print.
Schradie, Jen and Matt DeVries. The Golf War. 2015. Web.
Conservation is the process of human beings utilization of natural sources in order to produce the maximum sustainable benefit to current generation at the same time upholding its responsibility to achieve and ensure that the same resources are reserved for future generations.
Conservation therefore entails maintenance, preservation, restoration and sustainable utilisation of natural surroundings (Hupages).
Ecotourism and Voluntourism
Ecotourism and voluntourism are types of tourism that have recently emerged; ecotourism is a form of tourism that entails travel to serene and uncontaminated natural regions that preserve the surroundings and develops the welfare of the local community (Hubpages).
Ecotourism involves travelling to natural region where there is slightest impact on the surroundings resulting from tourism activities. As such ecotourism creates environmental consciousness and supply direct financial support to the local community, helps maintain individual rights and demographic travels and respects the local people’s culture.
Ecotourism aims to preserve the cultural and natural diversity of biological areas by protecting the local ecosystem and it is actually intended to encourage sustainable employment of the neighbouring biodiversity through supplying employment to local people (Hubpages).
On the other hand, voluntourism is type of travel where the traveller gets actively involved in various charitable activities in combination to their vacation activities.
This means that the vacation/trip must be well planned in advance and reservation made so as to accommodate all the extra activities that the tourist will be involved in apart from the vocation itself.
Thus, both ecotourism and voluntourism creates a win-win state for both the people and the environment; the local people and the environment benefit from the natural resource organization, not simply biological resource preservation but also tourist destination attraction, sustainable monetary growth and poverty mitigation.
The optimal economic models present extra holistic method to growth that is contrary to typical neoliberal viewpoint; the voluntourists identify themselves with the community where minority groups of people live.
Ecosystems are viewed as nation’s natural resources from which financial or economic reimbursement can be produced. Cooperation and partnership are important amongst stakeholders in producing shared non-financial and financial benefits for everyone, supported by preservation of the ecosystem as sustainable source of income.
Nevertheless, the derived benefits must be allocated to the local people and awareness programs conducted to inform and promote cooperation amongst the stakeholders.
In the present scenario, WARF rely on assistance and donations from its collaborators and the local people to provide the man power needed in taking care of endangered flora and fauna and managing educational programmes in communities.
Additionally, they rely on students as volunteers to research on the animal diseases and their behaviour in order to empower conservation efforts. These volunteers are engaged by travel bureaus or through the internet to generate steady revenue for WARF future programmes and other required resources (West, Ford and Ibrahim 527).
In conclusion educational, non-financial and financial benefits plus the need to improve the local community are the main reasons that motivate ecotourists and voluntourists.
Ethical and sustainable considerations
Ethics is the theoretical study of acceptable value of an individual conduct, policies and directives that should preside over and which constitute moral beliefs.
Sustainability on the other hand is the process of developing the worth of a person while at the same time strengthening the capability of supporting ecology.
The stakeholders such as WARF, ecotourists, voluntourists and the local communities are concerned with the environmental conservation and generation of revenue from the preservation activities which involve conservation of the natural habitat and the wild animals.
This creates sustainable benefits that are both non-financial and financial for all participants involved in carrying out of the educational programme together with the ecotourism functions.
WARF in Thai produces sustainable income flow from the ecotourists and voluntourists who charge a fee to toil willingly with the local community and take care of the wild animals at the place of protection by the environment reserves.
WARF provides habitat and care for rescued animals before sending them back to the wild. Thus, the wildlife preservation is important because the endurance of the saved animals rely on the environmental state of the natural surroundings from which the wild animals were freed.
For this to be possible combined effort of stakeholders is necessary whose contribution produces shared non-financial and/ financial benefits.
Upholding high-quality association amongst stakeholders is the right approach of managing these ecosystems and this close association is preserved through mutual activities such as (GRP) Gibbon Rehabilitation Project and Volunteer Network Program (West et al 527).
The GRP was established in 1990 at Bang Pae Waterfall, Phuket and Tambon Pa Klok with the mandate to save adult gibbons; this scheme is a tourist attraction in Phuket since the local people used to poach the gibbons from the Island of Phuket in order for tourists to be photographed with them for fee and were abandoned at maturity as they stopped being attractive (West et al 527).
Abandoned gibbons are saved by the GRP as one component of rehabilitation and shifted far from human inhabitant; the project overall objective is to stop the poaching of the young gibbons all together (West et al 527).
To do this the volunteer Network Program relies on donations and support from the participant; the human resources are provided by the local community such the students who carry out research on the animal diseases and their behaviour.
These volunteers comprised mainly of students later on become donors and this gives them a chance to be in contact with the animals. In Cambodia, the conservation project entails endangered species protection and poverty alleviation through the growth of sustainable income flows, particularly ecotourism (West et al 527).
The Cambodian populace is high and subsist in intense poverty; the last decade saw raised restrictions of prohibited logging, forest fires and poaching (West et al 527).
The stakeholders build a sustainable defence arrangement for the Cardamoms responsible for building up alternative employment of the local community.
While the stakeholders such as NGOs that have local information are accountable for strategies preservation, community growth, and project implementation.
In this arrangement the University of Victoria is accountable for scientific contribution, plans and execution while the Jetwing Eco Holidays is liable for controlling ecotourism functions and making it easy to market the general project and Community Based Ecotourism (West et al 527).
The government hold on to specific features of the area conservation, community growth and execution; the government has the responsibility to conserve the forest but it is financially incapable of doing so, this lead to holding up of the project for months, at this particular time ICEBV was taken in to build up a financial way out.
The financing was generated through a mixture of income from ecosystem services, grants and equity investment. Project performance started in August 2008 and ends in 2043 to produce revenue for the investors, these income flows are situated on land owned by ICEBV mostly on the perimeter of the forest.
The ICEBV is progressing to expand and research extra income flows from fee ecology services, together with fee generated from biodiversity and watershed services balance.
Jetwings Eco Holidays, Wildlife Alliance and ICEBV formed an accord by which incomes are shared amongst them and absorbed towards the suitable part of the plan.
To develop ecotourism assets in the growing markets it is important for ICEBV to make sure that public and private projects for investments are complete. ICEBV has provided financial structuring of the activities and the firm has productively supplied private finances for the opening out of two lodges.
Formation of a complete project team is a critical step in building up booming ecotourism assets, based on this ICEBV propped up its team by pulling together a globally renowned medium to small sized hotel workers, an architecture group that determined ecological plan of visitor lodgings and internal administration to make sure that the scheme yardsticks were achieved in a well-timed manner.
By conducting careful due diligence and research on the area which ecotourism plans were going to be developed and by identifying the market to concentrate on which will supply income, the firm was capable of moulding its procedure to the project in general.
Through all these ICEBV is functioning to develop the financial, social capital and ecological of the local society and the project collaborators (West et al 528-529).
Ecotourism is not enough in succeeding to preserve the environment as it is extremely a consumer-centred action and the ecological preservation is a way to advance economic development.
Though ecotourism is designed for small teams, still a reserved increase in populace, though short-term, places additional weight on the local surroundings and demands the expansion of extra amenities and infrastructure.
The building of sanitation facilities, water treatment facilities and accommodations come with utilization of non-renewable power and constrained local resources. The translation of usual land to tourist infrastructure is meant to be a method of deforestation as well; this is apart from ecology deprivation where the infrastructure, general population pressure leaves pollution and garbage behind.
Though ecotourists assert to be educationally refined and environmentally apprehensive, they seldom understand the biological cost of their vacation and how their daily activities constraints the surrounding environment. Therefore, ecotourism actions are issue in ecological impact since they upset fauna and flora ecosystems (West et al 531).
In conclusion, natural resource administration can be used as expert instrument necessary for the expansion of ecotourism; there are numerous places all over the globe where the quantities of natural sources are plentiful but with human being intrusion and habitation these sources are diminishing.
Because of lack of proper knowledge on the use of specific resources, these resources are ruined and the species become wiped out. Therefore, plans and appropriate management action can be initiated with the intention of preserving such resources.
Strategy and Recommendations
In Thai, the stakeholders are concerned with the environmental conservation and generation of revenue from the preservation activities which involve caring for the natural habitation and the wild animals.
This creates sustainable benefits (non-financial and financial benefits) for all participants and also the educational programme together with the ecotourism which benefits the locals.
WARF in Thai is therefore able to produce sustainable cash flow from the ecotourists or voluntourists who pay a fee to work willingly with the local community and take care of the wild animals at their place of protection in the environment reserves and WARF provides houses and care for saved animals.
While in Cambodia, the preservation project entails species defence and poverty alleviation through the growth of sustainable cash flows, particularly ecotourism.
The stakeholders have built a sustainable defence arrangement for the Cardamoms with creation of alternative employment for the local community. The stakeholders such as NGOs that have local information are accountable for strategies preservation, community growth, and project implementation (West et al 530).
On the other hand, Kerala, India sunrise industry has developed and trades in local ornamental fisheries; the government has actively promoted the trade in local ornamentals and is advising local people to work extra so as to earn income from the booming export of tropical fishes.
This mind-set by the government is extremely disappointing and negatively affects the ecosystem of the area. In addition, there is poor comprehension of legal issues of possession and harvest in this section of the globe, as the fisheries for the local ornamentals are wide open, plus deceiving restrictions and quotas and no rules or regulation that governs harvesting of local ornamental fisheries and the government has not made any effort to stop this.
Sufficient time and inclination for supervising and doing research has not been available, which unfavourably impact the planning and functioning of preservation and administration strategy for the local ornamentals.
The stakeholders (local people) dwell in forest and have relied on natural resources together with fish, as source of revenue. To conserve the environment, captive breeding is a key instrument for the preservation of endemic and endangered fish, nonetheless, small-scale and captive breeding aquaculture may operate as an option to wild set or fishing which is conditional to providing sufficient inducements in form of income to relocate and not increase the wild gathering.
Implementation of rearing technologies and captive breeding will lead to a negative impact on the local community who depend on fisheries, since this will raise supply and reduce prices.
Recommendations
Preservation of rare species in developing nations is a costly mission and opportunity cost of ex situ and situ preservation strategies may possibly be high; this makes its economical therefore to have cost-effective strategies like ecotourism areas and protected places which can be promoted to preserve holistic resource administration strategies in order to benefit the communities and natural resources.
Management traditions that are in place needs to support the business and fishery in to a sustainable venture; this will require fishery administration strategy control, ecosystem based administration, technical measures and indirect economical tools that can be utilized with required adjustment to suit regional necessities.
Rules and regulation that govern harvesting of these resources can be achieved by issuing licences but entry rights may be the best strategy that can succeed in the current scenario.
The procedure of giving export licenses and gathering permits ought to be centralized and the amount of orders given out must be severely synchronized by the concerned government organization.
The facts on population volume and biological allocation of rare and widespread natural resources must be reinforced by taking for granted widespread micro regional research.
The familiarity with area of allocation and information on micro-regional traits of the inhabitants of economically sensitive fishes will contribute to preservation efforts of rare species and other aquatic reserves.
Techniques must therefore be industrialised for captive breeding and brood-stock growth of fishes that are of financial importance and which have to be benchmarked with the case for Thai and Cambodian.
Finally, examination on the persistent nature of unusual species in the usual habitats must be approved with a view of finding out what numbers of the species can attain natural breeding populace and how their feeding habit relates with the indigenous species. This requires the performance of committee created under the government of India to monitor and control the rare species preservation to be more effective.
Works Cited
Hubpages. “Ecotourism or Voluntourism”, 2011. Web.
West, D. Ford, J. and Ibrahim, E. “Strategic Marketing: Creating Competitive Advantage”, New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print.
