Eco Tourism in Australia

Making tourism more sustainable is not just about controlling and managing the negative impacts of the industry. Tourism is in a very special position to benefit local communities, economically and socially, and to raise awareness and support for conservation of the environment.

Tourism plays a significant role in sustainable development and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Tourism Organization (WTO) wish to encourage all countries to make sure that their policies and actions for its development and management fully embrace the principles of sustainability. Likewise, policies to promote sustainable development should take full account of the opportunities offered by tourism. Various international conventions and declarations have put forward principles and guidelines for sustainable tourism and the importance of tourism and its sustainability was underlined at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development. Many countries declare that they are pursuing, or wish to pursue, policies for ‘sustainable tourism’. Despite this interest, there remains a degree of uncertainty over the scope and priorities for making tourism more sustainable and only partial appreciation of how to put this into practice (Making Tourism More Sustainable, 2005).

Four different stakeholder groups have been identified for this study in sustainable tourism: the present tourists, the present host community, the future tourists, and the future host community. All of these groups have a legitimate interest in tourism development in their community because they can affect or be affected by the tourism business as a whole. Other major stakeholders are central and local government, the private sector, international organizations, public/private initiatives and traditional chiefs/community

After analyzing the typical tourists of HSBR: Business and leisure travelers, I have decided on creating a transformative travel experience marketing strategy that will be integrated with the sustainability aspect. The transformative travel experience will focus on giving the tourist a taste of local experience and give the tourist a feel of what it would be like to stay in the country not to merely pass through. My reason for this strategy is that

The discussion on ecotourism and its essence has led to over eighty different definitions of the topic (Fennell, 2008). However, one of the most used and comprehensive definitions is reported by Weaver (ibidem). It describes ecotourism as “a form of tourism that fosters” awareness, education and enjoyment of the natural environment and the local values in a sustainable way (Weaver, 2001a:15). Hence, ecotourism, while thriving for profitability, aims to promote education and cultural awareness of destinations without compromising their ecosystems. Eco-tourists demand for more authentic and meaningful forms of travel and; according to Orams (1996) (in Weaver, 2001a), they can be classified in two different categories: hard and soft ones. The hard eco-tourists believe in “radical” self-commitment with their destination, in order to ameliorate the natural environment (give back something) through “not-mediated” (Weaver, 2001b:106), challenging physical activities immersed in the site’s nature (ibidem). However, the soft visitors have shallower levels of commitment to the environment than hard eco-tourists. Indeed, while hard eco-visitors tend to organise independently (where high competence and time availability are required and low level of services expected on-site), soft ones rely on eco-tour-operators to organise less physically demanding tours (tab. 1.1a) (ibidem).

Most people hear the word ecotourism and immediately tune out because they assume it does not apply to them. Well you know what happens when someone assumes. The facts are that at a point in someone's life their parents dragged them to go on a tour of a some sort of nature. The parents probably told them not to hurt it and in doing so they have been an ecotourist! Ecotourism is responsible travel to natural areas or nature-based areas that conserves the environment and preserves the well-being of local people. Some ecotourists mess up sometimes and others do not. Although many people think Ecotourism is butchering the environment, it actually can be beneficial for the environment and the people involved.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impacts and benefits of ecotourism to Costa Rica in the perspective of the environment, local community and development of tourism sustainability; the ways ecotourism creates awareness of the importance of natural and cultural conservation; and the prospective benefits and risks of ecotourism to Costa Rica in term of the local community, the biodiversity and the environment.

– Costas Christ, one of the world 's leading sustainable tourism experts, CEO and founder of

As we outline in this journal, the roots of environmentalism and sustainability in the hospitality sector became evident over half a century ago, when a few enterprising hoteliers realized they could provide an enhanced guest experience by integrating natural elements into the resort experience. In the years that followed, factors such as increasing regulation and rising utility costs encouraged hotel owners and managers to adopt a number of environmental best practices. We have observed a remarkable shift in investor sentiment in recent times, as evidenced by the establishment of numerous corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs, as well as the prevalence of green building programs for new development projects.

According to Myunget al. (2012), the purpose of green practices is to reduce the impact on the environment by applying environmentally preferred practices by reducing the waste and used sustainable resources and supplies. Therefore, for those owner of green hotel are also advocating the green practices of business activities, “less environmentally

The generation of waste may be considered one of the largest effects the hospitality and tourism industry has on the environment. This is in part due to the fact that many of the businesses, which make up this industry, use massive quantities of consumer goods. The importance of sustainability in the hospitality and tourism industry as it relates to development and operations is critical as it is one currently of the most important global issues. Historically, the hospitality and tourism sector has had a dramatic impact on the environment through energy and water consumption, use of consumable and durable goods, and solid and hazardous waste creation. False information stating that green operation is more expensive and

The Travel and Tourism industry is still one of the largest single businesses in world commerce and its importance is widely recognized. The tourism industry is now one of the largest sectors earning foreign exchange. In the face of many benefits, many countries have started assigning due weight age to the tourism industry in their national development agenda. Tourism is an industry that operates on a massively broad scale: it embraces activities ranging from the smallest sea-side hotel; to air-lines, multi-national hotel chains and major international tour operators. Originally, non-traditional industries such as tourism emerged as a solution to strike a balance between ecology and industry

Professor Wall (2005) also point out that Enterprises and hospitality industry companies are becoming increasingly willing to protect the environment. It’s because they are becoming more and more aware of the potential benefits from developing trend of the market. The nature of environmental management based on the destination Including public and private sector. The way to steady environment management is not only the response to externally imposed government ordinance but also the requirements of consumers which are becoming an important stimulus. In other words, the environment may lead the customers to increase demands directly or indirectly although the cost of environment-related attract might weaken the competitiveness of the destination and can be reflected in lower profits. According to Holden (2006), the customers’ views in consumption have been changing globally

Few years ago when climate change really started to come into focus and people began to think how to protect our mother Earth and of  the ways to create a sustainable hospitality industry, many hotels and resorts started  their green programs  being a first choice for many guests and travelers since last decade.

This increases the tourism sustainability in turn; sustainability will assist tourism in contributing to economic development as well as improve employees and their families, the local community and society at large. Communication between us is always through national surveys, informative programs and educational resources. These stakeholders would assist our tourist attractions in the following ways,