Ecotourism Essay

Tourism is the world’s largest industry with nature-based ecotourism seeing rapid growth since its initial arrival in the 1980s. It is estimated by the World Tourism Organisation that nature tourism generates 7% of all international travel expenditure (Lindberg, 1997) and this figure will have increased rapidly over recent years. It’s increase in popularity is due to a number of factors; tourists becoming increasingly bored of the typical sun, sea and sand holiday’s, the increase in global awareness or environmental issues such as global

Unfortunately I see this conversation ending with Celeste and Jim both very upset and no solutions to the conflict being discussed. It seems that at the end of this scenario the conflict was beginning to spiral out of control, and communication was shutting down. It will end with Celeste and Jim blowing up at each other and not being willing to understand the others perspective about the situation. They will not talk for a while after this happens and Jim will hire Nikki as he intended to from the beginning. As a negative end to this conflict I see Jim and Celeste looking back over the conflict still trying to defend their position (retrospective goals).

Eco-tourism is when you travel to a natural space and appreciate nature and protect the environment. You also learn the past and present of the destination.

Williams Powers, an ecotourist activist wrote in his book, Whispering in the Giants Ear, “That which we allow to exist, to flourish freely according to its own rhythms, is superior to anything our little hands create.” Ecotourism is defined as "responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people."

The WTO (2001), however, defines sustainability in tourism literature as ‘Development that meets the needs of the today’s tourists and the host region while protecting and enhancing opportunities for the future.’ It is envisaged as leading to the management of all resources in such a way that economic, social, and aesthetic needs can be fulfilled while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecology processes, biological diversity and life support system.

When it comes to the topic of ecotourism, most of us will readily agree that it is a less harmful alternative to mass-tourism and that it promotes responsible and low-impact travel to areas where flora, fauna and cultural heritage are the primary drawing power. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of what the impact of ecotourism actually is and what its long-term consequences are. Whereas some are convinced that ecotourism provides the basis for sustainable development, particularly in places that suffer from exploitation and excessive resources’ usage, and that could only improve the general conditions of the local people, others maintain that we are still far from true ecotourism, for many are those in the

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.

Tourism is a fast growing industry and a valuable sector, contributing significantly to the economy (“The Social & Cultural Impacts of Tourism”, n.d.). It has been generally accepted that tourism is, for the most part and with relatively few exceptions, beneficial to both generating and destination countries (Holloway, 2009, p. 114). Some researchers are less sure that this is the case. This essay will discuss the environmental and social impacts of tourism in the UK considering whether the benefits exceed the costs.

From an environmental perspective, it is apparent that the world is starting to realise that increases in tourism are having a negative impact on the environment. This is due to increases in energy consumption, which in turn heightens the effects of global warming (Neto, 2002). There are many controls that governments are trying to put into place, such as flight rationing (Liverpool Business School, 2009). However, it can be argued that these have not really begun to have a significant effect on tourism, as they are still insufficient to dampen demand. It may become a problem in future years, as the number of controls is likely to increase. Perhaps the largest environmental factor would be natural disasters, like Hurricane Katrina (Cashell, 2005) and the tsunami that hit Asia in December 2004 (Birkland, 2006). These will impact negatively on people’s confidence in visiting places that have been hit severely by such disasters.

Humans are negatively effecting numerous ecosystems including the Rocky Shores, Sand Dunes and Mangrove communities. If human activities continue as they do now, there will be troubling future implications to nature, and to humans. Tourism, for example, is one of the major human influences that is destroying many valuable ecosystems. Tourism is commercial holidaying where people visit places of interest. (www.directtourismservices.co.uk, 2017) It requires an abundance of associated infrastructure and resources and increased populations have negative effects on the surrounding ecosystems (Brambly, 2017). For example, increased foot traffic, runoff water quality and infrastructural development are all having drastic impacts to ecosystems and are caused by tourism. While it may be greatly beneficial for economic growth, which is why humans are so interested in it, tourism is a major strain on many vital ecosystems and courses of action should be taken to monitor its impacts to the environment.

Brown (2008) states that volunteer tourism includes different aspects and environmental protection is a kind of volunteer tourism. According to Brown (2008), volunteer tourism, or voluntourism, refers to the tours which provide travelers opportunities to participate in voluntary activities and enable them to communicate with local people. The participants have different mindsets on voluntourism (Brown, 2008), some of them is volunteer-minded while the others are vacation-minded. The main reasons for the participants to participate in this type of tourism are cultural immersion, to help the less privileged and seeking friendship and educational opportunity for children. It is generally accepted that voluntourism brings some benefits to the participants

National parks provide a highlight for the travel. These lands are set aside as natural beauties, wonders, and even phenomenons. In 2015, more than 307 million people visited the national parks of the United States, a five percent increase from 2014 (Errick). With such an increase in tourism, it becomes ever more important to implement sustainable tourism practices and make travel good for the visitors and the destination. According to the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture, “sustainable tourism is defined as ‘tourism that respects both local people and the traveller, cultural heritage and the environment.’” The purposes of national parks are to protect the heritage of the park, protect the environment found within the park, and educate the public. These purposes work hand-in-hand with sustainable tourism, and it only makes sense that these two ideals are combined together. Unsustainable travel does not have just one, foul-proof solution. Rather, several small actions combined together will have profound effect in the evolution of the system. With the help of park services and the individual tourist, we can move to a future in which we have no need to specify some tourism as “sustainable”.

Moreover, tourism and the environment are balancing sectors in terms of vision and goals. The environment is the right climate for sustainable tourism development, and sustainable tourism focuses on environmental planning. Perhaps the most important element on which eco-tourism is based is not to disturb the ecological balance resulting from human actions, which are represented by the behavior of tourists in the case of ecotourism and the pollution it may cause. In addition, natural areas form the basis for ecotourism from marine tourism and land tourism, and recent studies have shown that eco-tourism generates direct financial resources. What is more, the main objective of ecotourism is to promote and improve the standards of living of the local community (Kuhdairi, 2012)

Planning and development are both extremely important factors within the tourism industry and can have both positive and negative effects on the environment, local communities and tourist destinations. “Destination planning aims to limit the negative impacts of cultural tourism upon the history and lifestyles of the local community. An understanding of sustainable tourist development allows for the development of culture without loss of its authentic identity” (Maidment. T. 2012). This statement discusses the importance of planning to avoid having any negative impacts on environments and communities. Because the effects of tourism are so severe to destinations, many natural and cultural resources have been destroyed, therefore tourism planning is vital to preserve and maintain these places for future generations.