Introduction
In the recent periods, Ecotourism has changed to become a bigger type of tourism mostly in developing countries. Ecotourism refers to responsible travel to natural environments with an aim of environmental conservation and improvement as well as improving the well-being of local communities in these regions. In this regard, individuals practice nature-based tourism, which benefits the local communities and destinations, culturally, environmentally and economically. The niche of ecotourism has become bigger over time due to the impact on conservation and communities. Today ecotourism has taken the form of alternative tourism. This paper presents the case for changes in ecotourism. The writer will highlight why ecotourism has become bigger the impacts of mass tourism, and how to transform ecotourism into a sustainable activity.
Important terms
Prior to evaluating the changes in ecotourism, it is necessary to highlight the meaning of different terms that will appear in this paper. These terms include;
- Alternative tourism- this is a form of tourism which combines different tourist products. It combines the aspects of explorer and encounter travel as well as active tourism with the concepts of committed tourism (International Ecotourism Society, 2013).
- Mass tourism- refers to the accumulated appearance of travelers to a special destination at a particular period. It has developed due to changes in transport systems, which allow the transportation of large groups of tourists (World Tourism Organization, 2010).
- Sustainable tourism- this refers to envision of tourism management in an economically and socially responsible manner to maintain cultural integrity, maintain the essential ecological processes and provide sustainable development (Buckley, 2010).
Today, individuals view ecotourism as an activity performed with the intention of environmental conservation and community empowerment (World Tourism Organization, 2010). In this regard, the branch of tourism has attracted more participants who intend to safeguard natural environments so that future generations may enjoy. “The promotion of economic development, especially in the lowly developed regions is a significant factor that has affected the growth of ecotourism” (Buckley, 2010 pg. 151). In this perspective, local communities benefit from economic development programs that are initiated using the funds and resources from ecotourism (Buckley, 2010).
Mass tourism involves tens of thousands of travelers going to a particular resort often around the same annual periods (Edgell, 2006). Most individuals consider mass tourism as a cheap way of earning a holiday because most resort destinations offer a “package deal” for the travelers (Edgell, 2006). In most situations, a single company, which meets the accommodation and food needs, travelling, and activities of the tourists caters for the package deal (Edgell, 2006). Mass tourism is considered as the opposite of sustainable tourism because the schedules are not regular as those in sustainable tourism approaches (Edgell, 2006). Significant examples of mass tourism include skiing on the mountains and sunbathing on beaches.
Why Ecotourism is growing; how and how big
Ecotourism involves making visits to natural and fragile undisturbed areas. For a long period, this form of tourism has been performed on a small scale in terms of standard commercial tourism. The purpose of ecotourism is to educate travelers concerning ecology and undisturbed natural systems. Ecotourism directly benefits political empowerment and economic development of the local communities with an intention of “fostering respect for local cultures and human rights” (Choo, & Jamal, 2009 pg. 437). Following its inception as a form of tourism in 1980, ecotourism has widely been viewed as a critical effort by environmentalists to preserve the existing ecosystems for future generations (World Tourism Organization, 2010). The perception that ecotourism was mainly concerned with the ecosystems made it to appear as a field for environmental professionals hence received minimal participation from other parties. However, this perception has changed with the understanding on the purpose for ecotourism (Buckley, 2010).
Primarily, ecotourism concerns itself with the living parts in natural environments as well as promoting socially responsible travel, environmental sustainability and personal growth (World Tourism Organization, 2010). Growth in the sector may be attributed to the aspect of promoting responsible tourism. Traditional tourism has been condemned for promoting social ills such as sex trade in under developed regions (World Tourism Organization, 2010). However, ecotourism advocates for responsible tourism with the objective of minimizing the cons of conventional tourism (World Tourism Organization, 2010). In this regard, ecotourism has witnessed its growth due to the increase in support for responsible tourism (World Tourism Organization, 2010). Furthermore, individuals are more interested in creating economic opportunities to improve local communities in areas that have been negatively affected by conventional tourism.
Mass tourism
The advantages of mass tourism include job creation in local areas. The job creation is coupled with development in terms of infrastructure construction (Edgell, 2006). In most situations, the revenues earned from mass tourism are used to construct additional hotels and develop the tour destinations (Edgell, 2006). In this regard, the local communities benefit from the employment (Edgell, 2006). Additionally, the tourists who participate in mass tourism introduce new cultures and values to the local communities. These new cultures and values may have positive or negative effects (Edgell, 2006). Due to the economic activities that take place government revenue increases in the form of tax. However, mass tourism has a major pitfall, which is the creation of seasonal jobs. When jobs are seasonal, the economic development that emerges from these jobs is not sustainable (Choo, & Jamal, 2009). For example, the creation of seasonal jobs has affected the economic development in Jamaica because the local populations lack economic activities to perform when the tourists fail to visit (Choo, & Jamal, 2009). Additionally, slow economic growth is witnessed in these situations because the flow of revenue is not consistent (Choo, & Jamal, 2009). Cultural pollution also occurs because of mass tourism. In this perspective, the tourists introduce new cultures, which replace the existing cultures to the local populations (Choo, & Jamal, 2009).
Although mass tourism bears economic benefits to local populations in terms of job creation, it is unsustainable. The aspect of “being unsustainable increases the dependence of developing countries on wealthier nations” (Zambrano, Broadbent, & Durham, 2010 pg. 64). For example, about 80% of the tourist who visit Jamaica and the Caribbean are from 20 of the wealthiest nations such as Japan and Canada (Zambrano, Broadbent, & Durham, 2010). The tourists live similar lifestyles when they visit tour regions as to when they are at home (Zambrano, Broadbent, & Durham, 2010). For example, a tourist in Jamaica uses the same amount of water that may be used for agricultural practices such as planting rice. Additionally, transport is a key component of tourism (Zambrano, Broadbent, & Durham, 2010). However, the means of transport used to pursue traveling and tourism have negative environmental impacts such as pollution.
Improving sustainability in ecotourism
Following the increased participation in ecotourism, it is significant for individuals to develop strategies to improve the sustainability of ecotourism (Shen, & Redclift, 2012). Improving the sustainability will ensure that its objectives such as natural environment conservation, economic development and protection of cultural practices (Shen, & Redclift, 2012). Additionally, improving its sustainability will enhance responsible tourism and the development of other forms of alternative tourism (Shen, & Redclift, 2012). The approaches that will lead to improved sustainability include regulation, local growth, and education regarding the goals of this form of tourism.
The regulation of ecotourism will provide an opportunity for accreditation. Previously, regulation in “the field of ecotourism has been nonexistent and poorly implemented because it was largely considered as tourism” (Hirotsune, 2011 pg. 10). Regulation through the formulation and enactment of laws makes it possible for ecotourism companies to benefit in terms of competitive advantage. In this approach, the regulation and accreditation should take up a global perspective (Hirotsune, 2011). Therefore, an international body should be formulated to regulate the accreditation procedures as well as enacting and enforcing laws in ecotourism (Hirotsune, 2011). Following this, means that all participants in ecotourism such as companies and tour guides will have to undergo rigorous training prior to their accreditation. Global accreditation means that the purpose of all participants in ecotourism will be unified (Hirotsune, 2011). Therefore, the international body tasked with the mandate of regulation and accreditation will work together with governments, travel agents, non-governmental organizations, and conservation organizations in regulating the sector (Wearing, 2011). The body should make decisions and recommendations, which should be sanctioned by governments to make the system effective in terms of sustainability (Wearing, 2011). An example of the regulation and accreditation process is the Certification of Sustainable Tourism held in Costa Rica. The program also known as CST balances the effect of business on the local environment (Wearing, 2011). The program focuses on regulating the manner in which ecotourism companies interact with cultural and natural resources in the improvement of economic activities (Wearing, 2011). Using such regulations within the sector makes is possible for controlling the management of ecotourism and promoting sustainability in the sector (Wearing, 2011). Furthermore, companies that provide ecotourism services are rated and ranked according to their adherence to the objectives of the sector. Regulating and accreditation of the ecotourism sector is the first step towards developing a program, which will lead to the sustainability of the tourism sector (Gamesby, 2010).
Creating guidelines and education is another approach in making ecotourism sustainable. A sustainability improvement strategy should address the issue of cause-and-effect of different ecotourism actions on the cultural, natural, and economic environment (Gamesby, 2010). Education will help in improving the awareness and sensitizing both local communities and tourists on the underlying benefits of ecotourism (Gamesby, 2010). In this regard, the guidelines and education improve on the sustainability by offering information based on research and funding research in order to understand the possibilities of ecotourism (Gamesby, 2010). Facilitating research in the field will enable the regulatory body and other participants in ecotourism to understand the impacts of their actions concerning ecotourism (Edgell, 2006). For example, in Malaysia the government has conducted an education program to local communities known as Eco-Host to educate the locals on the benefits of ecotourism (Edgell, 2006). The program involves the training of young men and women who complete high school but fail to make it to campus on how to use eco-tourism as an economic booster (Edgell, 2006). So far, the program has trained over ten groups, each group consists of 150 individuals.
Additionally, the perspective of education facilitates the training process for tour guides and tour companies that participate in ecotourism. These participants need to promote the awareness of ecotourism (Edgell, 2006). The training programs will provide confidence and knowledge, which is vital for the promotion of sustainability in ecotourism (Edgell, 2006). In this approach, participants will mitigate the negative effects that emerge from conventional tourism in underdeveloped regions.
Local growth and control is an important strategy in improving the sustainability of ecotourism (Buckley, 2010). The advantages of initiating local growth and control strategies are identified by the fact that individuals from local communities develop ecotourism prior to accepting tourists to their natural environments (Shen, & Redclift, 2012). In this perspective, local communities can develop additional products to offer to tourists who seek to visit natural ecosystems (Buckley, 2010). The advantage lies in the fact that the communities that initiate local control and growth techniques are better placed in sustaining ecotourism (Buckley, 2010). The competitive advantage emerges from the ability to prepare for different situations that may arise from the activity (Buckley, 2010). Additionally, placing the local growth and control mechanisms is suitable because the local communities are can identify the streams of income and how to utilize the income that is sourced from ecotourism (Buckley, 2010). The approach eliminates the vices that arise from tourism because prior to benefiting from ecotourism, a community has already identified the projects that will be run using the revenues from ecotourism (Buckley, 2010). Therefore, such local communities can use ecotourism as a blessing concerning economic stimulation and advancement (Buckley, 2010). For example, in China, the Green Project is a recycling project, which is being used to use the revenue from ecotourism. The government remits the funds raised from ecotourism towards environmental rehabilitation and running recycling plants (Shen, & Redclift, 2012). The funds play a great role in creating employment, which counts as economic development, and in making ecotourism sustainable because the project has goals (Shen, & Redclift, 2012).
Finally, the intervention by international bodies that are concerned with the environment and tourism is a suitable approach in making ecotourism a sustainable practice (Choo, & Jamal, 2009). From this perspective, the thought of sustainability does not only refer to the economic aspect but also the maintaining the growth experienced in the sector (Choo, & Jamal, 2009). Involving international bodies such as UNESCO is essential in the formulation of campaign strategies to increase awareness in the sector (Shen, & Redclift, 2012). Promoting awareness as well as international recognition as a form of tourism will attract investors, which in turn increases the participants in ecotourism (Choo, & Jamal, 2009). Increasing the participants is relative to maintaining the growth and sustainability of ecotourism.
Conclusion
Promoting socially responsible travel appeals to many individuals who in turn support and participate in ecotourism. An integral part of ecotourism revolves around the advocacy for recycling, energy efficiency, and water conservation. Ecotourism is a sustainable form of tourism as compared to mass tourism. In order to improve its sustainability, it is imperative to have regulations that govern the sector. Additionally, education and guidelines assist in making mass tourism sustainable because local communities prepare for the resources that are obtained in terms of revenues. Preparation and support by international organizations such as UNESCO is also significant in making ecotourism sustainable. Other forms of tourism such as alternative tourism and conventional tourism are sustainable due to different approaches used. However, mass tourism does not have aspects of sustainability. The change in view towards the purpose of ecotourism has been a significant factor, which has promoted the participation in the field. Additionally, ecotourism plays a significant role in economic development by providing local communities with economic stimulus program.
References
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