Ecotourism

Аннотация

One of the benefits of coming to ecotourism in its earliest days as a field of study is that I’ve seen first-hand how the concept has evolved over time. During the latter part of the 1980s, ecotourism was defined by a rather restricted range of opportunities in a few charismatic destinations that were essential in defining the nature of the experience. The market, typically birdwatchers and scientists, was much more predictable for these types of experiences: ecotourists were affiliated with conservation organizations; they heavily invested in the gear that would allow them to better capture these travel experiences; they traveled as eco-tourists rather frequently; and they were long staying, well-educated, financially well-off, and allocentric in their travel desires. Ecotourism (‘eco’ standing for ecological) is also represented a promising platform for conservationists to affect meaningful change in an industry that was increasingly defined by negative socio-cultural and ecological change. The allure of this a new type of travel, no doubt stemming from the onset of sustainable development and the media hype generated from its coverage, gave way to an expanding market clamoring to take advantage of new alternative tourism opportunities in places that were virtually terra incognita. Concurrent with this growth in demand were opportunities for service providers to develop their own small-scale ecotourism packages, in their own little corner of the world, without being tied to large tourism organizations. Not surprisingly, the growth in ecotourism supply and demand over such a relatively short period of time has been accompanied by some very serious philosophical and practical inconsistencies that continue to plague ecotourism in study and practice.