Imagine vacationing in a place of stunning, natural beauty. Picture yourself relaxing on a pristine beach in Belize, exploring the desert on a camel in Dubai,or following lions and zebras in Kenya. Now imagine that environment, protact wildlife, and support local communities. Sound too good to be true? It isn't! Such vacations are part of the fastest growing trend in the travel industry. The trend is called ecotourism.
While ecotourism was almost unheard of before the 1990s, it has quickly become a multi-billion dollar industry. But what exactly is ecotourism? These are some of its characteristics:
-It involves travel to natural, often remote,destinations. These are often protected areas where development is limited.
-Ecotourism destinations focus on recycling, water conservation, and using renewable energy sources.
-It buids environmental awareness. As visitors explore an area,thay also learn abouy it.
- It provides aneconomic incentive to preserve the environment and raises money to help protect it.
-It creates financial opportunities and jobs for the local population.
Costa Rice was one of the fist ecotourism success stories. At one time, Costa Rice had the highest rate of deforestation in all of Latin America. Howwever, since ecotourism, there has been a dramatic reduction in deforestation. Now,more than a quarter of Costa Rica's land is protected fromdevelopment. Costa Rice is now the world's top ecotourism destination. Amazingly,this small country of four million people has about 1.5 million vistors per year.
Stacy Davison is one of the million-plus tourists who chose to visit Costa Rica this year.