According to Budeanu (2007) the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC)
estimate that 850 million people travel as tourists annually and this number is
increasing (though recession-based fluctuation is observable). Within this large touristmarket, as a result of changing attitudes to environmental concerns, the ecotourism
market is experiencing unprecedented growth, comprising five to ten per cent of the
market and growing at three times the rate of other types of tourism (Honey, 2008;
also Campbell, 1999; Uddhammar, 2006; Rajagopal, 2008). It has long been
established that tourism has a negative effect on the environment, both in terms of
travel to destinations and the effects of concentrations of visitors on the destinations
themselves (e.g., Rose, 2011), and it is to this apparent paradox in the ecotourism
market rationale that the paper now turns.