What is Ecotourism?
Ecotourism has been defined as a form of nature-based tourism in the marketplace, but it has also been formulated and studied as a sustainable development tool by NGOs, development experts and academics since 1990. The term ecotourism, therefore, refers on one hand to a concept under a set of principles, and on the other hand to a specific market segment. The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) (previously known as The Ecotourism Society (TES)) in 1991 produced one of the earliest definitions:
“Ecotourism is responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and sustains the well being of local people.”
IUCN (now called the World Conservation Union) states in 1996 that ecotourism:
“is environmentally responsible travel and visitation to relatively undisturbed natural areas, in order to enjoy and appreciate nature (and any accompanying cultural features - both past and present) that promotes conservation, has low negative visitor impact, and provides for beneficially active socio-economic involvement of local populations.”
Ecotourism as a Concept Ecotourism is a sub-component of the field of sustainable tourism. Figure 1 offers a reflection of where ecotourism can be placed within the process of developing more sustainable forms of tourism. This figure also provides a demonstration of how ecotourism is primarily a sustainable version of nature tourism, while including rural and cultural tourism elements.
Ecotourism aspires in all cases to achieve sustainable development results. However, it is important to clarify that all tourism activities – be they geared to holidays, business, conferences, congresses or fairs, health, adventure or ecotourism – should aim to be sustainable. This means that the planning and development of tourism infrastructure, its subsequent operation and also its marketing should focus on environmental, social, cultural and economic sustainability criteria.