The notion of ‘sustainability’ in tourism has led to the growth of sustainable tourism
development models which seek to reassign values of natural and cultural assets towards
preservation for utilisation as tourism assets. This leads to sustainability of the industry as
well as the original asset.
Ecotourism is one of the most common manifestations of sustainable tourism in LDCs. It is
easy to see the direct link between harnessing environmental assets for tourism over other
resource consumptive industries as a means of conservation which has financial returns
(Mvula, 2001). Value of an environmental asset is reassigned to its preservation over its
consumption, where the expectation that financial returns will be greater and for the longer
term than the alternative.
The conservation of natural assets also has implications for social benefit, by helping to
preserve the amenity of the resident community’s living environment. Ideally, this includes