Ecotourism: The New Face of Travel

▪ 1999

by Carla Hunt

      The latest trend in tourism is travel that combines preserving the natural world and sustaining the well-being of the human cultures that inhabit it. Known as ecotourism, the industry was unknown a decade ago yet now receives rave reviews from environmentally conscious travelers who immerse themselves in pristine places and authentic experiences. Unlike traditional tourism, ecotourism promotes environmentally responsible travel and seeks to ensure that visitors "take nothing but photographs and leave behind nothing but footprints." An equally important part of the ecotourism equation is "sustainable" tourism that enables local people to protect their natural and cultural resources and profit from them at the same time. The truly "green" traveler also emphasizes the necessity for tours that strictly limit group size, coordinate with native guides, and donate a percentage of tour profits to community projects or research.

      Varying interpretations and definitions of ecotourism currently exist. The ecotourism umbrella seems to shelter all kinds of outdoor travel-related products—from beach hotels that happen to be near a rain forest to a national park visit, guided bird-watching, or scientist-led Antarctic cruising. It also encompasses adventure expeditions, such as trekking and river rafting, as well as less rigorous trips to culturally exotic or archaeologically important locations.

      The general concept of ecotourism arose when conservationists realized the potential benefits in combining people's interest in nature with their concern for the environment. An early model for ecotourism came from East Africa in the 1970s, when Kenya began collecting fees from safari-bound tourists heading into its national parks. Those revenues were earmarked to support conservation and park maintenance in its vast wildlife preserves.

      According to the World Tourism Organization, Kenya developed a good thing. In an early national parks study, the organization determined that each lion in Kenya's Amboseli Park was worth $27,000 per year in tourism revenues to local tribes and an elephant herd about $610,000. A complementary investigation by Wildlife Conservation International showed that as a refuge the park was valued at $18 per acre per year compared with 36 cents per acre under the most optimistic agricultural returns. Certainly such dramatic figures contributed to the saying Wildlife Pays, So Wildlife Stays.

      Ecotourism also flourished in the rain forests and nature lodges of Costa Rica and Belize, and the former was particularly successful in attracting ecotourists. Promoting itself as a destination with "no artificial ingredients," Costa Rica provided vacations rich in natural wonders and adventure, and the economic benefits were significant; in 1992 tourism surpassed bananas to become the primary source of foreign revenue.

      As tourist figures increased by leaps and bounds in Costa Rica, however, so did the pressure to build larger hotels and other facilities to accommodate mainstream tourism. Charter planes began ferrying tourists straight to the coasts of the newly developing Guanacaste province, and the once-pristine zone around Manuel Antonio National Park became less tranquil. Another popular destination was the Galápagos Islands, perhaps the world's most renowned natural "laboratory" of flora and fauna unique to the region.

      The high-profile islands were among the hundreds of world destinations battling the question: will success spoil ecotourism? Previously, limits on both the numbers of boats and on the numbers of visitors to the islands were weakly enforced. This was being changed, however, by implementing an itinerary system that set a precise schedule regulating quotas of boat visits for each island site allowed on any given day. Some island landings were closed to locally based ships and yachts, and, by law, international passenger vessels were not permitted to cruise anywhere in the Galápagos archipelago.

      Similar practices were implemented in Antarctica, where the trickle of visitors turned into a steady stream. At the end of the 1980s there were some 3,000 travelers cruising in Antarctic waters; for the 1998-99 season the number approached 9,000. Though Antarctica could support this increase, the number of passengers landing on sites at any given time was closely monitored. The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators, a group of travel companies concerned with the protection of wildlife and sites of historic and scientific interest, set guidelines, for example, that no more than 100 people may land at any one site at one time.

      Australia established guidelines to help developers protect the environment when planning projects. In addition, the Australian tourism ministry undertook to ensure that indigenous communities participate fully within the tourism industry. In some national parks, for instance, Aboriginal people were trained to operate tourism businesses and were closely involved in the development and interpretation activities at visitor centres.

      Another positive result of ecotourism came from the ecotourists themselves, as they created a demand for smaller and greener lodgings worldwide. One of the pioneers in ecolodges was Stanley Selengut, whose Harmony Lodge on St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands was the world's first resort to use materials fabricated from recycled trash and to operate exclusively on Sun and wind power. The lodge won the Condé Nast Global Ecotourism Award in 1995. With missionary zeal, Selengut advocated profitable and sustainable development of ecolodges that limit energy consumption, preserve the ecological balance, recycle waste, and avoid corrupting local cultures.

      What will be the role for ecotourism in the new millennium? Ecotourism experts such as Megan Epler Wood, president of The Ecotourism Society, are confident that ecotourism is no longer a fringe part of the travel industry. "Major tour companies have bought into ecotourism, not just for bottom-line profits, but because they care about our environment," said Wood, "and their programs contribute greatly to its preservation." Concerns remain, she added, that "the lack of discipline of governments and the constant demand for growth will undermine efforts to create sustainable ecotourism economies that are small but beautiful."

      In essence, preservation for tomorrow drives most of the discussion about a kinder and gentler tourism. For the future, balances need to be struck between our interest in visiting a place, the carrying capacity of the destination, and the well-being of all that live there.

Carla Hunt is a freelance journalist based in New York City.

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