Ecotourism and nature-based tourism

Scroll down for posts that have been tagged with “eco­tour­ism and nature-based tourism”.

Eco­tour­ism is respons­ible travel to nat­ur­al areas that con­serves the envir­on­ment, sus­tains the well-being of the loc­al people, and cre­ates know­ledge and under­stand­ing through inter­pret­a­tion and edu­ca­tion of all involved (vis­it­ors, staff and the vis­ited)” ― Glob­al Eco­tour­ism Net­work, 2016; What is (and what isn’t) eco­tour­ism.

Eco­tour­ism is a type of tour­ism that has a very low impact on the nat­ur­al sur­round­ings. It aims to pro­mote con­ser­va­tion and edu­ca­tion, while provid­ing vis­it­ors with an oppor­tun­ity to exper­i­ence unique nat­ur­al land­scapes and wildlife.

Eco­tour­ism could be though of as a sub-cat­egory of nature-based tour­ism, which the Travel Industry Dic­tion­ary defines as: “Leis­ure travel under­taken largely or solely for the pur­pose of enjoy­ing nat­ur­al attrac­tions and enga­ging in a vari­ety of out­door activ­it­ies.” Nature-based tour­ism includes a wide range of out­door activ­it­ies, such as hik­ing, camp­ing, bird­watch­ing, and wild­life safar­is, that are very much embed­ded with­in nat­ur­al environments.

Both forms of tour­ism focus on explor­ing nat­ur­al envir­on­ments in a sus­tain­able and respons­ible way, with the goal of pre­serving them for future generations.

Eco­tour­ism and nature-based tour­ism are gain­ing pop­ular­ity around the world. They provide oppor­tun­it­ies for trav­el­lers to learn about loc­al eco­sys­tems and appre­ci­ate nat­ur­al beauty. By enga­ging in respons­ible and sus­tain­able tour­ism prac­tices through eco­tour­ism and nature-based activ­it­ies, trav­el­lers can feel that they are pro­tect­ing the envir­on­ment (and sup­port­ing loc­al com­munit­ies). (Both types of tour­ism have the poten­tial to offer sig­ni­fic­ant bene­fits to loc­al com­munit­ies, as they offer incent­ives and oppor­tun­it­ies for loc­als to con­serve their nat­ur­al resources for a sus­tain­able eco­nom­ic benefit.)

Tags are inform­al; an after­thought to con­tent cre­ation. The “Good Tour­ism” Blog nev­er gets bogged down with tag­ging accur­acy or con­sist­ency. Feel free to com­ment on any post you think has been incor­rectly or insuf­fi­ciently tagged. “GT” encour­ages good-faith debate and dis­cus­sion and appre­ci­ates help­ful feedback.

Cardamom Tented Camp in Cambodia adds three premium river view tents


New river view tent at Cardamom Tented Camp in Cambodia

Car­damom Ten­ted Camp’s new accom­mod­a­tions offer serene river views and an intim­ate wild­life exper­i­ence in Cambodia’s largest nation­al park, where “your stay keeps the forest stand­ing”. ‘Unpar­alleled con­nec­tion to nature’ Car­damom Ten­ted Camp, set with­in the pristine wil­der­ness of Cambodia’s Botum Sakor Nation­al Park, has enhanced its eco-con­­s­cious accom­mod­a­tion offer­ing with the addi­tion of three […]

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Anurak Community Lodge wins Amazing Thailand responsible tourism award

November 6, 2024
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Anurak Community Lodge in southern Thailand has won the Tourism Authority of Thailand 2024 Responsible Tourism Award in the “Responsible Tourism Accommodation” category. Willem Niemeijer, Anurak co-founder and CEO of Anurak owner-operator YAANA Ventures, received the award from Thailand’s Minister of Tourism and Sports, Sorawong Thienthong, at World Travel Market in London, November 5.

Anurak Com­munity Lodge in south­ern Thai­l­and has won the Tour­ism Author­ity of Thai­l­and 2024 Respons­ible Tour­ism Award in the “Respons­ible Tour­ism Accom­mod­a­tion” cat­egory. Willem Niemeijer, Anurak co-founder and CEO of Anurak own­er-oper­­at­or YAANA Ven­tures, received the award from Thail­and’s Min­is­ter of Tour­ism and Sports, Sor­a­wong Thi­enthong, at World Travel Mar­ket in Lon­don, Novem­ber 5. ‘Hol­ist­ic approach’ […]

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Beer o’clock ‘keeps the forest standing’ at Cardamom Tented Camp, Cambodia


Cardamom Tented Camp in Cambodia has launched its own conservation beer, Cardamom Mountains Steam Beer, with the tagline, “Your Beer Keeps the Forest Standing”.

Car­damom Ten­ted Camp in Cam­bod­ia has launched its own con­ser­va­tion beer with the tagline, “Your Beer Keeps the Forest Stand­ing”. Profits from the Car­damom Moun­tains Steam Beer, now avail­able at the eco­lodge, help fund the con­ser­va­tion work of 16 forest rangers who pro­tect 18,000 hec­tares (180 km²) of sur­round­ing low­land ever­green forest in the Botum […]

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Community-based tourism for urban & rural development in sub-Saharan Africa


CABI Tourism Cases on community-based tourism development in sub-Saharan Africa

CABI Tour­ism Cases presents suc­cesses, poten­tials, and chal­lenges of com­munity-based tour­ism and hos­pit­al­ity for urb­an and rur­al devel­op­ment in sub-Saha­ran Africa. The tour­ism industry has become one of the key socio-eco­nom­ic sec­tors of sub-Saha­ran Africa. In the last few dec­ades, the tour­ism industry in most sub-Saha­ran Afric­an coun­tries has sur­passed most oth­er eco­nom­ic sec­tors in terms of gen­er­at­ing busi­ness oppor­tun­it­ies, for­eign exchange earn­ings, and employ­ment prospects. 

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Is gorilla-friendly conservation compatible with local communities and tourism?

September 21, 2023

Gorilla-friendly policy and practice played a part in the arrival of 'Jijuka' ('enlightenment'), who was named during Rwanda's 19th Kwita Izina in 2023 by Sol Campbell.

It can be dif­fi­cult to find a bal­ance between spe­cies con­ser­va­tion and the needs and aspir­a­tions of our own spe­cies.  In this “Good Tour­ism” Insight, Sheil­lah Mun­sabe of the Wild­life Friendly Enter­prise Net­work describes a gor­illa-friendly mod­el for con­ser­va­tion, respons­ible tour­ism, and improved com­munity live­li­hoods. As we become more glob­al­ised, the respons­ib­il­ity for pro­tect­ing Earth’s […]

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Rwanda names baby mountain gorillas, celebrates conservation & ecotourism


19th Kwita Izina gorilla naming ceremony in Rwanda - Meet Mukundwa, Teta's son

The world has met in Kinigi, Musan­ze at the foot­hills of Rwanda’s Vol­ca­noes Nation­al Park to name 23 baby moun­tain gor­il­las in a glob­al cel­eb­ra­tion of con­ser­va­tion and com­munity-led efforts to pro­tect their hab­it­at.  Graced by HE the First Lady of Rwanda, Jean­nette Kagame, the 19th Kwita Izina Gor­illa Nam­ing Cere­mony, Septem­ber 1, brought together […]

Read More Rwanda names baby mountain gorillas, celebrates conservation & ecotourism