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.)

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On biodiversity day is it OK to ask: “Are people wildlife too?”

May 22, 2017

idb 2017 logo en2 mark

Today (May 22) is the Inter­na­tion­al Day for Bio­lo­gic­al Diversity (biod­iversity day). This year, the United Nations (UN) has linked the day with tour­ism under the theme “Biod­iversity and Sus­tain­able Tour­ism”; chosen to coin­cide with the Inter­na­tion­al Year of Sus­tain­able Tour­ism for Devel­op­ment. The UN web page about the day states: “Diversity in spe­cies, ecosystems […]

Read More On biodiversity day is it OK to ask: “Are people wildlife too?”

Price hikes for Rwandan gorilla treks inevitable

May 17, 2017

Mother and baby mountain gorillas, Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda. Source: Wikimedia / Carine06

The Chief Tour­ism Officer at the Rwanda Devel­op­ment Board, Bel­ise Kariza, has copped a little bit of cri­ti­cism from com­ment­at­ors after attempt­ing to jus­ti­fy new high­er tar­iffs for moun­tain gor­illa trekking activ­it­ies. In a column Kariza wrote for The New Times, she states: “The primary object­ive of these revised tar­iffs is to ensure the long-term […]

Read More Price hikes for Rwandan gorilla treks inevitable

Guyana community-based tourism: “Partnership in development”

May 16, 2017

Moraikobai community members

The only indi­gen­ous com­munity in Guyana’s Region Five is being touted by GINA, the Gov­ern­ment Inform­a­tion Agency, as an emer­ging com­munity-based tour­ism des­tin­a­tion. With a pop­u­la­tion of just over 1,200, Moraikobai is loc­ated on the Maha­icony River, about four hours by boat from the Guyanese cap­it­al Geor­getown. As repor­ted by GINA, Guyana’s Vice Pres­id­ent and […]

Read More Guyana community-based tourism: “Partnership in development”

In India, where tigers are neighbours

May 13, 2017

“Not long ago, the Chenchus were caught in the crossfire between Maoists and the anti-Naxal force of the Andhra Pradesh police. The recent National Tiger Conservation Authority order puts them into yet another uncertain phase.” | Photo Credit: V. RAJU

While inaug­ur­at­ing the Nal­lamala Jungle Camp, a com­munity-based eco­tour­ism ini­ti­at­ive, Deputy Chief Min­is­ter K E Krish­namurthy of Andhra Pra­desh state in India hailed the Chen­chu people for pre­serving their cul­ture and iden­tity. This feel-good start to a May 11 news story by The Hans India gets bet­ter; Chen­chu mem­bers will teach vis­it­ors to Nal­lamala Jungle […]

Read More In India, where tigers are neighbours

Inclusive ecotourism projects piloted in Uttarakhand, India

May 11, 2017

Migratory birds at Asan Conservation Reserve, which will be covered in India’s Swadesh Darshan scheme. (HT Photo)

The newly-con­­sti­­tuted Uttarakhand Eco­tour­ism Cor­por­a­tion will soon start work on devel­op­ing five inclus­ive eco­tour­ism cir­cuits in the Indi­an state, accord­ing to reports. This is the first step toward Swadesh Dar­shan, a cent­ral gov­ern­ment scheme to boost tour­ism through­out the coun­try by link­ing the sec­tor with vil­la­gers’ live­li­hoods. In the first stage the five cir­cuits would […]

Read More Inclusive ecotourism projects piloted in Uttarakhand, India

Kenya crocodile cages not ecotourism

May 11, 2017

Not ecotourism. Kenya crocodiles at Oldoiyo Lengai Hotel in Nyeri County, Kenya. Photo: Jospeph Kanyi | NMG

Due to a slow­down in Kenya’s tour­ism sec­tor, a hotel in Nyeri County, Cent­ral High­lands, is bank­ing on cro­codile cages to boost its income. Based on a Busi­ness Daily (Africa) report, “Hotel banks on eco-tour­ism to boost income”, The “Good Tour­ism” Blog is highly skep­tic­al of the pro­ject’s “eco­tour­ism” cre­den­tials. Indeed the pro­ject as described […]

Read More Kenya crocodile cages not ecotourism