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.

Wild urban spaces: Rethinking ecotourism as a mass tourism product

July 15, 2021

'Urban Jungle' by Pelle Sten (CC BY 2.0) via Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/pellesten/5655438695

What if the ‘mass’ travel & tour­ism activ­it­ies of cit­ies and cit­izens were ‘sus­tain­able’? Could any of it be coun­ted as ‘eco­tour­ism’? Sudip­ta K Sarkar explores these ques­tions in this “Good Tour­ism” Insight. [Thanks to Jim Butcher for invit­ing Dr Sarkar to write a “GT” Insight.] After more than a year of the COVID-19 pandemic, […]

Read More Wild urban spaces: Rethinking ecotourism as a mass tourism product

Where next for wildlife conservation, ecotourism, & community well-being?

July 6, 2021

Tim the tusker. (c) Beth Allgood

In many places, improved rela­tion­ships between tour­ism oper­a­tions, wild­life, and hab­it­ats were start­ing to deliv­er more sus­tain­able out­comes, includ­ing the par­ti­cip­a­tion of loc­al people. Then COVID-19 …  “Good Tour­ism” Insight Part­ner Plan­et Hap­pi­ness invited con­ser­va­tion and com­munity devel­op­ment expert Beth All­good to share her thoughts in this exclus­ive “GT” Insight. See­ing wild­life in their nat­ive habitat […]

Read More Where next for wildlife conservation, ecotourism, & community well-being?

From the ashes: The role of solidarity in Binna Burra’s tourism recovery

May 13, 2021
One Comment

Binna Burra terrace sunset. Image supplied by author.

After a dev­ast­at­ing fire fol­lowed by glob­al pan­dem­ic, the ongo­ing recov­ery of Binna Burra Lodge in Queens­land, Aus­tralia was­n’t pos­sible without the sup­port of people near and far who feel a con­nec­tion to the place, its his­tory, and its land­scape. The story illus­trates the power and value of good­will, an intan­gible asset that mani­fes­ted at […]

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Deeper than buzz: ‘Slow tourism’ in the Monti Sibillini

April 29, 2021
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Lone hiker in the Monti Sibillini National Park. Photo courtesy of (c) Roberto Aureli.

Slow and steady … not too much change and nev­er too quickly … order and mod­er­a­tion … respect for long-stand­ing sources of susten­ance and shel­ter … pride in cul­ture, her­it­age, and tra­di­tion … Con­ser­vat­ive val­ues are often com­pat­ible with sus­tain­ab­il­ity in rur­al set­tings. Marco Ramaz­zo­tti dis­cov­ers that the buzz phrase ‘slow tour­ism’ describes what Monti […]

Read More Deeper than buzz: ‘Slow tourism’ in the Monti Sibillini

Prepare now for a surge in ecotourism demand with a CRTS workshop


Termas Geométricas, Coñaripe, Panguipulli, Chile. By J Balla Photography (CC0) via Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/jpyJeOg4BnI

Eco­tour­ism is in high demand right now in places where phys­ic­ally-dis­­tanced out­door activ­ity is pos­sible. And when the world finally breaks its COVID shackles, those who have been locked down for months in urb­an envir­on­ments will likely be des­per­ate for a taste of nature. To help pre­pare stake­hold­ers for that surge, The Centre for Responsible […]

Read More Prepare now for a surge in ecotourism demand with a CRTS workshop

Losing Lutruwita: Tourism troubles in Tasmania’s World Heritage wilderness

March 9, 2021

At the centre of a controversy is Halls Island on Lake Malbena in the middle of Walls of Jerusalem National Park, which is part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, Tasmania, Australia. Image by Rob Blakers (c) supplied by Tom Allen of the Wilderness Society Tasmania.At the centre of a controversy is Halls Island on Lake Malbena in the middle of Walls of Jerusalem National Park, which is part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, Tasmania, Australia. Image by Rob Blakers (c) supplied by Tom Allen of the Wilderness Society Tasmania.

The World Her­it­age wil­der­ness of Lut­ruwita (the palawa kani name for the island of Tas­mania) is under threat from col­lu­sion between state gov­ern­ment and private tour­ism interests, accord­ing to Tom Allen. The Wil­der­ness Soci­ety cam­paign man­ager reck­ons tour­ism does best when it com­ple­ments not com­prom­ises nat­ur­al val­ues. It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight. Upon sign­ing the […]

Read More Losing Lutruwita: Tourism troubles in Tasmania’s World Heritage wilderness