The numbers, as they say, do not lie. Across the world, from Europe to Australia, and the United States and Canada, surveys consistently demonstrate that between 50-60% of respondents feel that travel should involve new experiences and offer learning opportunities. Increasingly, the traditional sand, sun, and beach holiday is being incorporated into a larger trend in which a day at the beach is complemented by specialized cooking classes, nature surveys, anthropological research, and a host of other activities.
Tourism is the largest business sector in the world economy. According to the International Ecotourism Society, the sector employs over 200 million people and generates USD 3.6 trillion in annual economic activity. Tourism is such a large business that if it were a country, it would have the world’s second largest economy, just behind that of the United States.
The unique dynamics of travel and tourism are very frequently leveraged across wide geo-political areas, with the result that in 4 out of 5 countries globally it is in the top five of export earners; that translates to 150 countries worldwide, and in 60 of them tourism is the top earner. Further, 83% of developing countries list tourism as a principle export – or, foreign exchange earner – and again, according to the International Ecotourism Society, tourism is the only industry in which developing countries have consistently posted a surplus over the past decade.
Ecotourism is broadly defined as responsible travel to areas in a fashion that conserves biological and human diversity. Although a relatively young industry, it has already carved out its particular market niche; and that niche is predicted to grow sizably in the near future as more and more people and families abandon the traditional holiday in favor of a more adventurous and educational travel experience.
From bird watching holidays in the Costa Rican rainforest canopy, to live-aboard diving cruises in the south Pacific, ecotourism and its facilities, packages, and resorts have taken root the world over. And it is interesting to note that a remarkably sizeable percentage of current and potential ecotourism destinations are in the developing world, where governments and other private and public organizations struggle daily to conserve natural diversity in an ever-modernizing world.
The connections between biodiversity and cultural diversity have long been noted and described by scientists and researchers. Places like the Amazon, the Congo, the Himalayas, and Indonesia’s eastern islands – to name but a few – are not only natural wonders, they are also human wonders; areas rife with unique cultures, isolated languages, primitive religions. And at the great risk of sounding like a cultural relativist, these areas are in their own way as unique and special as more developed and less remote cultures and places. In short, they are worthy of a visit, if for only the ‘wow’ factor.
But in visiting such places, the ecotourism industry must be extremely careful to not homogenize the very unique and special variety they are trying to promote and protect. Ecotourism should be about responsibility and conservation, and not a ‘slash and burn’ industry in which an area is discarded when too modern and a new area is then discovered, promoted, and in turn discarded also.
Unfortunately, the unique demand of the industry is also its great weakness: it strives to constantly locate and expose the new, the rare, and the undocumented. And in a world of limited resources and diminishing natural returns that is an unsustainable and volatile business.
There are several national and international ecotourism associations and organizations that seek to address this instability through networking and information. After all, the reasons to make a holiday in the Amazon Jungle are to photograph wild animals, view rare flora, and expand your knowledge of the world and your place within a complicated system of interactions that have taken millennia to build. In that, the goals of an ecotourist are remarkably aligned with that of a conservationist or research scientist. And if this is truly our one and only world – which, when the last time I checked, was a correct statement – then we as citizens of the world all share some token of responsibility for its stewardship.
Tourism is the largest business sector in the world economy. According to the International Ecotourism Society, the sector employs over 200 million people and generates USD 3.6 trillion in annual economic activity. Tourism is such a large business that if it were a country, it would have the world’s second largest economy, just behind that of the United States.
The unique dynamics of travel and tourism are very frequently leveraged across wide geo-political areas, with the result that in 4 out of 5 countries globally it is in the top five of export earners; that translates to 150 countries worldwide, and in 60 of them tourism is the top earner. Further, 83% of developing countries list tourism as a principle export – or, foreign exchange earner – and again, according to the International Ecotourism Society, tourism is the only industry in which developing countries have consistently posted a surplus over the past decade.
Ecotourism is broadly defined as responsible travel to areas in a fashion that conserves biological and human diversity. Although a relatively young industry, it has already carved out its particular market niche; and that niche is predicted to grow sizably in the near future as more and more people and families abandon the traditional holiday in favor of a more adventurous and educational travel experience.
From bird watching holidays in the Costa Rican rainforest canopy, to live-aboard diving cruises in the south Pacific, ecotourism and its facilities, packages, and resorts have taken root the world over. And it is interesting to note that a remarkably sizeable percentage of current and potential ecotourism destinations are in the developing world, where governments and other private and public organizations struggle daily to conserve natural diversity in an ever-modernizing world.
The connections between biodiversity and cultural diversity have long been noted and described by scientists and researchers. Places like the Amazon, the Congo, the Himalayas, and Indonesia’s eastern islands – to name but a few – are not only natural wonders, they are also human wonders; areas rife with unique cultures, isolated languages, primitive religions. And at the great risk of sounding like a cultural relativist, these areas are in their own way as unique and special as more developed and less remote cultures and places. In short, they are worthy of a visit, if for only the ‘wow’ factor.
But in visiting such places, the ecotourism industry must be extremely careful to not homogenize the very unique and special variety they are trying to promote and protect. Ecotourism should be about responsibility and conservation, and not a ‘slash and burn’ industry in which an area is discarded when too modern and a new area is then discovered, promoted, and in turn discarded also.
Unfortunately, the unique demand of the industry is also its great weakness: it strives to constantly locate and expose the new, the rare, and the undocumented. And in a world of limited resources and diminishing natural returns that is an unsustainable and volatile business.
There are several national and international ecotourism associations and organizations that seek to address this instability through networking and information. After all, the reasons to make a holiday in the Amazon Jungle are to photograph wild animals, view rare flora, and expand your knowledge of the world and your place within a complicated system of interactions that have taken millennia to build. In that, the goals of an ecotourist are remarkably aligned with that of a conservationist or research scientist. And if this is truly our one and only world – which, when the last time I checked, was a correct statement – then we as citizens of the world all share some token of responsibility for its stewardship.
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