Ecotourism is a type of travel focused on nature that aims to help protect the environment. It is usually described as having a small effect on the environment, and it often includes efforts to conserve nature and teach people about the environment. Sometimes, the definition also includes helping local communities earn money or making conservation efforts financially possible. Many different definitions of ecotourism exist, and experts were still discussing the correct definition as of 2009. The term is also used more broadly by some organizations that offer nature-based travel but do not focus on environmental benefits.

Since the 1980s, ecotourism has been seen as an important way to help protect nature. Groups that promote ecotourism often support conservation efforts directly or indirectly, or use practices and technology that reduce harm to the environment. However, according to Buckley, very few organizations have a positive effect on the environment overall. Ecotourism has also been criticized for using the same methods and infrastructure as regular tourism, even though it is called something different. Like most long-distance travel, ecotourism often uses air travel, which contributes to climate change.

Ecotourism typically involves interacting with living parts of natural environments, unlike geotourism, which focuses on geological features. Compared to general nature tourism and sustainable tourism, ecotourism usually aims to help tourists understand and care more about natural habitats, the challenges they face, and local cultures. Responsible ecotourism programs try to reduce the negative effects of regular tourism on the environment and protect the traditions of local people. In addition to considering environmental and cultural factors, ecotourism also includes efforts to promote recycling, use energy wisely, save water, and create job opportunities for local communities.

Risks and benefits

Ecotourism is a type of sustainable tourism. It should help protect the environment while also supporting the economic, social, and cultural needs of communities near ecotourism areas.

Even though ecotourism is often seen as a responsible way to travel, it can still cause problems. The possible ecological, economic, and social effects of ecotourism are described below.

Ecotourism activities or the presence of visitors in a region can harm the health of protected natural areas. Local communities may also be affected. For example, ecotourism can cause disagreements between tourists and local people. It might also raise costs for rent, taxes, and property prices, making it harder for local residents to live in their homes.

Ecotourism can create health risks for tourists, local people, wildlife, and ecosystems. Visitors might bring harmful germs to sensitive natural areas, endangering animals and communities. Ecotourism activities can also put travelers at risk of illness or injury.

Ecotourism can also help the environment in positive ways. Some examples include:

• Encouraging protection of natural areas
• Supporting the repair of damaged environments
• Providing money to manage and grow protected areas
• Helping maintain and improve habitats through ecotourist actions
• Allowing ecotourists to act as protectors of the environment when it is in danger
• Teaching local people new skills from ecotourists

• Exposing people to ecotourism can increase care for the environment
• Communities may change their attitudes and actions toward the environment
• Protected areas for ecotourism offer environmental benefits
• Improving the long-term well-being of local people

For some leaders, economic benefits are more important than environmental concerns when deciding how to use natural resources. Possible economic benefits of ecotourism include:

• Creating income and jobs linked to tourism
• Offering economic chances for areas far from cities

• Providing strong economic effects and indirect jobs
• Supporting cultural and heritage tourism, which works well with ecotourism.

A complete approach to ecotourism should support social, cultural, economic, and environmental practices. The direct and indirect social and cultural benefits include:

• Helping communities stay strong and healthy through economic gains and local involvement
• Offering beauty and spiritual value for both locals and visitors
• Making ecotourism accessible to many people

When considering the good effects of ecotourism, it is also important to note that it can cause unexpected harm. These negative effects can be reduced through rules and guidelines that clearly teach visitors how to behave responsibly.

Terminology and history

Ecotourism is a new word created in the late 20th century by combining the words "eco-" and "tourism." According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word "ecotour" was first written in 1973, and "ecotourism" was first recorded in 1982, likely after "ecotour."

• "Ecotour" means a visit to an area that is important for the environment, often with a focus on learning. Later, it also meant a visit designed to cause little harm to the environment or to help protect nature.
• "Ecotourism" refers to traveling to areas with special natural value, especially to help protect wildlife and the environment. It involves carefully managing visits to reduce harm and support conservation.

Some sources say the terms were used almost 10 years earlier. Claus-Dieter (Nick) Hetzer, a teacher and adventurer from Berkeley, California, is reported to have created the term "ecotourism" in 1965, according to the Contra Costa Times. He also led the first ecotours in the Yucatán region in the early 1970s.

Ecotourism Australia defines ecotourism as "tourism that is good for the environment and focuses on helping people understand and protect natural and cultural areas." The Global Ecotourism Network (GEN) says ecotourism is "travel to natural areas that helps protect the environment, supports local communities, and teaches visitors and others about nature through education."

Ecotourism is sometimes confused with any nature-related tourism, such as jungle tourism. Some people who claim to offer ecotourism experiences believe it is simply about creating destinations in natural areas.

Some experts say ecotourism should focus on showing the beauty of nature and the need to protect it. However, there is debate about whether this should be the universal standard. Critics argue that some tourism companies use words like "green" or "sustainable" in their marketing to look eco-friendly, even if their actions do not truly protect the environment. This can cause confusion about what ecotourism really means.

Although experts disagree on who qualifies as an ecotourist and there is little data, some estimates suggest over 5 million ecotourists—mostly from the United States, with others from Western Europe, Canada, and Australia—participate in ecotourism.

Today, many countries are creating national and international programs to certify ecotourism. Examples include Costa Rica, Australia, Kenya, Estonia, and Sweden.

Sustainable tourism includes all parts of the tourism experience, such as caring for the environment, supporting local communities, and improving the quality of life for everyone. It aims to protect nature, promote fairness, and create a healthy economy. Sustainable tourism is connected to the idea of sustainable development. While there is some confusion about what "sustainable tourism" means, there is agreement that all tourism can be sustainable if planned and managed properly. Tourism organizations are working to reduce the negative effects of tourism, such as harm to the environment.

The United Nations World Tourism Organization supports these efforts by promoting sustainable tourism as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). For example, the International Year for Sustainable Tourism for Development in 2017 highlighted how tourism can help achieve goals like creating jobs (SDG 8), reducing waste (SDG 12), and protecting oceans (SDG 14). Tourism plays a role in helping reach these global goals for a better future.

Improving sustainability

Ecotourism in land and ocean areas can help protect nature, but only if challenges related to history, culture, and the environment are carefully handled. Researchers like Catherine Macdonald and others have found that successful conservation depends on several factors: protecting animals and their habitats, reducing conflicts between people and wildlife, educating local communities about the benefits of ecotourism, working well with groups involved in the area, and using money from ecotourism to protect the environment. They also say that ecotourism works best for protecting animals like predators when it has support from leaders and the public, and is managed at local, national, and global levels.

Sometimes, ecotourism rules are not followed properly. This can lead to harmful activities, such as underwater hotels or helicopter tours, being called ecotourism even though they damage the environment. Real ecotourism businesses that follow rules may struggle to compete with these harmful operations.

To reduce harm, strategies like setting limits on how many visitors can go to an area, making areas more durable for visitors, designing buildings that protect nature, limiting the number of tourists, charging fees, restricting access, and teaching visitors about the environment can be used.

Many environmental experts suggest creating a global standard to help people recognize truly responsible ecotourism businesses. A group with members from governments, hotels, tour companies, and conservation groups could set rules for certification. Governments would enforce these rules, and companies that do not follow them would not be allowed to use the ecotourism label.

In 1998, Crinion proposed a system called the Green Stars System. This system uses standards like having a management plan, helping local communities, keeping tour groups small, providing education, and training staff. Tourists could choose businesses with high star ratings to ensure they are visiting real ecotourism operations.

In 2008, the Global Sustainable Tourism Council created a set of rules for sustainable travel. These rules help destinations, hotels, and tour companies meet standards for protecting the environment. A third-party group checks if businesses follow these rules and gives them official recognition.

Environmental impact studies can also help assess whether ecotourism is done responsibly. These studies use science to plan how many tourists can visit an area, build infrastructure, and protect nature. This method is especially useful for understanding conditions that are unique to a place.

Some countries have their own ecotourism certification programs. For example, Costa Rica has the CST program, which checks how businesses affect the environment and local communities. The program rates businesses from 0 to 5, with 5 being the most sustainable. It looks at how a company interacts with nature, its management practices, how it encourages visitors to care about the environment, and its relationship with local people.

There are more than 50 ecotourism labels worldwide. Examples include the Austrian Ecolabel for Tourism, the Asian Ecotourism Standard, Eco-certification Malta, EarthCheck, and others.

Protecting the environment requires helping ecotourists understand how their actions affect nature. More efforts should be made to teach visitors about the environment and how to care for the places they visit.

Tour guides are a good way to share this information. They know the environment well and can explain how tourists' actions might harm nature or local people. In Costa Rica’s Tortuguero National Park, a training program for guides has helped reduce harm to endangered sea turtles by educating visitors and controlling how they behave on beaches.

A theory called underdevelopment tourism describes how large companies from other countries control ecotourism projects and take most of the profits. This can leave local communities with little control over their resources and raise concerns about unfair sharing of benefits. These companies often fund large ecotourism projects that harm the environment, damage local culture, and use local labor unfairly. In places like Zimbabwe and Nepal’s Annapurna region, over 90% of ecotourism money goes to foreign countries, while less than 5% stays in local communities.

Current problems in ecotourism have led to interest in small, slow-growing, and locally run tourism models. These models are seen as better for protecting the environment and supporting communities long-term. Local people have a strong interest in their community’s well-being and are more likely to protect the environment than large companies, even though they receive few profits. Issues like loss of culture, environmental damage, and lack of control from outside forces can outweigh the benefits of large-scale ecotourism. Cultural loss can also happen when local traditions are turned into products for profit.

When communities manage ecotourism, it creates jobs and helps the local economy. This can reduce problems caused by poverty and unemployment. Because ecotourism is marketed differently than large-scale tourism, it does not need expensive infrastructure or follow Western tourism standards. Using local materials and workers increases economic benefits for the area. For example, the Great Barrier Reef Park in Australia reported over $500 million in indirect income and thousands of jobs from ecotourism.

Natural resource management

Natural resource management is a helpful tool for creating ecotourism. Many places around the world have plenty of natural resources, but human activities and changes to habitats are causing these resources to run out. If resources are not used in a way that lasts, they can be lost, and plants and animals may disappear. Ecotourism programs can help protect these resources. Plans and management strategies can be created to keep resources safe. Many groups, including nonprofits and scientists, are working on these efforts.

In areas like Kurseong in West Bengal, there are many plants and animals. However, tourism for business purposes has made the situation worse. Researchers from Jadavpur University are now working in this area to develop ecotourism as a way to manage natural resources better.

In Southeast Asia, governments and groups that are not part of the government work with schools, universities, and businesses to share the economic benefits of tourism with villages and communities. A new group called the South-East Asian Tourism Organization (SEATO) has been formed to bring together these different groups to talk about managing resources.

A meeting in Quebec in 2002 led to the creation of the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria in 2008. This effort was done by the UN Foundation and other groups. The criteria include standards such as planning for sustainability, giving the most benefits to local communities, and reducing harm to cultural heritage and the environment. There is no group that enforces these standards or gives punishments for not following them.

Impact on indigenous people and indigenous land

Valuing Indigenous territories can help make them protected areas, which can stop problems like cutting down trees. Ecotourism can help Indigenous people earn money.

However, a clear business plan and organized structure are needed to ensure that the money from ecotourism actually helps Indigenous people and protects their land. Debates about ecotourism often focus on how profits from Indigenous lands are used by international companies that do not share money with the people who live there. Ecotourism gives visitors a chance to experience the landscape and environment in a way that is different from how Indigenous people live. This can turn Indigenous lives and land into something that can be bought and sold, which is unfair to those who live there.

Indigenous territories are managed by government services, such as FUNAI in Brazil, and these services decide whether to allow ecotourism in these areas.

Ecotourism can also create jobs for local people, including Indigenous people. For example, protected areas need workers like park rangers and staff to manage ecolodges and accommodations for tourists. Traditional culture, such as performances like traditional dances, can also attract tourists and generate income. Ecotourism can help reduce deforestation that happens when people clear land to grow crops for money. This land clearing harms the environment. Ecotourism can be a long-term way to create jobs and protect the environment for local people.

If protected areas are not set up or managed properly, local people may lose their homes without being compensated. Moving people to harsh areas with poor soil, little water, and disease does not improve their lives, even if some ecotourism money is shared with the community. People may lose the right to use their land and natural resources, and feel angry about changes, especially if tourism grows without rules. Without proper rules, too many lodges might be built, and tourists might drive off roads, harming wildlife. Vehicle use can damage the land.

The Peruvian government has not done enough to protect Indigenous lands, so Indigenous people have had to protect their own land. When people who care about the land are the ones maintaining it, the land has a better chance of staying safe and free from deforestation.

Criticism

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There are many different types of tourism, ranging from traditional tourism to ecotourism. There has been a lot of disagreement about what makes tourism "ecotourism." This is because different groups, such as environmentalists, interest groups, and governments, have different definitions. Environmental groups usually say that ecotourism is based on nature, is managed in a way that helps the environment, supports conservation, and teaches people about the environment. However, the tourism industry and governments often think of ecotourism as just any kind of nature-based tourism. This makes it even more confusing because many other terms are used in place of ecotourism, such as nature tourism, low-impact tourism, green tourism, bio-tourism, and ecologically responsible tourism. These terms are not always the same as ecotourism.

Because of these different definitions, confusion has grown among both tourists and experts. Many problems have become widely discussed in the public because of "greenwashing," which is when tourism companies make it seem like their activities are environmentally friendly, even though they may not be. According to McLaren, these misleading practices can be harmful to the environment, unfair to local people, and disrespectful to local cultures. They also trick tourists by making them think they are helping the environment when they are not. The success of these large, expensive, and environmentally damaging projects shows how much money can be made by calling something ecotourism.

Ecotourism is one of the fastest-growing parts of the tourism industry. One definition says that ecotourism is a way of traveling that has little impact on the environment, teaches people about nature and culture, and helps local communities and countries. However, many ecotourism projects do not meet these standards. Even when some of the rules are followed, local people still face many problems. Another issue is that ecotourism can turn nature and the environment into things that are sold to tourists. When nature becomes a product with value, people try to advertise and sell it. Some ecotourism sites have had their government funding cut and now must make money on their own. These sites may then focus on parts of nature that are more interesting to tourists, while ignoring other important parts. For example, in Montego Bay, hotel workers cut seagrass, which helps the environment, because they thought it was keeping tourists away.

Another problem is that some companies hide the real effects of ecotourism to keep making money. They do not tell people that flying to natural areas uses a lot of fuel. In places like Montego Bay and Negril, a lot of waste and runoff from tourists ends up in the ocean. Hotels in Jamaica produce more wastewater than a city would. Tourists also create a lot of waste that goes into the ocean. The indirect effects of ecotourism include people moving to towns near natural areas for jobs, which can harm the environment. In South Africa, ecotourism brings in a lot of money, but the negative effects, such as people being forced to leave their homes and environmental harm, are much greater than the benefits. A lot of money and resources are still used for ecotourism even when it does not work well, and even more is spent on campaigns to reduce criticism. This takes resources away from other projects that could help solve social and environmental problems. Tourism can tie parks and managers to ecotourism, but this relationship can cause problems, such as land-use conflicts, failure to help local communities, environmental damage, and other social issues. Many people say that ecotourism is not helpful to the environment or local people, but it continues because of the money it brings in. Some studies are looking for ways to improve ecotourism, and some people say these problems show that ecotourism should stop. However, there are also positive examples, such as the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA) and the Virunga National Park, which have been recognized by WWF.

Ecotourism has a lot of influence in terms of money and politics. The evidence shows that in some areas, it may be better to limit ecotourism. Money could be used for research to find better solutions to tourism and other problems in Africa, such as those caused by urbanization, industry, and overuse of farmland.

At the local level, ecotourism has caused conflicts over how land is used and how money from tourism is shared. In some cases, ecotourism has hurt the environment and local people and has caused arguments over how the money is divided. There are few laws or rules that control ecotourism investments. There have been calls for more education for tourists about the environmental and social effects of their travels, and for laws that stop the promotion of ecotourism that is not sustainable and that gives false images of places or harms local and Indigenous cultures.

Conservation efforts in East Africa help tourism, but it is important to understand the difference between conservation and the tourism industry. Communities in East Africa are not the only ones in developing regions that have suffered from conservation efforts. In the Southwest Yunnan Region of China, conservation has also changed how people use the land. Before the Chinese government banned commercial logging, it was the main source of income for the region. After the ban, the Indigenous people of Yunnan have had few opportunities for economic growth. Ecotourism may help these people and others, like the Maasai, who face similar problems. As mentioned, improving ecotourism by giving more money to local communities and reducing the amount of money that leaves the area could help reduce poverty in developing regions. This could make ecotourism a successful way to help communities.

Drumm and Moore (2002) talk about how prices can increase and how money can leave the local area in their paper. They say that prices may go up because tourists are willing to pay more for goods and services than local people are. They also mention two ways to solve these problems.