What is Eco Tourism?

One of the most abused word in the tourism industry.

For some ecotourism would be associated with adventure sports in the forests, others may see it as nature-based trip where they would endlessly take pictures with the lush scenery, still for some environmentalist, ecotourism would mean cleaning up the environment and be stewards of God’s creation.

For the International Ecotourism Society, Ecotourism is a responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the welfare of local people.
Moreover, the Australian Commission on National Ecotourism Strategy tag Ecotourism as a  “nature-based tourism that involves education and interpretation of the natural environment and is managed to be ecologically sustainable.”
But above every known definition in the world it was Martha Honey who defined ecotourism well in her book “Ecotourism and Sustainable Development.” Honey provided seven defining points for readers and researchers alike to understand a common definition of what ecotourism is.
First of all, ecotourism usually involves traveling to remote natural destination and by going there the tourists should minimize the impact of them visiting by adhering to environmental policies to limit the damage that our ecosystem might incur if the tourists misbehave.
While on an ecotourism trip, the participants should develop environmental awareness and interest on what they are seeing. It is also by opening their eyes in the sorry state of our ailing environment that we could raise funds to assist these conservation areas and other projects.
Also while we are there, one should be repetitively reminded that they should respect local culture and understand that they are in a remote area where there are small and isolated communities that have had little experience interacting with foreigners. A responsible ecotourist should learn beforehand the local customs, dress codes and other social norms so as we would not intrude on the community unless either invited or as part of a well organized tour.

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