The Wonder to the North.

Throughout the world there are many places of ecological interest each with their own

draws. Having both a distinct culture and an environment of interest is what draws

people in. Most of these places are considered distinct if they are different from the

culture of the United States as it is one of the largest group of people who actively go on

tour. However people often overlook that culture is not entirely defined by country and

location and that travel to exotic places is not a requirement for ecotourism. We could

learn a lot about our world from looking closer to home. ALASKA ACTS AS ONE OF

THE GREATEST EXAMPLES OF A NORTH AMERICAN ECOTOURISM

DESTINATION, IN THE PAST DECADE, WITH IT HAVING A DISTINCT CULTURE

FROM THE REST OF THE CONTENT AND IT HAVE A INTERESTING ECOSYSTEM

IN PLACE, WITH THE PROPER CARE AND REGULATION IT COULD BECOME

EVEN GREATER.

Tourism has been a very large industry in North America for quite along time given that

the countries that call this place home were in large part created by foreign powers. The

main kind of tourism that can be found here is turnstile, or classic, tourism. Locations

such as Disney World, New York city, and other well known sights attract people from

all over the world. This however does not make them good for our environment and

culture, and in many cases makes it worse. For instance places such as Yellowstone

and Niagara Falls while looking nature related are much closer to turnstile in practice

often leading to ecological problems. It has not only been bad things happening as

some places in the Americas have actually been trying to create a sustainable

experience. For instance Yosemite national park while overrun with tourists year round

in actively trying to reduce traffic and keep specific areas tourist free as to protect them.

Alaska is a prime year round destination due to the connection that travelers can

establish with nature while their. One of the leading things to why Alaska is above and

beyond other locations in North America is the establishment of the Alaska Wilderness

Recreation & Tourism Association. They are an association of over 300 nature based

tourism companies with the purpose of protecting natural resources. The fact that

Alaska cares enough to self regulate its ecotourism is a huge step forward.

While the decision and implementation of ecotourism in Alaska is in its later stages with

regards to the environment there has been much less talk regarding the cultural impact

of it. The largest fear that locals have is their loss of control over their local community

from the introduction of tourism. Due to economic pressure they are being drawn to

participate in it while it provides risk to their community. The main thing that they want is

to be included in the dialogue about ecotourism and tourism in general in Alaska.

Among the larger concerns of what might happen with the introduction of Ecotourism to

Alaska is that it might take away from the fishing industry that is one of the largest job

markets in the state. This is not a completely in valid concern as in 2016 the total

number of people employed in the Alaskan fishing industry dropped by 6.4%. While this

job loss was not directly linked to be the result of an expanding Ecotourism market it

does show that the industry is not complealty sound and that if people start to show

more interest in a industry that promotes prestean nature might take some more away.

The core tenets of Ecotourism are very important to consider when looking at an

example of ecotourism. In the case of Alaska and North America two of them

specifically interest us first what constitutes traveling to a place of ecological interest

and second if that location has done a good job of both respecting local culture and

including it. Both of these things are very important to understand if Alaska is a good

example when compared to others on the continent.

The reason I feel the need to ask the question what is considered travel to places of

ecological interest is that it is often used to describe going someplace new and different

then the one you were in before. Most people would say you need to travel to a place

with a culture different to your own in order to count. But what if you already lived in a

location that is of ecological interest? How distinct does the culture have to be? For the

first of thous questions going to a new location is completely required for ecotourism,

tourism is in the name. Going out and experiencing nature where you live is a good

thing but it does not count as tourism as it does nothing to broaden your horizons. The

answer to the second is similar, the culture you go to has to be distinct enough that it

broduns your world view not just affirms it.

We need to ask these questions because The United States is one of the largest

contributors to the tourism industry and as we are part of it we feel the need to only

consider something ecotourism if it is for us. It is flawed to look at things this way as it is

not ecotourism for some in Greenland, or India to go interact with nature  where they life

but it is for us. This also means that while it is possible that as Alaska is part of the

United States us traveling their should not be ecotourism, however for the people from

other countries there is no reason for it not to be.

The second thing we must consider is how is the ecotourism interacting with the local

population. This is something the North American countries have struggled with over the

years as it is primarily people from countries across the sea that now control the vast

amount of land. According to the 2017 census 6.3% of the population of Alaska is

Native American or Alaskan Native. While this does not sound like much people are still

people and that means we must take them into account when doing tourism in Alaska.

Ecotourism does have one advantage in alaska and that is the sheer size of it coming in

at well over 100 million acres of land. This means there is quite a bit of land that is not

being used to house and support its population of 739,795 people, being the 4th

smallest in terms of population making up 0.22% of the national population on the

largest amount of land by area. Most of this land is unused due to it being too far from

civilization and two cold and remote to be used for much. If the ecotourism industry

focuses their efforts on that land rather than the coastline the would do minimal cultural

damage.

This does not mean we can squander it just if we play our cards right we should be able to
have enough land for both the people and the environment. Doing such development might
not be the most economically feasible as well as it would mean developing in an area that is
not used and has no pre existing structure. Also as the ocean and sea life is a big draw
people might prefer to be in an area along the sea buting stress on a more high tension area.

With its breathtaking beauty and natural wonder Alaska is a great place to travel to no

matter what. Once we take into account ecotourism and travel with intent both to enjoy

and preserve the natural world we find it to be an amazing location when compared to

the rest of North America in this day and age. Across the continent we see tones of

turnstile tourism and nature based tourism that is in fact just a different lense on ternstile

tourism. Going forward, if the proper care is taken, Alaska could easily become not only

the best example of ecotourism on the continent but in the world

WORK CITED

“Eco Tours in Alaska - Sustainable Tourism & Conservation Laws.” Alaska Ecotourism Tours -
Sustainable Tourism & Conservation Laws,
www.internationalwildlifelaw.org/alaska.html.

“Our Sustainability Focus - Ecotourism.” Alaska Outdoors, www.travelalaskaoutdoors.com/about/sustainability.

“PIKE'S WATERFRONT LODGE.” Weme Template, www.adventuregreenalaska.org/.

Ridgeway, Gianna. Impacts of Eco-Tourism, www.nativescience.org/html/eco-tourism.html.

“Sustainable Travel & Ecotourism in Alaska.” Sustainable Travel & Ecotourism in Alaska | Frommer's,
www.frommers.com/destinations/alaska/planning-a-trip/sustainable-travel--ecotourism.

“U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Alaska.” Census Bureau QuickFacts, www.census.gov/quickfacts/AK.

US States - Ranked by Population 2018, worldpopulationreview.com/states/.

Welch, Laine. “Alaska Lost Fishing Jobs in 2016.” National Fisherman, 14 Nov. 2017,
www.nationalfisherman.com/alaska/alaska-lost-fishing-jobs-2016/.