Ecotourism
Williams
04/30/18
Top Ten Takeaways
1) Ecotourism is a new concept to me. I had never heard of it before this semester, but surprisingly, I’ve heard it since, outside of this class. Martha Honey defines ecotourism as “travel to fragile, pristine, and usually protected areas that strives to be low impact and often small scale. It helps educate the traveler, provides funds for conservation, directly benefits the economic development and political empowerment of local communities, and fosters a respect for different cultures and for human rights,” (Honey, 33) this is a multi-faceted approach to a inter-disciplinary problem. Ecotourism is both a means and an end for a country: it is a noble goal to have, but at the end of the day it is a method that facilitates economic and cultural growth without ousting the natural communities.
Vinales Valley, Cuba
2) True ecotourism is very hard to identify, with many organizations claiming to be sustainable travel organizations, when in reality they represent something closer to turnstile tourism. This could kill the movement in it’s infancy, as at the core of ecotourism “is the support of locally owned business, local hiring, and local purchasing, all practices that are circumscribed under the international trade agreements and organizations,” (Honey, 34) this massive push for international travel companies in growing nations can permanently cripple a nations ability to provide sustainable travel options. The second issue with tat is that often these travel styles fall short of sustaining the local culture.
South Africa
3) Ecotourism is a relatively new concept for an industry that is hundreds, if not thousands of years old. The growing nature of the travel industry can be both the biggest aid and the greatest hinderance to the continued expansion of ecotourism: “the tourism industry is dominated by transnational corporations that are, on one hand, becoming increasingly interlinked and consolidated, on the other, spreading around the world and penetrating new markets,” (Honey, 38) if it is not clear, the fact that these markets are so connected with one another is a great boon to ecotourism, if they can create change in one major player. The downside is that it will be hard to make one organization switch before the others. Because this is such a growing market and such a new concept, it can be easily picked up by potential ecotourist providers. This makes it an attractive solution to many ugly issues.
Stone Town, Zanzibar
4) Ecotourism is a threat to the old guard of travel, the all-inclusive resort trips, or the massive international hotel chains. This movement is a threat to the old cruise ship types of travel that have quickly defined the word tourist over the past one hundred years. Can they exist together? No, I do not think they could. I think Martha Honey Puts it well, “…mass tourism industry, is anathema to the concepts and practices of ecotourism. These high-volume, prepaid, packaged holidays—with their celebration of sun-and-fun, overconsumption, self-indulgence, and brief ports of call to allow toasts to buy local souvenirs or duty-free First-World luxuries—are mirror opposite of the small-scale, locally owned, culturally sensitive precepts of ecotourism,” (Honey, 49) who knew Honey had so much venom? In all seriousness, this quote highlights the inherent inability for old tourism and ecotourism to coexist. One cannot exist in the same place as the other.
5) In light of the issues with traditional, mass tourism, another thing to be aware of is ‘ecotourism lite’, which can be seen in the example of Maho bay, where a service was claiming to be a sustainably, ecotourist destination in St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. While appearances may support this, there is much more to ecotourism than appearing sustainable, even if you are low impact. “Ecotourism should meet four criteria: (1) it should be designed, built and operated so that it leaves a “soft imprint”; (2) it should contribute money to the local economy and local community services; (3) it should be financially to environmental protection; and (4) it should educate visitors and members of the local community,” (Honey, 74) falling short of that isn’t terrible, but it makes it hard to be a ‘true’ ecotourist service, rather than a ‘green’ travel service. It is important to make the distinction between things that say they are ecotourist, and true ecotourism.
6) So while there is a great responsibility for the country and the organization to be sustainable and qualify as something under ecotourism, much of it actually falls onto the travelers themselves. If we actively put forward our willingness to pay for ecotourism, our willingness to be sure about the companies we travel with, more organizations will be tempted to access that market by switching over to ecotourist practices. We need to be thoughtful and deliberate with our money when we travel. Thankfully: “about 13 percent of all US outbound leisure travelers could be considered ecotourists… In Europe 20 to 30 percent of travelers are aware if the needs ad values of sustainable tourism…In Germany 65 percent of travelers expect environment quality,” (Honey, 77) so we see more and more people becoming aware of their power as travelers.
7) There is a sort of brutal hypocrisy in the ecotourism world. This is seen in the fact that by even traveling to certain places, we are putting them at risk.I would point to Lizzie White’s presentation on Palau, where I believe there was a swimming area with jellyfish, that became a very popular tourist hotspot, so much so that even the sustainable travel to the area was so disruptive that the government needed to step in and shut the area down to the public. I would also point to my own project on the Galapagos, which has some of the best operators in the word in terms of education, there simply is too much traffic in the area for them to continue tourism as it is going. Beyond the environment, cultures too, are infringed upon: “Many of the world’s approximately 350 million indigenous people like in spectacularly beautiful parts of the globe, areas increasingly penetrated by tourism, frequently in the name of ecotourism…these struggles have pitted local communities and indigenous people against their own governments, international development agencies like the World Bank and USAID, and, not infrequently, against the agendas of international conservation organizations,” (Honey, 98), these cultures are forced to be at odds with travel organizations and those who want to preserve natural areas. When our goal is the preservation of both culture and the conservation of the environment, this can be tricky. Being aware of the needs of the local community, be it a local culture or a local natural community, is the only way to institute progressive ecotourist destinations.
8) Ecotourism, well tourism in general, is a great source of revenue for nations to build infrastructure and areas dedicated to conservation. The Galapagos is one of the more obvious areas that use their profits as them. The Ecuadorian government receives around a third of it’s tourism revenue from the Galapagos, and with that money they are interested in continuing research on the islands. The Charles Darwin research station is completely funded off of the tourism o the archipelago. I remember that Viñales in Cuba was almost entirely build up from the money received by tourists. However, “today the state it typically consigned to activities that do not generate income: setting tourism policies, carrying out overseas marketing, educating and training the workforce, establishing natural attractions, national parks and reserves, marine areas, waterfalls…,” (Honey, 106) the reason for the switch is actually due to the amount of potential profits made by the sector, the government will full control over the area could reap the benefits while the workers didn’t see much. This allows the benefits not to solely be delegated by the gov’t.
9) Ecotourist mentalities are spreading across the world, and many nations are seeing it as a solution to many growing issues, namely the massive losses in natural area, the dropping levels of economic gain from local areas, the lack of money from international travel organization, and so on. Personally I believe that ecotourism is also extremely useful for bridging the gaps between cultures. Therefore I find it surprising that the United States, which is the biggest exporter of tourists is also known as one of the least tolerant of other cultures. We have had at least 30.1 million international travelers one year (Honey, 397), but we don’t see all of those people standing up and advocating for international cooperation within our country. I want to see that change occur.
10) Creating ecotourism is on us, as citizens of a growing world. We need to create anchors for sustainable travel, to have a port where travelers who are aware of their impact can visit, learn and experience the joy of international travel without having to undercut the peoples and the environments of the nation they are visiting. This will take people working hard, communicating with each other across seas, to come up with an experience that from start to finish, supports local culture, stimulates the economy and also preserve that natural life of the area. Going through this book I think we can see countries all across the world benefitting from this movement. I especially see ecotourism as a boon to the middle-east and Africa, as they are very wild areas that have minimal human development, but hey have a strong need for economic stability. They are in a perfect place to take their future out of the hands of the IMF or the World bank, and bring it into their own power. However to see this change really take place I think we need more participation from the governments. both the travelers home country and the destination of travel, the governments should be pushing for ecotourism, as it breeds better cooperation, among other things. “Although nearly every country is nowadays promoting ecotourism, in reality much of the implementation has been left to the private sector, with little planning or control exerted by national governments,” (Honey, 446), if we see federal support reenforce the private sector, I think there is a much better chance for ecotourism to occur, while avoiding the pratfalls of the past.
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