Ecotourism

E Ecotourism Ralf Buckley International Chair in Ecotourism Research, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia Ecotourism is a widely used concept, but with no universally accepted definition. The most authoritative framework is the Quebec Declaration from the 2002 United Nations World Summit on Ecotourism (UNWTO 2002). This recognizes it as a subsidiary of ▶ sustainable tourism, which relies on nature-based attractions; employs best practice environmental management; contributes to conservation; involves local communities; offers effective interpretation; and generally, though not exclusively, favors smaller scale operation. Framing Ecotourism There are wide differences in the meanings attached to the term ecotourism by different political or business interests. It is promoted globally by nongovernment and multilateral organizations, including the United Nations, as a low-investment, low-impact sector that can combine conservation with social and economic development of impoverished communities. It is promoted by tourism associations and government portfolios in developed countries, however, as a political mechanism for preferential # Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 J. Jafari, H. Xiao (eds.), Encyclopedia of Tourism, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-01669-6_65-1 commercial access and new property development rights inside public protected areas. Numerous related terms are also in use (Buckley 2009). Outdoor or parks tourism refers to the setting or place, nature based to the ▶ attraction, safari or adventure to the ▶ activity, wildlife or bird watching to specific subsectors, community to the major stakeholders or enterprise owners, and conservation to the net outcome. There are also broader terms such as sustainable or ▶ responsible tourism, which are used principally in relation to social and environmental management, but are not defined with any precision. Other terms such as ▶ green tourism or ▶ geotourism have not been taken up as widely as ecotourism. The global economic scale and social and environmental outcomes of ecotourism are not known accurately, because of uncertainties in definition, data, and accounting. Outdoor tourism more broadly has annual turnover around US$1 trillion (Buckley 2009). Under strict outcomebased definitions, however, only a small proportion of this would qualify as ecotourism. Ecotourism Development There are several global compilations of ecotourism case studies. These reveal regional geographic differences both in terminologies used and in the types of enterprises established. In ▶ China, for example, definitions include a 2 human-health component, not generally included in other countries. In North America, the term outfitter is widely used, referring particularly to private concessionaires operating on public parks or forests lands, while only some would qualify as ecotourism operators. The same applies for safari and game-lodge operators in sub-Saharan Africa, and to a lesser extent in the Indian subcontinent. The term ecotourism in ▶ Australia, Asia, and South America is in widespread use, without substitute terms. Ecotourism seems to be most effective in countries and circumstances where conservation depends heavily on local landholders and resident communities, and it can create sufficient income to trigger a change in land use or social behavior. The most widespread approach involves private conservation reserves funded through tourism. Some of these make significant net contributions to conservation of globally threatened species, by providing funding to protected area management agencies (Buckley 2011; Buckley et al. 2012). However, this revenue comes with social, financial, and environmental costs, and for publicly managed lands the net outcome is difficult to quantify. The most clear-cut benefits arise where there is a demonstrable link, direct or indirect, whereby ecotourism enterprises support anti-poaching measures in public protected areas (Buckley and Pabla 2012). At the opposite extreme, there are enterprises which use the ecotourism name as a cover to kill endangered species for the illegal international trade in animal parts. Greenwashing (selfpromotion as ecotourism without meeting ▶ UNWTO or equivalent criteria) is also widespread. Ecocertification labels – claiming to differentiate legitimate ecotourism from greenwash – are widespread but ineffective. Many countries have national ecotourism associations, and there are international equivalents such as The International Ecotourism Society (2013). These are commercial and nonprofit organizations which promote their members’ interests politically. This may lead to lack of independence. Ecotourism Ecotourism Trends Despite the many complexities as above, ecotourism remains a valuable concept. The term continues to be used with increasing frequency in both the academic literature and the mass media, with the latter lagging the former by about a decade. There are substantial bodies of worldwide research on social, economic, and environmental dimensions of ecotourism, including ▶ economics, ▶ interpretation, impacts, monitoring, ▶ management, ▶ conservation, and community benefits (Buckley 2011; Weaver 2001). Early proponents put forward ecotourism as an alternative to mass or mainstream tourism. Its enterprises, however, are subject to the same social and commercial ▶ constraints as ▶ other forms of tourism. In practice, ecotourism has become integrated into the overall continuum of tourism attractions, activities, ▶ service quality, products, and price ranges. Three aspects exemplify this. First, there is continuing convergence in the operational aspects of ecotourism on public, private, and communal land tenures. Private conservation tourism operations, community ecotourism ventures, and ▶ visitor management in public parks face similar issues and approach them in increasingly similar ways. Some individual public parks now receive over ten million visitors annually, far more than many ▶ urban tourism destinations. Second, there is increasing integration in the outdoor tourism sector, between products previously differentiated as nature, eco-, or ▶ adventure tourism. Finally, there is increasing integration of ecotourism activities and environmental management into mainstream tourism at all scales. In June 2013, a well-known ecotourism lodge won the title of world’s best hotel, beating selfproclaimed 7-star establishments worldwide. This is a convincing demonstration of integration. Future research in this field, therefore, will be most valuable if it examines ecotourism less as a small alternative activity defined in terms of ethics and more as a manifestation of environmental attractions, management, ▶ education, Ecotourism and outcomes in the mainstream tourism ▶ industry. See also ▶ Certification, ▶ community-based tourism, ▶ conservation, ▶ nature tourism, ▶ sustainable tourism. References Buckley, R. 2009 Ecotourism: Principles and Practices. Wallingford: CAB International. 3 Buckley, R. 2011 Tourism and Environment. Annual Review of Environment and Resources 36:397-416. Buckley, R., G. Castley, F. Pegas, A. Mossaz, and R. Steven 2012 A Population Accounting Approach to Assess Tourism Contributions to Conservation of IUCN-Redlisted Mammals. PLoS ONE 7(9):e44134. Buckley, R., and H. Pabla 2012 Tourism Ban Won’t Help Indian Tigers. Nature 489:33. The International Ecotourism Society 2013 The International Ecotourism Society www.ecotourism.org. Weaver, D. 2001 Encyclopedia of Ecotourism. Wallingford: CAB International. UNWTO 2002 Quebec Declaration on Ecotourism www. unwto.org/sdt/IYE/IYE/quebec/anglais/declaration. html (Retrieved: 29 May 2013).