How Has Sustainable Ecotourism Impacted the World of Tourism?
With the constant changes to the world's climate and landscape Ecotourism has provided travelers with a safer and more eco conscious way to immerse themselves in other cultures and still be able to see the world. Ecotourism has benefited areas suffering from mass tourism and has provided jobs for the locals. Just like anything, there are both positives and negatives.
The local, state, and federal government of tourist destinations are in charge. When looking to make the switch over to being sustainable and an ecotourist travel destination, it is up to the government to be putting rules and regulations in place to protect not only the environment, but also the locals that work and live in the area.
“Empirical studies investigating ecotourism projects shows a positive link between community participation and benefits including better quality of life” (Hasan, Swain, George 2021). Locals of an area are the ones working the tours, shops, and restaurants. It is important for the locals to buy in on the plan to make the area more sustainable. For most areas it has gone one of two ways. 1. The locals are on board and are willing to work to protect, conserve, and restore what was lost due to tourism and 2. Tourism is how the locals make there money. There has been some push back by some because they are worried that they will not be able to provide for their families anymore if there is a shift in there employment.
“There has also been a huge change in the relationship between the destinations’ market success and the residents’ attitudes (Zemla and Szromek 2023). Very popular destinations have been seeing the impact of mass tourism. Littering, increased prices, deterioration of roads, sacred grounds, and infrastructure. With the switch to ecotourism, sacred grounds amongst other things will no longer be tarnished as regulations are put into place to help protect these things. Timed entries and daily visiting permits are a couple of examples of regulations that are put into place to help combat Mass Tourism.
National Parks in the United States are one of the first examples of the federal government looking to play into the ecotourism role. The National Park System has implemented a lot to compensate for over tourism in the parks: shuttle systems, timed entries, park reservations and reservations/a lottery system for certain hikes and parks of certain parks. “Between 2010 and 2020, recreation visits to national park units have increased by 16.4%, representing an average increase of more than 5 million visits each year” (Bricker, Lackey, and Joyner 2022). By implementing these things, the park system is looking to support ecotourism by thinking about the environment in the area and trying to limit any more damage in the area created by visitors.
Hawai'i is a big tourist destination that has seen a lot of push back from the natives to those who travel there. Mass tourism has taken over Hawai'i so much that the natives can no longer afford to own homes on their island(s), so the homeless population is increasing. Many resorts are coming in a buying out the land and homes that they currently have. Tourists are not buying or staying locally to help support the locals and the local economy. Therefore, the native people of Hawai'i are encouraging travelers to 1. Do not travel here until they can fully recover and can restore what was lost or 2. Do intense research before you travel so you know you are eating and staying locally and to make sure you trip is 100% sustainable.
When researching and studying ecotourism, sustainability, and eco friendly travel there are many positive things are are showcased. However, the negatives that come about are typically over looked due to the importance of the positives.
National Park Negatives: National Parks from the general public eye look to be a good a thing, large area of lands protected under federal law to stay natural and "untouched". However, the NPS has used this as a marketing tactic and have financially gained from this profiting off of the travelers, adding hotels, roads, and restaurants to areas that were once truly untouched. Also with the addition of national parks, many native and original families were displaced with out warning and had to restart and rebuild. With adding outdoor activities to be more in touch with the environment, the area can be subjected to more littering and water pollution with the more people trying to tap into the outdoor recreational activities.
There are many places throughout the world that have been coined "ecotourism destinations": National Parks, Island of Southeast Asia, and many parts of Europe. When researching this topic several different case studies came up with these areas as the main case. However, to fully develop and get a worldly view from all parts of the world and all cultures, it is important to look everywhere. There was very little and almost no information on ecotourism in the Middle East. The Middle East is culturally rich and has a very diverse landscape. Many different governments within that region of the world are adding nature preserves and laws in place to become more known for their environmental preservation.
Overall, ecotourism has created many positive outcomes for the world of travel and tourism. It has created more jobs and protected landscapes, ecosystems, and has started to protect the locals in their own home. However, it is important to do your research when looking to do sustainable travel to make sure it not a marketing plan and that the locals and native people of an area can actually sustain travel and that they are not being negatively impacted by the tourism,
Bricker, K., Lackey, N. Q., & Joyner, L. (2022). A framework for sustainable tourism
development in and around national parks. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration. https://doi.org/10.18666/jpra-2021-11113
Żemła, M., & Szromek, A. R. (2023). From overtourism to no-tourism – costs and benefits of extreme volume of tourism traffic as perceived by inhabitants of two Polish destinations.
Hasana, U., Swain, S. K., & George, B. (2021). Management of Ecological Resources For Sustainable Tourism: A Systematic Review on Community Participation In Ecotourism Literature. International Journal of Professional Business Review.