Ecotourism evokes images of pristine beaches and quiet forests filled with wildlife. Who doesn’t want to see exotic animals and plants you’ve never seen or heard of? The idea of meeting a culture different from your own while also quelling your guilt of not-so-eco friendly actions you’ve committed sounds like an interesting way to see other parts of the world. The result of the rise of global sustainable and ecological practices, ecotourism has become the new desirable way to travel for the environmentally-conscious. Also known as nature-based tourism, sustainable tourism, or community-based tourism, ecotourism is intended to contribute to local and indigenous populations and preserve nature all while stimulating the economy of the home country. NGOs, transnational corporations, non-profits, international institutions and the political institutions of developing countries are all working to develop ecotourism to benefit the local people. However, as a result of the large number of stakeholders, the local people often never see any improvement to their lives. In the globalized world, the benefits of ecotourism are not always kept in the destination country and the huge profits generated don’t always contribute to the people of that country.

Ecotourism has often failed to deliver expected benefits to indigenous communities. There are some shortcomings to ecotourism including shortages in human, financial and social capital within indigenous communities, lack of mechanisms for equal distribution of the economic benefits, and land insecurity which creates a barrier between indigenous communities and profit-seeking corporations.

Many ecotourism projects are Western-centric and are deeply embedded in Western cultural, economic and political ideology. There is an absence of in-depth understanding of local contexts and traditional knowledge of the indigenous communities. Trying to fit Western ideals into a non-western world has caused ecotourism projects to fail.

Rather than protecting local communities, ecotourism uses the communities it invests in. Some programs are preparing community members to be better employees rather than focusing on organizing the communities to develop their own ideas. Moreover, the protection of community rights is often very weak in developing countries, leading to further precarity.

In this video, we see a community in Ecuador that faces hardship. Because of harsh restrictions on who can obtain tour licenses, indiginous communities find it difficult to take advantage of tourism to boost their own wealth. Ultimately, the ecotourism for this indiginous community was more harmful than beneficial.

Developing countries need an enabling political environment in order to see the benefits of ecotourism. An enabling political environment means that the government will function to provide for its citizens, not simply reap the rewards of its hard work. Unfortunately in developing countries, an enabling political environment is not readily available.

Because developing countries are in such a vulnerable position economically, it can lead to corruption. For example, Rosaleen Duffy writes about the corruption and state politics in Belize due its rising ecotourism industry. Ecotourism undermines the ability of the state to enforce regulations in offshore banking, drug trafficking and environmental protection. There are hidden players in Belize - the “shadow state” - who control the links between international capital, local elites and individuals involved in illegal trading networks of money laundering and drugs. These elites gain control over lucrative resources by legal and illegal means, in which resources that should be going to local communities are held up at the top. The power of the corrupt “shadow state” allows these corrupt players to flout the formal rules that govern society. In an environment such as this, the local communities will never be able to reap the benefits of ecotourism because all the resources and profits are kept at the top. Therefore, governments must denounce the illegal absorption of ecotourism resources by the corrupt players and instead function as a system ready to empower its citizens.

Governments must distribute some of their power to local communities for ecotourism to provide any real benefits. Empowering communities means they need the real power to make decisions and use funds appropriately. Simply making ecotourism available to the international community does not automatically see net gains in the local communities of developing countries. International institutions must also provide an enabling environment and ensure that any monetary aid going into developing countries is used by local communities in order to empower themselves, otherwise it is just hot money that will not provide real benefits.

The enabling political environment plays a critical role in successful ecotourism. Effective government action against corruption and mis-allocation of resources is an important determining factor for ecotourism to be successful in a developing country.

Preservation of the local ecosystems and environment is critical for successful ecotourism. Developing countries welcome ecotourism because they have large amounts of undeveloped land and undisturbed nature. The problem is, many of these developing countries do not have the infrastructure to support large amounts of people putting strain on the environment.

Ecotourism is promoted as a sustainable form of travel, yet indigenous communities often need to rely on out-of-date environmentally unfriendly forms of travel like vehicles or boats to show the tourists around - that is if tours are being conducted by the members of the indigenous communities.

Ecotourists are predominantly from the global north, and don’t always conform to the destination’s way of life. For example, trash often gets left behind or unsupervised tourists wander into delicate ecosystems and cause destruction. The global south also doesn’t have the same waste infrastructure as the global north, leading to environmental damage through wastewater pollution.

Without preserving ecosystems and the environment of developing countries, ecotourism is just regular tourism. This is why empowerment of indigenous communities together with an enabling political environment and environmentally-friendly infrastructure are necessary for successful ecotourism projects.

There seems to be a difference between how ecotourism is framed to the general public and how it actually affects the local communities of the developing countries. There is not a one-size-fits-all when it comes to policy and action. By empowering local communities with real political power, local people can make their own decisions and ultimately come up with solutions to sustainability.

There needs to be a simplification of the various stakeholders involved in ecotourism. Empowerment of local communities will allow the people who have the best knowledge of the land to make the decisions about how funds are used and where profits go. Keeping the revenue and profits at the top in the global markets will only lead to further marginalization of the local communities.