How to Be an Eco-Tourist

If you want to contribute to the ecotourism industry while having as little negative impact on
the environment and local communities as possible, you should take some precautions. The
most important is to only give your money to genuine ecotourism programs, which should
adhere to the following standards:

1. Commitment to protecting ecosystems’ biodiversity

2. Support for the basic rights of local communities while contributing to their
economies
3. Respect for local cultures and a commitment to educate tourists on those cultures

To help your search, look into member programs of the International Ecotourism Society
(TIES). TIES partners with ecotourism organizations to help promote travel options that
conserve the environment, protect cultural diversity and spur community development. You
can find TIES members on the organization's website, under the "Find Members" tab, which
allows you to search by region and organization category.

Also make sure to research your accommodation options to choose one that practices
environmentally friendly policies, and recycle whenever you can. Reuse towels, water bottles
and silverware as often as possible, and pack toiletries that won’t harm the environment.
Finally, read up on the rules and regulations of the natural environments you visit, and make
sure to adhere to those rules.

How to Distinguish Between Natural Tourism & Ecotourism

The distinction between ecotourism and natural tourism is a difficult one to ascertain, as ideas
about the two vary depending on the resource. There is no set of rules to define either because
they are evolving. Still, some important differences do exist in certain circumstances, and
these differences can lead travelers to have very disparate experiences in the field and on
tour. The best course of action to take before confirming any travel plans is to explore exactly
what a trip involves and compare it to your personal needs and beliefs.

STEP 1
Expect a trip that leans toward a more recreation-based experience for natural tourism. The
term "nature tourism" is generic for any travel with a natural area or feature as a destination
or focus -- this can range from a state park visit to a helicopter flight to view polar bears.
While nature is a primary focus, the aim and outcome are for the entertainment and recreation
of the participants.

STEP 2
Understand that with ecotourism, the destination itself is usually the prime attraction, while
natural tourism experiences frequently involve recreation and attractions within or around the
destination. For example, when a family travels to a national park to swim, camp or hike
for vacation, the environment is part of the experience, but not necessarily the primary focus.
An ecotourism trip may involve hiking to and camping at a similar destination but with the
purpose of learning about the area or making an improvement to it.

STEP 3
Prepare for more restrictive rules on an ecotourism trip. While natural tourists and ecotourists
may visit the same areas, their experiences and activities tend to differ markedly. Ecotourists
follow a mantra of minimal impact and preservation to create responsible travel. Eco
operators and travelers generally seek to cause as little harm or impact as possible, and
ecotourists promote environmental responsibility through efforts such as reuse and recycling,
minimizing waste, composting and reducing their carbon footprint. While access to remote
sites is an occasional benefit of this effort to protect and preserve, ecotours may limit visits to
remote sites specifically to control the amount of damage or wear to fragile ecosystems.

STEP 4
Look for projects that aim to involve guests in hands-on efforts to conserve or preserve if you
are interested in ecotours. Where ecotourists may receive education to raise awareness
regarding the environment and issues facing a specific human group, location or ecosystem,
natural tourism participants may learn more about a site in a manner fitting their personal
interests or enhancing their recreational enjoyment. For example, birdwatchers may learn
about specific local birds of interest to them personally on a natural tourism excursion;
ecotourists would learn about preserving the birds' habitat or what mechanisms are causing a
local species to be endangered.

STEP 5
Determine whether a tour involves local inhabitants and in what manner. The preservation
efforts of ecotours extend to maintaining local cultures as well as the
environment. Ecotourism typically employs people from the local population, offers fair pay
and promotes respect for their cultures.

STEP 6
Ask yourself how much involvement you want to have, how much comfort you are willing to
forgo and how much time and effort you want to invest in a tour. Personal responsibility is a
large part of the ecotourism experience, and this may not be the right fit for everyone. A
natural tourism vacation can involve some ecotourism activities without locking you into a
rigid structure. This may be a good way to ease into ecotourism for the inexperienced. Try
active tourism for an organized combination of natural tourism and ecotourism -- guests can
enjoy the recreational aspects of a trip while having a low impact on the environment.

Aims and Objectives of Ecotourism

Tourism is bigger now than ever before. International tourist arrivals quadrupled between
1960 and 1990 and then doubled again between 1990 and 2010. The most remote places,
from the Amazon rainforest to ice-bound Antarctic, have become respectable leisure
destinations. No corner of the Earth remains untouched, and many countries rely on tourism
for their income. This unparalleled growth in leisure travel has prompted concerns about its
impact on fragile ecosystems and traditional communities and led to the appearance
of ecotourism.

Definition
As adventurous travelers strayed off the path of a standard sea-sun-and-sand vacation, they
rejected mass provision of package trips, searching instead for the pristine and the
authentic. Ecotourism has become one of the ways the green sensitivities of affluent
westerners manifest themselves.

According to the International Ecotourism Society, ecotourism combines travel to natural

areas with principles of sustainability, conservation and direct benefits to local people.
Martha Honey, a co-founder and co-Director of the Center on Ecotourism and Sustainable
Development and the author of "Ecotourism and Sustainable Development," proposes an
expanded definition, focusing on: minimizing impact, building environmental awareness,
providing benefits to conservation and local people, respecting local culture and supporting
human rights.

Minimizing Impact
Ecotourism aims to reduce environmental impact that comes with mass tourism and its vast,
often resource-heavy, infrastructure. This impact reduction includes using locally available,
often traditional and, at other times, recycled materials and supporting designs of
infrastructure that are environmentally friendly and that fit within traditions and sensibilities
of local culture. Minimizing impact also means controlling numbers and acceptable behaviors
of tourists. These efforts can range from limiting traffic on national park trails to controlling
the numbers of game shot during community-run hunting expeditions. Another way to lessen
the impact of tourism is to use renewable energy and to carefully dispose of waste.
Culturally, ecotourism aims to respect the local communities and traditions, to alleviate the
exploitive aspects of leisure travel and to benefit, rather than damage, the communities.

Building Awareness
Ecotourism aims to teach as well as to entertain and relax. This objective applies to
environmental as well as cultural matters. Visitors who participate in ecotourism projects
should receive information on the ecology and conservation issues pertinent to the local area.
Guides and other staff should be able to effectively communicate with the tourists, helping
them to interpret the natural environment and pointing out the sensitive areas and fragile
ecosystems. The cultural exchange important to ecotourism through which visitors learn
about local customs and social mores should, ideally, involve sensitivity and balance. In
many situations, traditions function as exotic backdrop for tourists, with locals compelled
toward primitive and folksy affectation for the benefit of tourists seeking authenticity.

Financial Benefits
Ecotourism must provide direct financial benefits for conservation projects and
environmental protection, either directly through charges for tours, admission fees and
donations or indirectly through taxes on travel or accommodation. The financial benefits
of ecotourism should extend not only to the conservation of natural heritage, but to the local
population. They must benefit from tourism and travel, either by being employed in or,
ideally, running the tourist infrastructure or by benefiting from local developments such as
transport links, sanitation, water and health provision.

Human Rights and Democracy

According to Honey's criteria, ecotourism should also strive to support human rights,
economic empowerment and democratic movements in host communities. In addition to
increasing awareness about political issues of the host country, one way of empowering
people is to support local, particularly small scale, businesses and providers and their
struggles to achieve control of land and assets. This political aim of ecotourism is the most
contentious and often the hardest to define clearly. For example, boycotting certain
destinations may prove to be a double-edged sword, and it's important to ascertain whether
long-term gains achieved by political pressure will be offset by short-term economic losses.