VIII More than Green Tourism

The environmental movement started to get known around 1960s, since when many companies
began to market themselves as environmentally friendly.
Green Tourism In the beginning, green tourism was known as a small-scale tourism that
encouraged people to visit natural areas and minimize the impacts of tourism on the environment. The term
is used for businesses with an environmentally friendly activity. However, green tourism has often been 
used by businesses that do not put that much effort into making their activity more sustainable and the term
became known for greenwashing. Greenwashing refers to a company that is more interested in becoming
known for its green tourism and less for its contribution to the environment and local communities.
Ecotourism Ecotourism is a tourism that has as purpose visiting natural and unspoiled
tourist areas without having a great impact on the destination. It describes the tourism where the flora and
fauna are the principal attractions, and rarely referred to for urban destinations. Ecotourism is focused on
conserving both the terrestrial and marine environments. The principles at the core of ecotourism
are reducing the impacts of tourism on the ecosystems, good environmental practices, establishing and
operating low impact tourism facilities. The essence of ecotourism is ensuring long term sustainability of
the travel industry by bringing together local communities, tourism industry and nature preservationists. The
International Ecotourism Society defines ecotourism as responsible travel to natural areas that conserves
the environment, sustains the well-being of the local people, and involves interpretation and education.
As tourism is an industry, it doesn’t always help the environment and local communities. Ecotourism and
sustainable tourism came to gain popularity in times of the growth of mass tourism.
Sustainable tourism Sustainable tourism development is a long term and continuous process
that needs monitoring the impacts of tourism on the destination, and introducing corrective measures
along the way. A high customer satisfaction along with meaningful awareness is necessary as well.
Sustainable tourism refers to a wider focus of tourism than ecotourism and is defined as being the tourism
that boosts the economy, does no harm to the environment and sustains the local community.
Geotourism There are more forms of tourism that promote a sustainable development of the
industry. Geotourism supports the enhancement of the different geographical characteristics of a place. It
started as the destinations became increasingly globalized and homogeneous. Geotourism benefits the local
communities and economy and enhances the benefits on the integrity of a destination. Geotourism has
clear principles, such as following the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism and the main beliefs of the
Cultural Tourism Charter, keeping the volume of tourism to suitable limits, implementing strategies to
reduce the practices that are not compatible with the geotourism of the destination. Everyone can be a
geotraveler by “going local”. The key is to stay, travel, eat and shop from local businesses, where the
spending will boost the economy, support the development of the local communities and will help with the
preservation of the destination’s authenticity.

How to travel more responsibly?

Minimize waste and do not litter. Respect local habits and culture.
Support the local economy by buying local souvenirs. Be mindful of the environment.
Choose local restaurants and accommodation whenever possible.
Book a holiday even in low season to avoid crowds and support the local community.
Use reusable packages or limit the usage of single use plastic.
 
Post – reading Tasks:
Define green tourism, ecotourism, sustainable tourism, geotourism.
List the rules for responsible tourism.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjNwR2C6Q8I

Post – watching Tasks:

Translate the unknown words.
Answer the question at the end of the video.