the role of tourism in natural resource management in the okavango ...

defines ecotourism, as an "...industry which claims to make a low impact on the
environment and local culture, while helping to generate money, jobs and help the
conservation of wildlife and vegetation. It claims to be responsible tourism which is
ecologically and culturally sensitive". Lastly, Filion et al (1994) define ecotourism as
being "...travel to enjoy and appreciate nature" (p.236), and estimate ecotourism to
be worth approximately US $233 billion annually. According to Filion et al (1994),
nature-based tourism accounts for some 40 to 60 percent of international tourism,
and wildlife based tourism for 20 to 40 percent. Ceballos-Lascurain (1993) suggests
that 70 percent of all international travel expenditure is due to nature tourism. Hence,
the impact of ecotourism within individual countries can be considerable.
Furze et al (1996) maintain that "...ecotourism, a non-consumptive use of resources,
appears to have the potential to serve both conservation and local development
roles well" (p.146). Tourism is a lucrative business, and hence has the capacity to
transfer large exchange, including foreign exchange, to a particular tourism
destination which can potentially be captured and used for the conservation of
natural areas and the development of surrounding communities. According to Furze
et al (1996), "...conservation is essentially about values, and any activity that
'captures' or 'uses' the values that people hold for natural resources, and educates
about, and enhances support, for maintaining these values, is likely to be beneficial
in a conservation sense" (p.146). With regard to local development, tourism may
provide a 'vehicle' or 'conduit' for translating the values that others have for a natural
area into benefits for those who live in or near it (and may hence bear the costs
associated with conserving the resource). The development of the ideal situation is,
however, problematic in that it assumes that tourism does not impose costs and
problems of its own upon the natural resources and local people (or at least that if it
does, the benefits from tourism are greater than the problems it creates). Hence,
according to Furze et al (1996), ecotourism is motivated by the goals of conservation
and local development. They recognise that for operators, any tourism must
essentially be financially viable, but however, hold the (somewhat narve) perspective
that many managers, planners, development workers and local people are primarily
interested in ecotourism for its conservation and local benefit, not its financial
offerings.
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