University of Aarhus ECOTOURISM AS A WAY TO PROTECT ...

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Ecotourism as a sustainable way to protect nature 2.2.4. Ecotourism - is there a final concept It is important to understand ecotourism not separately from other tourism branches. There will be always connection to all aspects of tourism with the common guideline. There is no border-line which separates different branches from each-other. We can regard the ecotourism as the continual shift from mass tourism to more sustainable kinds of tourism. Even in the ecotourism concept, we can find some kind of continuum (spectrum) from active(hard) to passive(soft) ecotourism (Weaver, 2001). Due to this continuity it is problematic to set up final concept without doubt. Therefore we thing that the ecotourism concept is still open issue with lots of challenges. 2.3. Is Ecotourism really sustainable 2.3.1. Conditions for successful ecotourism Apparently ecotourism is not inherently sustainable. Three important segments must be included in the ecotourism planning for the result to be sustainable. It must be economically viable, environmentally appropriate and socio-culturally acceptable. Economy, environment and culture are all involved, one is not more important than the other (Wall, 1997). But it will probably take a long time before we fully understand how to apply all the aspects of sustainability on the concrete problems, including ecotourism. 2.3.2. How many tourists are ecotourists Another issue closely connected to the sustainability of the visited areas, is the number of (eco)tourists present at any given time. According to the UNEP guidelines about ecotourism which define the appropriate number of tourists in a group, it is evident that ecotourism is mainly an individual small-scale activity. The UNEP guidelines recommend groups of up to 25 persons and hotels with fever than 100 beds in one structure (UNEP, 2002). 16
Ecotourism as a sustainable way to protect nature But there are some voices claiming that small-scale tourism may actually be inappropriate and unsustainable under certain circumstances, while large scale or mass tourism may be sustainable under other conditions (Weaver, 2001). This is one of the ideas of Weaver's study. He tries to bridge the gap between mass tourism and ecotourism. He claims that only large numbers of (eco)tourists would result in a high revenue flow. Secondly, he argues that only large tourist corporations are able to implement sustainable practices, because they can fund e.g. the wastewater treatment facilities, while small local ecotourism agencies would not be able to do so. One of the principles of recent ecotourism policy is the emphasis on small-scale tourism provided by locals, independent of the large corporations. It is necessary to mention that Weaver is not very sure about the carrying capacity; he claims that carrying capacity is not necessarily fixed (Weaver, 2001). There lies a major challenge in promoting small-scale tourism in the future. But not only within this sector, all the other parts of the global economy are now fighting with the problem of low cost mass production which compete with the locally-based and much more expensive production. Therefore, this problem must be included in all planning and discussions concerning sustainability of ecotourism and the role of locally owned agencies/large corporations. More about the economical aspect is going to be mentioned in the next part. 2.4. Economic aspects of ecotourism Some of the aspects of tourism (ecotourism) economy were already shortly mentioned above. This part is going to introduce ecotourism from the global economy point of view. 17
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University of Aarhus ECOTOURISM AS A WAY TO PROTECT ...

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