University of Aarhus ECOTOURISM AS A WAY TO PROTECT ...
University of Aarhus ECOTOURISM AS A WAY TO PROTECT ...
University of Aarhus ECOTOURISM AS A WAY TO PROTECT ...
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Ecotourism as a sustainable way to protect nature<br />
2001). (The conditions in Australia are completely different from other areas<br />
due to the high level <strong>of</strong> environmental interest - the initiative came just from the<br />
government).<br />
NEAP´s principal difficulty in its early stages was a relatively low<br />
industry sign up. Perhaps because <strong>of</strong> low publicity only rather few providers<br />
were able to qualify for this accreditation, which is based on well-defined<br />
substantive criteria. Currently, this system is still fighting with limited reach<br />
within the Australian ecotourism sector. They developed a three tiered<br />
accreditation system - nature tourism, ecotourism and advanced ecotourism.<br />
As NEAP stated in their presentation on the www.eco-tor.org guide their<br />
major concern is: "accepting applications to provide ecotourism operators and<br />
protected area agencies with the opportunity to meet minimum standards for<br />
providing or conducting genuine ecotourism operations".<br />
They also assist affiliated companies with the development <strong>of</strong> ecotourism<br />
products and recognise the best sustainable practise.<br />
There are differing opinions about the future <strong>of</strong> NEAP, some say that<br />
NEAP, appropriately customized to different environments and countries, could<br />
become the basis for the Green Globe 21 within the specialist ecotourism sector<br />
world-wide (Buckley, 2001). Green Globe 21 continued its expansion plans by<br />
associating with other schemes like Green Leaf, Green Key and Caribbean<br />
Alliance for Sustainable Tourism (Font, 2002).<br />
2.5.3. Other Tourism Ecolabels<br />
As mentioned above there are more than 100 ecolabels, but only few <strong>of</strong><br />
them are really important and relevant for ecotourism purposes.<br />
As an example <strong>of</strong> another scheme within the group <strong>of</strong> international<br />
attempts is:<br />
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