Tourism

Ecotourism

So voluminous has the tourist trade become that “ecotourism” has developed as a form of tourism. Ecotourism or ecological tourism seeks to give travelers on nature tours experiences of nature that do not harm the environment. The goal is to create a benign, sustainable tourism.

Ecotourism may seek volunteers to be part of scientific research on natural areas. It usually takes tourists to places where the cultural heritage or fauna and flora are the main attraction. This may mean being paddled by expert boatmen in bancas (traditional dugout canoes) up the Bumbungan River to the Pagsanjan (Magdapio) Falls on southern Luzon island, the Philippines. Or it may mean touring Palawan Island in the Philippines for the rich diversity of species that can be found there.

Ecotourism to Costa Rica features tours that present the extremely rich environment of Costa Rica, which can include tours of active volcanoes. Tourism of the volcanoes in Hawaii and well as of some of the numerous ecological areas in the islands is oriented toward preserving the unique ecosystem.

In the case of wilderness adventures, ecotourism may mean hiking with backpacks or riding horseback into remote areas of the Rocky Mountains or other wild areas of the world. The number of people visiting such areas has grown tremendously and shows no signs of leveling off.

Many of these wilderness adventures may stress personal growth; others may teach new ways to live in harmony with nature. Or they may focus on local cultures or volunteering to preserve areas of cultural or natural interest. Always these programs seek to minimize the impact of traditional tourism. They also seek to protect or encourage the preservation of local cultural heritage areas. To minimize adverse effects on the environment or the traditional culture, the touring program is designed to minimize the impact of the visitors.

...