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Costa Rica Travel and Vacation
Visitor Information
Ecotourism Knowledge
There are two basic requirements for ecotourism: 1) a basic understanding of ecological issues and 2) a conscience.
Let’s get one thing clear: there is a lot of emphasis in definition. Ecotourism is a novel concept, an effort to make the global-rambler politically correct and free of guilt. No, Traveling to Johannesburg for the World Summit on Sustainable Development doesn’t constitute ecotourism. Neither does merely ogling at tigers from the safely of an elephant’s back. Or, for that matter, recalling William Wordsworth’s ‘Solitary Reaper’ at the sight of a solitary lass collecting fodder in a protected forest. In fact, think tanks and serious-looking polity-mongers are passionate about debating the syntax and punctuation of the most complete definition. Kind of like that sustainable development debate that we all know but don’t want to talk about.
Ecotourism, more than any other form of travel, demands that the tourist be able to reconcile the inner journey with the outer one. In simpler terms, the joy you get out of the environs should be shared with all that makes the surroundings what they are-the plants, animals, ‘local’ people, everything. Another fact that you need to bear in mind is that ecotourism is different from-and distinct part of- nature tourism. Nature tourism doesn’t require you to take care of your own garbage or follow a strict code of conduct in a forest or worry about the per capita emission of carbon dioxide from your flight. An important difference is ‘responsibility’: an eco-tourist has to be responsible for leaving no trail of the ‘tour’; is expected to leave a very small ‘ecological footprint’, prefer-ably none at all. This is not quite what the hospitality industry is known for, but that’s where the times are headed (look at the number of ‘nature’ channels we have on television today).
Blame it on Rio for hosting the 1992 summit. That’s when things started acquiring varied shades of green. Now, everybody and his brother in the travel and tourism trade offer eco-friendly holidays. And there are very few ways to tell a real ecotourism venture from a fraudulent one-the all sound equally nice nice goodie goodie. So why can’t they develop a certification regime, you may ask. A recent study showed that there are about 100 certification and eco-labeling schemes around the world. They are uncoordinated and lead to a lot of confusion. So the question is: when it comes to getting the most out of your hard-earned holiday and savings, does eco-tourism measure up?
Yes, sort of. There are several eco-tourism ventures across the world that not only provide that much-needed break you’ve been looking for but also an experience that might include a true sense of being in the
Wilderness (with basic amenities at hand). Another is viewing wildlife in an atmosphere that is more natural than the run-of-the-mill ride on a jeep or on the back of an elephant. Most ecotourists are educated, sensitive people. There is every chance that you will be among people you would like to interact with and befriend. Most of all, there is the satisfaction that you have traveled in a way that will ensure that the natural environs stay healthy for your grandchildren. Now some statistics to drive home the point.
The World Tourism Organization estimates that ‘nature tourism’ accounts for 20 per cent of all international travel. It is the fastest growing sector in tourism growing at 10-30 per cent growth in the tourism industry overall. It is the biggest foreign exchange earner for South Africa, Kenya, Ecuador and Costa Rica. The Maldives earns $2.3 million each year from just shark-watching. Estimates show that each living shark there fetches $3,300 each year; all the products from a dead Grey Reef shark add up to$32. There is a growing realization that a part of this revenue should be ploughed back into the protection and maintenance of the star attractions. That’s where ecotourism come in. calculations by the international Ecotourism Society show that experienced ecotourism are willing to spend more than general tourists.
So where do you plan to go? For the international ecotourists, favored destinations include the US, Peru, Brazil, the Galapagos Islands, Australia, Nepal, Kenya and South Africa.
Tiya
http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-articles/ecotourism-knowledge-707403.html
5 Responses to “Ecotourism Knowledge”
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February 28th, 2010 at 5:18 am
knowledge gained after being engaged in an ecotourism activity? enumerate. thanks?
you sure get an instant 10 points!
February 28th, 2010 at 10:20 am
nada
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February 28th, 2010 at 10:22 am
Assignments…sigh…
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February 28th, 2010 at 10:24 am
hi, i guess, it is up to you to feel and know what made you after the ecotourism activity. but let me help you analyze the benefit you’ve gained from it, kindly read the following:
Benefits Of Ecotourism
There are many different benefits that can be derived from Ecotourism if it is used as a tool by local communities rather than large outside interests. However, the results are a direct reflection of the motivation behind the project. Since these motivations are often mixed it follows that the results are often mixed too.
The following article was originally published by USAID, an organization that helps fund various ecotourism projects in many developing nations.
Win Win Approaches to Development and the Environment, Ecotourism and Biodiversity Conservation.
Center for Development Information and Evaluation
Whether called nature tourism or ecotourism, recreational and educational travel based on natural attractions is a promising means of advancing social, economic, and environmental objectives in developing countries. It offers countries new opportunities for small-enterprise investment and employment and increases the national stake in protecting their biological resources. However, making ecotourism a positive economic and environmental tool requires policies that foster responsible nature tourism development, broad-based and active local participation in its benefits, and conservation of developing countries’ biological heritage.
The Problem
Forest and marine habitats are being destroyed and some of the wildlife they contain is being driven to extinction under the pressures of hunting, logging, agriculture, and fishing. Where areas have been officially reserved for nature conservation, many developing country governments lack sufficient funds to manage and protect them. These areas are being destroyed because they are not fully valued for their role as nature’s genetic reservoirs of the world’s biological resources.
The Win Win Solution
A recent USAID evaluation has identified ecotourism as an enterprise with potential positive contributions to the conservation of endangered biological resources. (See Synthesis Report Stemming the Loss of Biological Diversity: An Assessment of USAID Support for Protected-Area Management, July 1995). Contributions of ecotourism include raising local awareness about the value of biological resources, increasing local participation in the benefits of biodiversity conservation (through new sources of jobs and incomes), and generating revenues toward conservation of biologically rich areas.
Wildlife and its habitats in developing countries are becoming increasingly popular attractions for international tourism. Many of the richest areas, biologically, are in the developing world. Growing numbers of ecotourists are flocking to the mountains of Nepal and Madagascar, the tropical forests of Costa Rica and Thailand, and the beaches of Belize and Sri Lanka. Nature tourists bring with them money to spend, money that creates jobs and incomes for households and communities in and around national parks and other protected areas. Ecotourism enterprises tour agencies and guide services, lodges and private reserves as well as such satellite activities as crafts industries and transportation and food services, also generate revenues and foreign exchange. Governments can use this income in operating and protecting natural habitats.
By recognizing the importance of protecting biological diversity, ecotourism is raising appreciation for biological resources and leading to better conservation practices by developing country populations. It must of course be properly regulated and managed to protect against adverse environmental and cultural effects that can come with overbuilding of tourist facilities and influx of populations around fragile ecosystems. Assuming such oversight, nature tourism can benefit both the environment and economic development.
The Role of USAID
USAID supports nature-based tourism activities as part of its biodiversity conservation programs in more than a dozen countries worldwide. The Agency’s ecotourism activities include support for developing national park systems, demarcating and equipping new national parks, recruiting and training park staff, and encouraging government reforms that promote regulated investments in private lodging, guide service, and other tourism ventures.
The Agency’s involvement is recent, beginning in the mid-1980s, and the effect of these activities is only starting to emerge. USAID biodiversity conservation programs have demonstrated that potential local resistance to setting aside forest and fishing areas for conservation can often be softened by employment and income-producing opportunities ecotourism can generate.
In Costa Rica, Jamaica, and Sri Lanka, USAID support led to the creation of entirely new wildlife parks that have begun to spawn tourism facilities around them. Tourist demand for food, lodging, souvenirs, educational materials, and guide and transportation services stimulates local investment, employment, and incomes. Costa Rica has introduced revenue retention arrangements to keep earnings from entrance fees for park operations; it awards contracts to local communities to operate food and souvenir concessions as a means of building local involvement in and commitment to park conservation. Costa Rica has also included a variable park entrance fee structure (charging higher fees to international tourists than to local visitors) to increase revenues.
In Nepal, Madagascar, and Thailand, USAID has supported integrated conservation and development activities to promote new livelihoods including nature tourism based employment as alternatives to encroaching into protected national parks for hunting, logging, and farming. Engagement of local people in planning and conducting ecotourism activities has generated a new group of stakeholders with a vested interest in protecting parks. The new nature jobs depend on it.
USAID’s Central American Paseo Pantera ("Panther Walk") project has helped establish national nature tourism councils in Guatemala and Honduras to involve local communities and tourism enterprises. The councils also enlist international conservation organizations as advisers to promote green, self-sustaining tourism activities.
In 1989 the Agency began a Parks in Peril project to improve management of 20 parks in Latin America and the Caribbean. The project also seeks to enhance recreational and educational use of the parks. For example, in Bolivia, Parks in Peril is working through a U.S. environmental nongovernment organization (NGO) to assist a Bolivian NGO in providing nature tourism packages in two national parks. The project has helped create jobs for tour guides, park rangers, educators, and the like in several countries in the region.
These experiences suggest that ecotourism can be a constructive component of strategies to promote, at the same time, both environmental protection and development of private enterprise. USAID can help promote nature tourism in a way that maximizes its contribution to both the economies and the ecologies of developing countries. Specifically, USAID, other donors, NGOs, and developing country governments can work together to:
1. Identify and mobilize funding for potential private nature tourism investments. Ecotourism enterprises, like most business ventures, need operating capital. USAID and other donors can help identify promising funding sources.
2. Formulate fiscal policies to promote nature tourism and to maximize its economic and environmental benefits. USAID can encourage public policies (such as visitor fees, regulations for tourism operations, and investment incentives and land-use zones for tourist facilities) that promote environmentally sound tourism as well as community involvement in providing services and products such as guides, lodging, transport, and crafts.
3. Encourage international exchange of information and know-how about nature tourism opportunities and operations. USAID can foster participation by developing country public agencies and private service providers in international nature tourism associations that can help them, through technical and management training, to meetthe needs and interests of international and domestic nature tourists.
4. Monitor and certify the performance of ecotourism activities. USAID can support emerging international movements aimed at promoting "green tourism." Green tourism takes ecotourism a step further, promoting environmentally responsible tourist operations that conserve energy, recycle waste, and instruct staff and tourists on proper behavior in parks and protected areas.
5. Fund research on ecotourism’s developmental and environmental impact. Information is needed to demonstrate to decision-makers the economic contributions nature tourism can make. Better understanding of the impact of ecotourism (such as in resort development) is needed to regulate and enforce against environmentally damaging investments.
Outstanding Issues:
Risk: Unregulated, nature tourism can damage the environment and corrode local cultures. Pollution from runaway resort and hotel development around fragile park areas in Costa Rica, Nepal, and Thailand exemplifies poorly managed tourism activity.
Distribution of benefits: Where international travel and resort chains or urban investors control the tourism industry, the local economic effect of ecotourism may be reduced. Early studies of ecotourism expenditures suggest that in such cases not much perhaps 20 to 30 cents of the tourist dollar stays in the national economy; even less reaches local communities.
Perceptions: Developing countries fear that their parks and protected areas will become playgrounds for international tourists, with the land reserved for conservation and no longer available for farming to feed and employ their growing populations.
Lack of information: More and better information is need about the actual and potential economic contributions of nature tourism ventures and practices. Inclusion of visits to natural attractions as part of regular recreational tourism needs to be explored along with "purer" forms of nature tourism and travel
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February 28th, 2010 at 10:26 am
give shelle a 10 for almost completing your homework.
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