What is meant by the term ecotourism and what are the major limitations of this type of tourism?

Ecotourism is among the most popular forms of alternative tourism, it involves purposeful travel to natural areas to understand the cultural and natural history of the environment. Ecotourism itself is difficult to define but it consists of three main elements. The primary aim of eco-tourism should be the conservation of the environment, as this is the most likely reason for tourists coming to the area in the first place. Secondly the tourism should encourage learning and encourage understanding about the natural habitat and the environment. Thirdly the tourism should be environmentally, culturally and economically, sustainable, as without this the industry will destroy itself and damage the surrounding area. Its theses three combined factors that define an eco-tourism attraction. The major limitations of this kind of tourism are carrying capacity and the number of visitors. The type of tourist who seeks an authentic allocentric experience tends to be crowd-sensitive and expect small numbers. Furthermore the attractive resources themselves are often fragile and sensitive to impacts (e. . coral reefs), and have a low carrying capacity. Similar characteristics apply to many of the traditional cultures and their environments. The most obvious way to control visitor numbers and impacts and so sustain the quality of both the resource and the experience is through remoteness and inaccessibility. Although this leads to criticism of the industry, implying that it is only for the rich or the privileged and it also means that the industry is very small and doesn't produce a huge income unlike mass tourism. Another problem with eco-tourism is that international companies use the ‘eco' label as a marketing ploy rather than as an indication of a genuine policy of ‘responsible tourism' and sustainability. Eco-tourism is also very difficult to set up, as it requires a great deal of planning to ensure that it will maintain its sustainability throughout its lifespan. It is very difficult and costly to maintain on eco-tourism facility as it is so very fragile and so requires a great deal more effort than mass tourism. It is also very important that the locals are involved in the eco-tourism as without them it is very hard to maintain the facility and the locals also help to improve conservation in the area. Using specific examples examine the role of tourism as a development strategy. The Impact of tourism is very significant in terms of a development strategy. The Gambia is using tourism as a development strategy, and at present 3000 people are directly employed in tourism, which makes up 10% of the wage earners. Unfortunately 50% of all the employment is part time and seasonal so employees are mostly casual workers with no protection such as healthcare or insurance and they only get paid the very minimum wage. The Gambia has a very desirable climate especially in the winter moths, which along with the fact that there is no time difference between there and the UK makes it a very popular tourist destination. The tourism industry in the Gambia consists mainly of foreign owned resorts, these are encouraged by tax-free imports, no tax on first five years profit and the expansion of the Yundun airport, to provide international trade and visitors. These foreign companies help the tourism industry to prosper yet don't put much back into the local economy or local culture. In fact only 23% of all the profits from tourism in The Gambia go to the destination country due to leakage of wealth. Also due to the large numbers of tourists and facilities with a relatively small local population means that The Gambia has to import agricultural and specialised foodstuffs and spend $105 million a year on these foods. Tourism in the Gambia is heavily concentrated in the Banjul area on the western coast, this means that this area gets much better services and resources than the surrounding area. This creates a poorer periphery area and growing disparities of wealth and opportunity. The high level of development in the tourist areas has lead to rural to urban migration to these particular areas leaving the rural areas impoverished and without a young workforce. This kind of dependency on tourism has created a lot of debt, which the country may be unable to pay back unless the tourism industry is sustainable and keeps producing profits. The tourism industry in the Gambia is very vulnerable to outside impacts. For example there is social damage to the existing culture because of the impact of tourists, particularly due to the conflicts of the strict Muslim religion and the tourists. Also children now see begging as an easy source of income and so become less interested in education and their traditional culture. Overall Tourism is helping the development of The Gambia although it must be kept sustainable or it will destroy the environment and destroy the industry. Belize also uses tourism as a development strategy. Belize is located within Central America just south of Mexico on the east coast. Belize gained independence in 1981 and has a relatively small population of only 180,000. There is very little pressure for development due to the low population and huge areas of natural and unspoilt rainforest, mangroves and barrier reefs. Belize is the American equivalent of what Spain is to the British relatively close and provides tropical conditions. There are two types of tourism used in Belize, mass tourism and eco-tourism. The main example of mass tourism is the Cancun Resort, which was a purpose built tourist enclave, constructed on an island out in the lagoon. This resort offered an entirely psychocentric experience with little contact with the indigenous population and an almost entirely internationalised resort. This resort resulted in a very high level of economic leakage as most of the profits went to he foreign international chains who owned the hotels. This development offered very little stimulus to economic growth and didn't really help the country to develop. This type of mass tourism has tended to create more problems than financial gains and isn't really sustainable. It has created mass rural to urban migration, which has lead to the construction of a shantytown with no clean water or sewage. Within 30 years much of what the tourists originally wanted to see will be destroyed and is already under serious threat. This is all because the resort wasn't properly planned and wasn't designed to be sustainable. The other type of tourism prominent in Belize is eco-tourism. This tourism involves the conservation of the environment with an educational element while being sustainable. However these schemes are not as economically profitable to the host country as they require more planning resources and maintenance than mass tourism. Yet eco-tourism is used to help countries develop as it is sustainable and can be a long-term economic aid. In Belize there are numerous up and coming resorts. There is a community baboon reserve, the barrier reef and numerous areas of tropical rainforest and mangrove. All of these schemes are involved with the local population and are very allocentric. Although because the carrying capacity of the natural environments is very low, numbers have to be kept down so the facilities are carefully planned. These schemes are much more profitable for the locals as there is n leakage form international companies, and it gives the host country a better understanding of their natural resources and how to conserve and protect it.