Ecotourism as a Product of Mass Tourism - Case Study Example

Ecotourism Thesis: ecotourism as a product of mass tourism is focused on nature and land preservation, as well as information awareness of the world’s society about indigenous nature and lands. Introduction A rapidly growing tourism industry has been quickly developed under the influence of information technologies and development of countries’ infrastructures. In accordance with the World Tourism Organization: “at the start of die new millennium, tourism is firmly established as the number one industry in many countries and the fastest-growing economic sector in terms of foreign exchange earnings and job creation" (Parks and Allen, 2009). Moreover, less developed countries want to join tourism fever and appeal for investors to get money to their countries. This is where the roots of ecotourism come from. Though ecotourism is rather new field of human activity and it has not still been discovered if it is an aspect of mass tourism or an independent phenomenon of human activity. The interest of the world’s community to indigenous cultures and remote lands predict a great success to ecotourism. Further research is focused on considering ecotourism as aspect of nature based tourism. People are anxious about overall industrialization and technocratic society. They want to overcome their alienation from nature. Ecotourism is a perfect alternative to mass tourism that “frequently led to resource depletion and negative impacts on the values of local people and their cultural heritage. Pollution and over use, which degraded the beauty of many of the sites, became common occurrences” (Parks and Allen, 2009). Moreover, an important role of ecotourism can be explained by its main advantage – to preserve indigenous nature and remote land. Therefore, a public attention to nature preservation is determined in the framework of recycling programs, emissions reduction laws and regulations and development of nature preservation programs on the global level. Ecotourism: literature review Ecotourism is an interesting sphere of human activity. Many researches and scientists are focused on considering the nature of ecotourism and either correlate it or contrast it to natural tourism or tourism as such. These are not problems in the field of terminology only. The root of the problem lies deep inside the appearance of ecotourism as a separate field (Donohoe & Needham, 2006). The term ecotourism appeared in the academic literature in the middle of 80s. Currently, it is a specific field of studies in tourism and a separate sphere of activity that is differentiated from tourism as such. Sometimes ecotourism is perceived in the framework of an alternative tourism (Blamey, 1997; 2001). Therefore, conventional mass tourism may be interpreted as an external environment for ecotourism development. The main part of ecotourism niche is set by different private sector businesses (ecotour operators) and corresponding alternative attractions (e.g. cableways and submarines that make an access to different inaccessible easier). Thus, there is a need for alternative operators and firms mediating ecotourism (Donohoe & Needham, 2006). A level of businesses involved in ecotourism ranges from private small businesses to large transnational corporations. Another important and wide-spread model of ecotourism is community-based model of service provision in this sphere (Donohoe & Needham, 2006). A specific nature of ecotourism raises specific issues for ecotourism operators’ considerations. These are accessibility and low costs of natural resources. From different perspectives, scientists and researchers have found different peculiarities of ecotourism development. In accordance with Donohoe & Needham (2006), the example of South African ecotourism supports the fact that cooperation of ecotourism operators with small communities is a perfect way to reach an enormous success in this sphere of activity. Further on, it is underlined that the more competitive clusters within ecotourism exist, the more successful this sphere is (Blamey, 2001). The conclusion of the same nature was reached by Silva and McDill (2004) and it was underlined that in case mutual misunderstanding between tour operators and managers exist, ecotourism is then developed under the influence of the most active developing factors (Donohoe & Needham, 2006). From the scientific perspective, the development of ecotourism is beneficial in comparison with ecotourism causes less negative impact on natural areas. Moreover, another advantage of ecotourism is its conservational and developmental function. As it is underlined in the study conducted by Charnley (2005): “In theory, by distributing some of the benefits of tourism to local people, they will have incentive to protect those natural areas that draw tourists, be more likely to support the presence of protected areas in their midst that otherwise restrict their access to land and resources, and embrace behaviors and attitudes that support conservation” (Charnley 2005, p. 79). Thus, the main advantage and differencing feature of ecotourism is nature conservation and preservation. Small communities and underdeveloped countries would attract attention of the world’s society to indigenous nature and virgin land. Ecotourism as an aspect of mass tourism Still, it is often argued that ecotourism can be an unquestionable alternative for mass tourism and can exist beyond the limits of mass tourism. This claim is supported by the argument that people should not forget about the real essence of ecotourism, i. e. nature enjoinment. There are even criteria relevant to ecotourism only. These are: natural areas visitation; efficient contribution to conservation; economic and political advantages and support of the communities providing ecotourism opportunity; community culture preservation and protection; information and knowledge gaining about communities providing public with ecotourism (Charnley 2005, p. 79). Unfortunately, it is often underlined that ecotourism suffers from a lack of legitimate support from the governments. Nevertheless, from a scientific perspective, ecotourism was acclaimed in numerous books and journals. The nature of ecotourism as a separate field of tourism has not proven to the fullest extent yet. This fact can be explained by inefficient investments by government in ecotourism. A legal status of lands where ecotourism takes place is poorly invested in the majority of cases. While there is no legal rights of lands where ecotourism can exist, communities are unable to propagate and promote ecotourism in their lands. Resources of land subjected to ecotourism should be under control of different communities. On the micro-and macro-levels of ecotourism, such issues as segmentation and further expansion should be considered in relation to any appropriate kind of ecotourism. For example, it is necessary to evaluate a potential of a dangerous spread of fishing or hunting during ecotourism that would make mass tourism equal to ecotourism. Therefore, it is relevant to stick to exact limits between ecotourism and mass tourism. Otherwise jurisdictional challenges, marketing complexities and product development problems may occur (Fennell & Dowling, 2003). An independent scientific paradigm of ecotourism should be also relevantly regulated and there is a need to differentiate between wildlife species research within ecotourism context; socio-cultural impacts investigation with respect to community-based models; to consider econometrically different aspects of the incentive effect and to focus on ethical issues of ecotourism (Fennell & Dowling, 2003). The strategic aspects of ecotourism should be correlated with the concerns of governmental institutions. Moreover, community-based ecotourism should meet social and ecological issues. External influence on community-based ecotourism should be facilitated. Community-based ecotourism is often considered in socio-cultural context. The industrial or marketing aspect is less considered. Therefore, it means that ecotourism is still considered to be an area of human activity developed for the needs of local communities. Nevertheless, it is necessary to focus on economic, political and marketing aspect of ecotourism. Academic aspect of ecotourism is being developed it is even proven by the existence of the Journal of Ecotourism. Ecotourism practitioners and decision makers are being involved in the development of ecotourism literature. Therefore, there is a need to combine both academic and non-academic ecotourism communities (Fennell & Dowling, 2003). As far as we can see, the limits between mass tourism and ecotourism are blurred. In the case study on the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania, Charnley (2005) claims that it is possible to trace evolution of mass tourism into ecotourism. With this regard, local people would benefit from essential development of ecotourism. Thus, we agree with the researcher and consider ecotourism as an aspect of mass tourism. It is a specific sphere of recreation and attempts to preserve nature and get acquainted with the culture of indigenous communities. Moreover, it is relevant to develop common principles of ecotourism in order to support its independent existence in the context of mass tourism. The first condition is active participation of local based communities in the process of ecotourism development. Another aspect of ecotourism is to guarantee land preservation and improve the process of decision making in ecotourism on behalf of communities that are directly involved in the process of ecotourism development (Blangy & Mehta, 2006). Economic aspect of ecotourism plays very important role for further development of this sphere of human activity. The political context of ecotourism is of crucial importance, otherwise ecotourism cannot gain any other benefits either economic or social. Therefore, ecotourism is outlined as a sphere of recreational activity in terms of mass tourism. There are necessary economic, political and social factors influencing on successful development of ecotourism. Conclusion Though ecotourism is rather new field of human activity and it has not still been discovered if it is an aspect of mass tourism or an independent phenomenon of human activity. The interest of the world’s community to indigenous cultures and remote lands predict a great success to ecotourism. Ecotourism is an aspect of mass tourism. It is necessary to develop and promote ecotourism and mass tourism development in the name of cultures and sites preservation. It may be predicted that mass tourism would satisfy the needs of travelers who want to spend their costs on a short-time rest. “Ecotourism has a place and a contribution to make in preserving sites and cultures. Mass tourism and ecotourism will continue coexisting and growing as popular vacation outlets. Mass tourism will continue to satisfy the needs of the time and cost sensitive travelers who want to escape for a little while” (Blangy & Mehta, 2006). Conventional mass tourism may be interpreted as an external environment for ecotourism development. The main part of ecotourism niche is set by different private sector businesses (ecotour operators) and corresponding alternative attractions A rapidly growing tourism industry has been quickly developed under the influence of information technologies and development of countries’ infrastructures. Community-based ecotourism is often considered in socio-cultural context. The industrial or marketing aspect is less considered. Therefore, it means that ecotourism is still considered to be an area of human activity developed for the needs of local communities. Ecotourism has no less prospects and its main goal to preserve nature. Mass tourism industry is less focused on “green up” processes. The cultural and environmental aspects of ecotourism as well as different aspects of mass tourism should be well-regulated on governmental level. A public attention and active involvement of communities in ecotourism would increase the interest of scientists in this sphere and thus would contribute to development of ecotourism as academic discipline. Works cited 1. Blamey, R., 1997. Ecotourism: The search for an operational definition. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 5, pp. 109–130. 2. Blamey, R., 2001. Principles of ecotourism. In D. Weaver (Ed.), Encyclopedia of ecotourism (pp. 5–22). Wallingford, UK: CAB International. 3. Blangy, S., & Mehta, H., 2006. Ecotourism and ecological restoration. Journal for Nature Conservation, 14, pp. 233–236. 4. Charnley, S., 2005. From Nature Tourism to Ecotourism? The Case of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania. Human Organization 64 (1), p. 75+. 5. Donohoe, H., & Needham, R., 2006. Ecotourism: The evolving contemporary definition. Journal of Ecotourism, 5, pp. 192–210. 6. Fennell, D., & Dowling, R. (Eds.), 2003. Ecotourism policy and planning. Wallingford, UK: CABI. 7. Fennell, D., 1999. Ecotourism: An introduction. 1st ed. London: Routledge. 8. Fennell, D., 2002. The Canadian ecotourist in Costa Rica: Ten years down the road. International Journal of Sustainable Development, 5, pp. 282–295. 9. Fennell, D., 2003. Ecotourism: An introduction. 2nd ed. London: Routledge. 10. Parks, T.H. & Allen, C., 2009. The Development of a Framework for Studying Ecotourism. International Journal of Management 26 (1), p. 89+. Read More