The Realities of Ecotourism Development in Botswana - Responsible Tourism: Critical Issues for Conservation and Development - page 181

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The Realities of Ecotourism
Development in Botswana
Joseph E. Mbaiwa
Introduction
Ecotourism has, since the 1990s, become a buzzword among tourism practition-
ers and those in academia. The term 'ecotourism' was coined by a Mexican
conservationist, Hector Ceballos-Lascarain, in 1983 (Ceballos-Lascurain, 1996).
Despite its global impact, ecotourism as a concept is surrounded by confusion
(Bjork, 2000).This is because different researchers and practitioners have defined
it differently. Dowling (2000) states that between 1993 and 1994, over 30 defini-
tions of ecotourism were created and marketed. Because of its many definitions,
ecotourism has become a subject of controversy among those in academia.
Valentine (1993) and Bjork (2000) state that ecotourism is a fuzzy concept
defined and named in many different ways. However, the theme that runs across
most of the definitions of ecotourism is that which describes ecotourism as
nature-based tourism that includes an educational component, promotes the
socioeconomic well being of local people and is managed on a sustainable basis.
As such, ecotourism implies a tourism industry that is mostly nature-based,
promotes environmental conservation, environmentally friendly tourists and the
socioeconomic well being of the local people. Ecotourism is thus seen as an alter-
native to mass tourism due to its small-scale infrastructure development and its
ability to minimize environmental impacts (Mbaiwa, 2005). This responsibility
also applies to other stakeholders such as tour operators and the government.This
approach to tourism management and environmental conservation contributes to
the ecological sustainability and sustainable tourism in the tourism destination
areas.