Travel Reference
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wildlife tourism, nature-based tourism, ecotourism and adventure tourism.
In order to meet this market, governments are opening up regions for tour-
ism that have never had visits from tourists before. Price's (1996b) work on
people and tourism in fragile environments focuses on case studies from
mountain regions, savannahs and the Arctic. 'Increases in accessibility -
whether by land, air or sea - may be driven by a government's desire to
develop tourism as a means of increasing national incomes or revitalising
local economies' (Price, 1996a: 2). Not only are these fragile ecosystems
under threat, but they are also home to some of the world's remaining indig-
enous people whose lifestyles are also under threat. More than 5 million
tourist trips visit the Arctic and subarctic each year while more than 40,000
tourists visit Antarctica annually (Hall & Saarinen, 2010). These communi-
ties are facing increasing levels of outside involvement in their communities
and a potential loss of access to resources. The economic rational for indig-
enous tourism development is that it will result in increased economic inde-
pendence along with a higher rate of self-determination and cultural pride
as the shackles of poverty and social welfare are broken (Butler & Hinch,
1996). The second perspective put forward by Butler and Hinch (1996) is
that increased participation by indigenous people in tourism will facilitate
better understanding between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples. The
increased understanding will generate a more equitable relationship between
the two groups. In their revised book in 2012, Butler and Hinch state that
the complexity of the debates continue on whether indigenous tourism is an
economic opportunity or whether it presents a major threat of hegemonic
subjugation and cultural degradation; debates also continue on more opera-
tional issues linked to indigenous tourism.
Ecotourism has become a favoured label for tourism in untouched ecosys-
tems in many parts of the word (Malecki, 1997) and it is in danger of becom-
ing a marketing label. With many of the beautiful natural environments
being located in rural areas of less developed countries where there are often
problems of under-development and poverty, the potential economic benefits
to be gained from ecotourism also mean that there is a potential threat to
conservation of these areas (Holden, 2000). Without strict government con-
trol over development, there is little reason to assume the development cycle
will be any different from other forms of tourism (Holden, 2000). These
strict government controls on the environment may help to protect the envi-
ronment; however, they may reduce the ability of a region to capitalise on its
resources and thereby reduce overall regional development. On the other
hand, if a region pursues tourism to such a degree that there are major nega-
tive impacts on the environment, tourists will no longer want to visit the
area. Recent debates in ecotourism surround certification and standards as
well as whether these efforts lead to green-washing (Haaland & Aas, 2010).
Other challenges associated with opening up these regions to varieties of
tourism such as ecotourism or adventure, not only include a lack of tourism
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