Tourism, Development and the Environment - Tourism and Development: Concepts and Issues - page 282

After more than half a century of rapid and continuing growth in inter-
national tourism, there remains scope for great optimism that tourism may
contribute to both sustainable, equitable development and environmental
conservation, something that development initiatives have so often failed to
achieve. Indeed, what is widely claimed to be the fastest growing sector of
tourism and often labelled as ecotourism or similar, is that in which the inter-
linkages between vacation, conservation and development are most apparent.
According to King and Stewart (1996: 293), 'in an idealised model of ecotour-
ism, an integration of conservation and development occurs in which entrepre-
neurs, government agents, and tourists strive to create sustainable relationships
with the environment while improving the welfare of local people'.
Ecotourism is often defined as one of a number of 'sustainable tourism'
concepts, alongside 'green tourism' and 'nature tourism' for example.
According to Croall (1995: 2) ecotourism 'recognises the fragility of the natu-
ral environment, and respects the needs and aspirations of the people that
live in the areas affected'. More specifically, Fennell (1999: 43) defines it as:
a sustainable form of natural resource-based tourism that focuses primar-
ily on experiencing and learning about nature, and which is ethically
managed to be low impact, non-consumptive, and locally oriented . . . It
typically occurs in natural areas, and should contribute to the conserva-
tion or preservation of such areas.
Inevitably, perhaps, interpretation of the ecotourism concept varies. Some
commentators distinguish between 'deep' and 'shallow' ecotourism (Acott
et al. , 1998), others relate it to scientific ecological principles (Tyler & Danger-
field, 1999) or local empowerment (Scheyvens, 1999), whilst yet others focus
upon tourist experiential aspects (Ryan et al. , 2000). Collectively, however,
the emphasis is placed on the integration of environmental conservation,
socio-economic development and tourism. With the pressures bearing down
on many of the world's most precious islands of natural abundance, often
within the poorest of the world's nations, the principle that nature must 'pay
its way' has struck a chord with governments and local communities alike.
The many variants of nature-based tourism have proven their ability to gen-
erate local income, to provide the incentive for conservation over utilisation,
and to meet the multifaceted demands of tourists, governments, NGOs and
commercial operators.
Conclusion
This chapter has explored the concept of sustainability (as distinct from
the sustainable development paradigm) both within the broad context of
development and with specific reference to tourism. As suggested here and