Ecotourism and nature-based tourism

Scroll down for posts that have been tagged with “eco­tour­ism and nature-based tourism”.

Eco­tour­ism is respons­ible travel to nat­ur­al areas that con­serves the envir­on­ment, sus­tains the well-being of the loc­al people, and cre­ates know­ledge and under­stand­ing through inter­pret­a­tion and edu­ca­tion of all involved (vis­it­ors, staff and the vis­ited)” ― Glob­al Eco­tour­ism Net­work, 2016; What is (and what isn’t) eco­tour­ism.

Eco­tour­ism is a type of tour­ism that has a very low impact on the nat­ur­al sur­round­ings. It aims to pro­mote con­ser­va­tion and edu­ca­tion, while provid­ing vis­it­ors with an oppor­tun­ity to exper­i­ence unique nat­ur­al land­scapes and wildlife.

Eco­tour­ism could be though of as a sub-cat­egory of nature-based tour­ism, which the Travel Industry Dic­tion­ary defines as: “Leis­ure travel under­taken largely or solely for the pur­pose of enjoy­ing nat­ur­al attrac­tions and enga­ging in a vari­ety of out­door activ­it­ies.” Nature-based tour­ism includes a wide range of out­door activ­it­ies, such as hik­ing, camp­ing, bird­watch­ing, and wild­life safar­is, that are very much embed­ded with­in nat­ur­al environments.

Both forms of tour­ism focus on explor­ing nat­ur­al envir­on­ments in a sus­tain­able and respons­ible way, with the goal of pre­serving them for future generations.

Eco­tour­ism and nature-based tour­ism are gain­ing pop­ular­ity around the world. They provide oppor­tun­it­ies for trav­el­lers to learn about loc­al eco­sys­tems and appre­ci­ate nat­ur­al beauty. By enga­ging in respons­ible and sus­tain­able tour­ism prac­tices through eco­tour­ism and nature-based activ­it­ies, trav­el­lers can feel that they are pro­tect­ing the envir­on­ment (and sup­port­ing loc­al com­munit­ies). (Both types of tour­ism have the poten­tial to offer sig­ni­fic­ant bene­fits to loc­al com­munit­ies, as they offer incent­ives and oppor­tun­it­ies for loc­als to con­serve their nat­ur­al resources for a sus­tain­able eco­nom­ic benefit.)

Tags are inform­al; an after­thought to con­tent cre­ation. The “Good Tour­ism” Blog nev­er gets bogged down with tag­ging accur­acy or con­sist­ency. Feel free to com­ment on any post you think has been incor­rectly or insuf­fi­ciently tagged. “GT” encour­ages good-faith debate and dis­cus­sion and appre­ci­ates help­ful feedback.

Community-based tourism for urban & rural development in sub-Saharan Africa


CABI Tourism Cases on community-based tourism development in sub-Saharan Africa

CABI Tour­ism Cases presents suc­cesses, poten­tials, and chal­lenges of com­munity-based tour­ism and hos­pit­al­ity for urb­an and rur­al devel­op­ment in sub-Saha­ran Africa. The tour­ism industry has become one of the key socio-eco­nom­ic sec­tors of sub-Saha­ran Africa. In the last few dec­ades, the tour­ism industry in most sub-Saha­ran Afric­an coun­tries has sur­passed most oth­er eco­nom­ic sec­tors in terms of gen­er­at­ing busi­ness oppor­tun­it­ies, for­eign exchange earn­ings, and employ­ment prospects. 

Read More Community-based tourism for urban & rural development in sub-Saharan Africa

Is gorilla-friendly conservation compatible with local communities and tourism?

September 21, 2023

Gorilla-friendly policy and practice played a part in the arrival of 'Jijuka' ('enlightenment'), who was named during Rwanda's 19th Kwita Izina in 2023 by Sol Campbell.

It can be dif­fi­cult to find a bal­ance between spe­cies con­ser­va­tion and the needs and aspir­a­tions of our own spe­cies.  In this “Good Tour­ism” Insight, Sheil­lah Mun­sabe of the Wild­life Friendly Enter­prise Net­work describes a gor­illa-friendly mod­el for con­ser­va­tion, respons­ible tour­ism, and improved com­munity live­li­hoods. As we become more glob­al­ised, the respons­ib­il­ity for pro­tect­ing Earth’s […]

Read More Is gorilla-friendly conservation compatible with local communities and tourism?

Rwanda names baby mountain gorillas, celebrates conservation & ecotourism


19th Kwita Izina gorilla naming ceremony in Rwanda - Meet Mukundwa, Teta's son

The world has met in Kinigi, Musan­ze at the foot­hills of Rwanda’s Vol­ca­noes Nation­al Park to name 23 baby moun­tain gor­il­las in a glob­al cel­eb­ra­tion of con­ser­va­tion and com­munity-led efforts to pro­tect their hab­it­at.  Graced by HE the First Lady of Rwanda, Jean­nette Kagame, the 19th Kwita Izina Gor­illa Nam­ing Cere­mony, Septem­ber 1, brought together […]

Read More Rwanda names baby mountain gorillas, celebrates conservation & ecotourism

Ecotourism for the masses, not the elite classes!

June 6, 2023
2 Comments

Ecotourism for the masses. Is Central Park, New York, an example? Image by Harry Gillen (CC0) via Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/vMLfRVkWItI

‘Eco­tour­ism for the masses, not the elite classes!’ is a slo­gan you’re unlikely to hear at a protest any time soon.  Sudip­ta Sarkar argues for an urb­an eco­tour­ism for the masses that looks far bey­ond West­ern debates for inspir­a­tion. It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight ini­ti­ated by Tourism’s Hori­zon, a “GT” Insight Part­ner. [You too can write […]

Read More Ecotourism for the masses, not the elite classes!

Beyond ‘voluntourism’: Can you help Rwanda with sustainable tourism and community development?


Can you help Red Rocks with sustainable tourism and community development in Rwanda?

Drip­ping with sus­tain­able tour­ism and com­munity devel­op­ment poten­tial, the Vol­ca­noes Nation­al Park in north­west­ern Rwanda, along with the Vir­unga Park in the Demo­crat­ic Repub­lic of Congo (DRC) and the Bwindi Park in Uganda, make up the fam­ous Vir­unga Mas­sif whose eight vol­ca­noes are the only hab­it­at in the world for moun­tain gor­il­las. In Rwanda, Volcanoes […]

Read More Beyond ‘voluntourism’: Can you help Rwanda with sustainable tourism and community development?

Ecotourism experiences refreshed for 2023 at Anurak Community Lodge, Thailand


Anurak Trail - Ecotourism experiences refreshed for 2023 at Anurak Community Lodge in Thailand. Image supplied by Anurak.

Lever­aging its stun­ning loc­a­tion at the edge of the biod­iversity hot­spot of Khao Sok Nation­al Park in Thai­l­and, Anurak Com­munity Lodge is offer­ing its nature-lov­ing guests refreshed eco­tour­ism activ­it­ies.  Gen­er­al Man­ager Trav­is Clark reveals what vis­it­ors can look for­ward to in the new year.  As 2022 slips into 2023, down in the south of Thai­l­and, Anurak […]

Read More Ecotourism experiences refreshed for 2023 at Anurak Community Lodge, Thailand