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.

Losing Lutruwita: Tourism troubles in Tasmania’s World Heritage wilderness

March 9, 2021

At the centre of a controversy is Halls Island on Lake Malbena in the middle of Walls of Jerusalem National Park, which is part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, Tasmania, Australia. Image by Rob Blakers (c) supplied by Tom Allen of the Wilderness Society Tasmania.At the centre of a controversy is Halls Island on Lake Malbena in the middle of Walls of Jerusalem National Park, which is part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, Tasmania, Australia. Image by Rob Blakers (c) supplied by Tom Allen of the Wilderness Society Tasmania.

The World Her­it­age wil­der­ness of Lut­ruwita (the palawa kani name for the island of Tas­mania) is under threat from col­lu­sion between state gov­ern­ment and private tour­ism interests, accord­ing to Tom Allen. The Wil­der­ness Soci­ety cam­paign man­ager reck­ons tour­ism does best when it com­ple­ments not com­prom­ises nat­ur­al val­ues. It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight. Upon sign­ing the […]

Read More Losing Lutruwita: Tourism troubles in Tasmania’s World Heritage wilderness

What to keep, change, do in a crisis (and why we should give a sh*t)

February 23, 2021

A Live Ningaloo tour group encounters humpback whales. Photo: Ningaloo Aviation & Jacob Hill supplied by Live Ningaloo.

Sonia Beck­with’s tiny Aus­trali­an eco­tour­ism oper­a­tion Live Nin­ga­loo faced an exist­en­tial crisis in 2020, like so many travel & tour­ism busi­nesses glob­ally did (and still do). In this “Good Tour­ism” Insight, her second, Ms Beck­with shares the value of caring — a lot! — and how she har­nesses and sus­tains it. When my part­ner and I foun­ded our micro tourism […]

Read More What to keep, change, do in a crisis (and why we should give a sh*t)

When the odds are against you: How a small tour operator survived 2020

January 14, 2021
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Turtle, Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia, Australia. Image by Chris Jansen supplied by Live Ningaloo.

From the excit­ing pro­spect of a break­out sea­son to the exist­en­tial threat of bank­ruptcy, 2020 was a tur­bu­lent year for small Aus­trali­an eco-tour oper­at­or Live Nin­ga­loo. In this “Good Tour­ism” Insight, Sonia Beck­with shares how she and her part­ner fought to keep their eco­tour­ism dreams alive. In Decem­ber 2019 we pre­dicted that 2020 would be […]

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The effects of COVID-19 lockdowns on wildlife and wildlife tourism

January 12, 2021
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A bold and curious kookaburra at a picnic area in Brisbane, Australia. Image by Ronda J Green.

COVID-19 lock­downs have not only impacted travel & tour­ism, includ­ing wild­life tour­ism, but also wild­life itself. As a research eco­lo­gist, con­ser­va­tion­ist, eco-tour pro­pri­et­or, and chair of Wild­life Tour­ism Aus­tralia, Ronda J Green is inter­ested in all aspects of that. In this “Good Tour­ism” Insight, Dr Green sum­mar­ises the effects coronavir­us lock­downs have had on wildlife […]

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Should it all be ecotourism? Reimagining travel & tourism in 2021

January 7, 2021
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Image from Edgewalkers' Boranup Walking Retreat in Margaret River, Western Australia. Source: https://edgewalkers.com.au/walking-creativity-retreat

While road-trip­ping across West­ern Aus­tralia in 2020, Erika Jac­ob­son of boutique eco-tour out­fit Edge­walk­ers “reima­gined” what travel & tour­ism might be like in 2021 if all stake­hold­ers were of like mind. Dr Jac­ob­son encour­ages us to reima­gine with her in this “Good Tour­ism” Insight. Cer­tain that we would not be tak­ing our guests over­seas in […]

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A little luxury: What travellers want post-COVID & how to prepare your tour business

January 5, 2021

Abstract art by 8926 via Pixabay https://pixabay.com/illustrations/texture-abstract-structure-color-1909992/ used on the "Good Tourism" Insight post "A little luxury: What travellers want post-COVID & how to prepare your tour business"

When travel & tour­ism inev­it­ably opens up again in your part of the world (if it has­n’t already) for domest­ic and/or inter­na­tion­al trav­el­lers, are you pre­pared to give them what they want? Aus­trali­an tour oper­at­or entre­pren­eur Grant Char­les­worth shares his “Good Tour­ism” Insight into how he’s pre­par­ing his Aus­trali­an Lux­ury Escapes. A lot has changed […]

Read More A little luxury: What travellers want post-COVID & how to prepare your tour business