Ecotourism essentially means
ecological tourism, where ecological has both environmental and
social connotations. It is defined both as a concept / tourism
movement and as a tourism sector. Born in its current form in the
late 1980s, Ecotourism came of age in 2002, when the United
Nations celebrated the "International Year of Ecotourism". The
International Ecotourism Society defines ecotourism as
"responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the
environment and improves the well-being of local people". However,
this is a vibrant, new movement and there are various definitions.
Hoteles
Many global environmental organizations and aid agencies favor
ecotourism as a vehicle to sustainable development.
For many countries, ecotourism is not so much seen as a marginal
activity intended to finance protection of the environment than as
a major sector of national economy and as a means of getting
currencies. For example, in countries such as Kenya,
Ecuador,
Mexico, Nepal,
Costa Rica and Madagascar,
ecotourism represents a significant chunk of foreign revenue.
Puerto
Rico Dominican Republic
The concept of ecotourism is widely misunderstood and, in
practice, is often simply used as a marketing tool to promote
tourism that is related to nature. Critics claim that ecotourism
as practiced and abused often consists in placing a hotel in a
splendid landscape, to the detriment of the ecosystem. According
to them, ecotourism must above all sensitize people with the
beauty and the fragility of nature. They condemn some operators as
"green-washing" their operations--that is, using the label of
"ecotourism" and "green-friendly", while behaving in
environmentally irresponsible ways.
Although academics argue about who can be classified as an
eco-tourist, and there is precious little statistical data, some
estimate that more than five million eco-tourists the majority of
the worldwide population come from the United States, with other eco-tourists coming from Europe, Canada and Australia.
Colombia Travel
Peru Travel
Source: From Wikipedia
Spain Travel
Barcelona
Spain
Madrid Spain
