Background
History of Eco-tourism
"From most articles that were available, the history if the tourism industry before it became eco-tourism is very similar. From the start of the tourisms’ creation, it was considered to be a clean industry with having a very little impact on the environment. After a couple of years, the leaders of the countries began to notice the negative impacts of tourism and realized the need for change. The change do not consist of getting rid of the tourism in their country, but to conserve the environment they are in by creating protection laws for the animals, the trees, the water and the air. Their reason of keeping tourism in their country is because it brings awareness to the people traveling there and to the residents, it provides employment to the local community, and also it acts as an alternative to other damaging activities such as “mining, wood collection, hunting, burn agriculture” --Duimm and Caalders
The term eco-tourism has been around since the 19th century. The first physical display of ecotourism are national parks, which are large areas of land that are preserved with the expectation of minimal impact from recreation and tourism. In 1965 eco-development appeared for the purpose of changing the way land was used. The tourism industry took the idea of travel including any aspect of nature as the definition of eco-tourism As a result, they developed a way to attract tourists in new areas that was away from the beaches, museums and cities.
Using biodiversity as a policy concept was a big success in the 20th century. In 1992 during the “Rio Earth Summit”: “the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil” (Duim and Caalders 743), there were agreements made to work toward sustainable development that was written down in Agenda 21. Since then, over 175 countries are all working to implement the agreements made at the convention.
In the 1990’s, two organizations were formed after noticing the potential profit that could come from eco-tourism. Their names are the International Eco-tourism Society (TIES) and the Eco-tourism Society (TES).
Definition of Eco-tourism
There is no one definition of eco-tourism because of the rapid use of the term in advertisement. Every country creates their own definition that protects the reputation of the tourism industry. For example, the Travel Industry Associations of Canada (TIAC) uses the following definition: “Eco-tourism is a segment of sustainable tourism that offers experiences that enable visitors to discover natural areas while preserving their integrity, and to understand, through interpretation and education, the natural and cultural sense of place” (Self 112).
Researchers that the authors made reference to throughout the article, came up with six principles of eco-tourism: 1)Environmental Conservation, 2) Cultural Integrity, 3) Education, 4) Contributes to the Local Economy and Communities, 5) Generate Money to Finance Conservation, and lastly 5) Eco-tourism vs. Nature Tourism.
"From most articles that were available, the history if the tourism industry before it became eco-tourism is very similar. From the start of the tourisms’ creation, it was considered to be a clean industry with having a very little impact on the environment. After a couple of years, the leaders of the countries began to notice the negative impacts of tourism and realized the need for change. The change do not consist of getting rid of the tourism in their country, but to conserve the environment they are in by creating protection laws for the animals, the trees, the water and the air. Their reason of keeping tourism in their country is because it brings awareness to the people traveling there and to the residents, it provides employment to the local community, and also it acts as an alternative to other damaging activities such as “mining, wood collection, hunting, burn agriculture” --Duimm and Caalders
The term eco-tourism has been around since the 19th century. The first physical display of ecotourism are national parks, which are large areas of land that are preserved with the expectation of minimal impact from recreation and tourism. In 1965 eco-development appeared for the purpose of changing the way land was used. The tourism industry took the idea of travel including any aspect of nature as the definition of eco-tourism As a result, they developed a way to attract tourists in new areas that was away from the beaches, museums and cities.
Using biodiversity as a policy concept was a big success in the 20th century. In 1992 during the “Rio Earth Summit”: “the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil” (Duim and Caalders 743), there were agreements made to work toward sustainable development that was written down in Agenda 21. Since then, over 175 countries are all working to implement the agreements made at the convention.
In the 1990’s, two organizations were formed after noticing the potential profit that could come from eco-tourism. Their names are the International Eco-tourism Society (TIES) and the Eco-tourism Society (TES).
Definition of Eco-tourism
There is no one definition of eco-tourism because of the rapid use of the term in advertisement. Every country creates their own definition that protects the reputation of the tourism industry. For example, the Travel Industry Associations of Canada (TIAC) uses the following definition: “Eco-tourism is a segment of sustainable tourism that offers experiences that enable visitors to discover natural areas while preserving their integrity, and to understand, through interpretation and education, the natural and cultural sense of place” (Self 112).
Researchers that the authors made reference to throughout the article, came up with six principles of eco-tourism: 1)Environmental Conservation, 2) Cultural Integrity, 3) Education, 4) Contributes to the Local Economy and Communities, 5) Generate Money to Finance Conservation, and lastly 5) Eco-tourism vs. Nature Tourism.