Ecotourism

• Description
• Contents

During its formative years, ecotourism was widely embraced as the antithesis of mass tourism because of its promise of achieving sustainability through conservation mindedness, community development, education and learning, and the promotion of nature based activities that were sensitive to both ecological and social systems. The extent to which this promise has been realised is open to debate. While critics argue that ecotourism is really no different than other more invasive forms of tourism - the proverbial wolf in sheep's clothes - supporters observe that these ecological and social systems are far better off because of ecotourism, not in spite of it. If there is one certainty, it is that ecotourism will continue to generate controversy because it challenges the conventional mindset on so many different theoretical and practical levels.

This book continues its tradition of touching on many of the most important questions about the purity and potential of ecotourism in the face of so many competing demands - demands that will not go away because they appear to a function of who we are at the very core.