Business or leisure? Economic development and resource protection—Concepts and practices in sustainable ecotourism

Ecotourism has proven to be an effective concept in the sustainable utilization of natural resources and development of various communities. Often regarded as an economic justification for resource conservation, ecotourism is providing a concept that is easily understood and appreciated by local communities and stakeholders.However, ecotourism is still a business methodology that can be subjected to misunderstanding, abuse and misrepresentation which could also lead to negative environmental and sociocultural impacts.Thus, environmental concepts coupled with social, cultural, and economic considerations should be developed and practiced by institutions wishing to utilize ecotourism as a conservation tool. These concepts would include optimizing the environmental and socioeconomic benefits while at the same time, prevent or minimize compromising the ecological and social values in the destinations. Some of the often-cited concepts include the determination of carrying capacity and the prevention of economic leakage supposedly brought in by the tourism industry. Also introduced in the paper is the concept of the firewalls of ecotourism wherein the introduction of different protection and conservation components is instituted in the operation of ecotourism sites.Ecotourism has been helping save whales, dolphins, birds, turtles and fragile ecosystems. This is made possible by the fact that ecotourism provides the tangible economic aspect of conservation. However, the same recreation industry can also undo the gains of true ecotourism development through irresponsible tourism development and lack of conceptual frameworks to help guide the destination managers. To help drive sustainable resource utilization through ecotourism, there is a consistent need to develop and apply concepts and practices designed to help protect the resources from the potential impacts of the travel industry.