A Tourism No-No: Why Ecotourism is Bad
If you love the environment, perhaps an idea of yours is to spend a vacation in the wilderness, or a place with natural wonders, such as the Grand Canyon. You are not alone in this, because more and more people like the idea of spending time in an environment free from cars, traffic, and tall buildings. However, while ecotourism was initially invented to help preserve the environment, there are actually a number of reasons why ecotourism is bad.
Reason #1 Why Ecotourism is Bad
The first reason why ecotourism is bad, specifically in woodland areas and areas where animals live, is the element of surprise to the animals. Animals that have lived their entire lives in the forest are not tame, and pose a problem to humans, especially if those humans are carrying food. The presence of humans alternately causes stress to wild animals.
Reason #2 Why Ecotourism is Bad
If you have ever visited a National Park, no doubt you have seen at least a few pieces of litter in different places. No matter how diligent the park rangers can be, sometimes the forest is too big to find every single piece of litter. Not only does litter make the environment look messy, but it also can be hazardous to the animals in the environment. Remember, plastic especially is very hard to destroy and is not biodegradable. It really all has to do with how diligent the tourists themselves are about not littering.
Reason #3 Why Ecotourism is Bad
One of the most prevalent reasons why ecotourism is bad has to do with the structures that are built for various ecotourism events. For example, if a park decides to have a nature walk aspect to it, paths will be cleared and some trees cut down to make way for the paths. Also, in parks, lookout towers are sometimes built in trees. While these structures have a purpose, they cannot help but damage the delicate environment.
For More Information
There are a variety of different ways in which ecotourism can be bad for the environment, and if you want more information there are a variety of different options. First of all, if you have environmentalist groups in your area that are know to oppose ecotourism, be sure to talk to them and see what information they can offer. You can also search the internet for more information, just be aware that opinions differ on this subject. You are sure to find interesting information with the proper research.
International Ecotourism
Also, the application form must be duly filled out before the application can be reviewed and submitted along with the names of three references.
The bottom line is that the impacts of eco and mass tourism can be positive and beneficial to the local peoples and host country if they are properly managed and there are in place well-thought out plans as well as programmes. On the whole, however ecotourism is more beneficial to the area and also the locals and the negative effects of ecotourism are few and not so great as to threaten the ecology and the peoples in any great measure. In some areas problems such as trail erosion and increased trash have actually been noted, and other problems are expected to arise from the increased use of land in question.
In fact, when the total effects of the damage were finally revealed, the public was outraged.
The reason for this is that ecotourism is not merely a vacation or leisure activity, it is an activity that can provide for tremendous personal growth. However, they sometimes have a larger impact on local economies. Most ecotourism operators provide facilities, tours as well as allow you to interact with the habitat so that you come away better educated and also do not impact the habitat too adversely.
The environment is something that too many people take for granted.
This fast pace of growth in ecotourism can be attributed to the growing awareness on the planet of the need to not destroy the precious natural resources that are the target of certain uncaring people, and also because more and more people are now desirous of wanting to explore more natural environments rather than visit places served by mass tourism. Such a case study of ecotourism has a number of different purposes that include assessing the awareness as well as understanding of local peoples regarding ecotourism, assessing how has ecotourism contributed to the local population and finding out if the locals are indeed sensitized on ecotourism as well as the environment. The area of concern for such a study encompasses actions taken by governments to implement ecotourism policies, policy outputs that have been developed from governments side, and also identifying frameworks for organizing the ecotourism guidelines. However, when faced with a cutting off of funds unless such a situation was not rectified, Costa Rica has turned into a good example of what ecotourism can do to a region and also country and to also positively impact the environment as well. Not only does litter make the environment look messy, but it also can be hazardous to the animals in the environment. In addition, such a case study of tourism must also delve into finding out whether people that are more educated have better understanding of ecotourism. |