Statement and briefing on Year of Ecotourism

Tourism Concern has released the following statement and briefing:

Why Tourism Concern is cautious about the International Year of Ecotourism

What is ecotourism?
Ecotourism is a commonly used term internationally denoting ‘nature tourism’. The term is used largely by the American public and tourism industry and less frequently by British tour operators.

The market for nature holidays has always been an important niche market in the tourism industry. Typical ‘ecotourism’ holidays include walking holidays, bird watching holidays, mountain trekking, rainforest trekking and safaris.

Ecotourism can be part of a more conventional holiday (day trips to areas of outstanding natural beauty) or can be a total holiday package where the tourist stays in a remote, rural environment for the duration of the holiday.

Ecotourism is a niche market: the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) estimates that ecotourism represents between 2-4% of all international travel expenditure (the same size as the so-called MICE segment – Meetings, Incentive, Congresses and Exhibitions).

Ecotourism is presently seen as one of the most lucrative niche markets in the tourism industry as ecotourists are higher spenders than ‘ordinary’ mass tourists. High spending, nature-loving, responsible tourists are undoubtedly an attractive option for governments looking for ways of earning foreign exchange.

Ecotourism is often seen by poor communities as one of the few livelihoods they have open to them. Communities whose people are living in poverty invariably find their young people migrate to urban centres because of the decline in traditional industries such as agriculture and fishing. Tourism (often ‘ecotourism’ if they are in remote areas) can prevent this urban drift and provide an essential alternative income.

Ecotourism, if managed properly, could also be an important means of protecting the world’s rapidly disappearing ecosystems. If a natural area can be seen to have a high financial worth as an ecotourism destination than alternative more damaging developments, ecologically important areas may be protected from deforestation, agricultural or housing development.

Ecotourism is not however, necessarily ‘sustainable tourism’ (see below). Sustainable tourism is defined as: ‘tourism development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’. This means taking into account social and local economic factors, as well as environmental management issues.

“Tourism Concern is pleased that campaigning organisations in destination countries have pressurised the IYE to recognise that even ecotourism can have serious negative impacts on local people and environments and needs careful consideration,” says Patricia Barnett, director of Tourism Concern. “All tourism needs to benefit local people and their environments, including ‘ecotourism’.”

Tourism Concern’s position on ecotourism
“While Tourism Concern is pleased that the impacts of tourism are being addressed by the international community through the International Year of Ecotourism, we feel that ecotourism is such a small part of the tourism industry it will not make a significant difference to the sustainability of the overall industry,” Patricia Barnett says.

Tourism Concern has always pointed out that just because something is marketed as ‘ecotourism’, doesn’t mean necessarily mean that it supports long-term protection of the environment. This is true even in countries which are well-known as ecotourism destinations like Belize or Costa Rica.

“Belize, for instance, is one of the world’s best-known ecotourism capitals. However, it is something of a victim of its own success,” says Patricia Barnett. “It now has a highly competitive tourism industry more interested in marketing a product than ensuring that it is environmentally sound, or that the people are benefiting from it. Local people are marginalised as outsiders buy up the land. Locals are angry that they can no longer access their own forests, which have been their natural home for generations and their islands are sold out to American ecotourism developers.”

Greenwashing
Tourism Concern also notes that as ecotourism is undefined, it fall prey to ‘greenwash’ marketing:

“Ecotourism can be whatever anyone wants. There is no internationally accepted definition of ecotourism and there is no certification system to abide by, or international monitoring body.”

It also does not necessarily denote sustainability:
“The term can be used by anyone at anytime for anything from a small-scale locally-run rainforest lodge where the money goes to support a local community, to a large, luxury, foreign-owned resort which has little community involvement and uses masses of natural resources,” says Patricia Barnett.

Tourism’s vociferous appetite for basic resources – land, water and energy – has meant that the tourism industry and governments are increasingly finding themselves opposed over land rights and water rights by local people.
Ecotourists may even visit areas of national beauty and wildlife significance without realising that local people have been evicted from the area in order for ecotourism to be developed, as has happened in East Africa, India, Southern Africa and many other destinations.

Problems with ecotourism: some examples

 Bolivia – environment: According to tour operators some self-described ‘ecological hotels’ around Lake Titicaca dump untreated wastewater into the lake. In the tropical Chapare region near Cochabamba, an immense area of jungle has been cleared to build a golf course for a five-star ‘ecological hotel’. Bolivia, in fact, has no environmental standards for hotels (like many countries) and ‘ecohotel’ is a self-imposed title.
(Source: Latin American Press)

 Botswana – people: the remaining few hundred Bushmen of the Central Kalahari are currently being forced off the land they have lived on for centuries by having their water supplies cut off. Intimidation and torture by wildlife officials has occurred. The Botswanan government has stated that (eco) tourists will not want to see ‘primitive’ people and the Bushmen lifestyle is not compatible with a developing country like Bostwana. Most of the Bushmen are now living in desolate camps outside the parks, reliant on food aid.
(Source: Survival)

 China – wildlife: Research on tourism’s impact in Wolong Nature Reserve in Southwest China revealed that panda habitat was more rapidly destroyed than in areas not protected. Human population increased by 70% since the park was established to cater for the increased number of ecotourists. The number of pandas consequently dropped from 145 to 72 in 12 years.
(Source: Scientist magazine)

 East Africa – people: Maasai and Samburu people in East Africa have been evicted from their lands in order for conservation and safari tourism to be developed.
(Source: various, Tourism Concern).

 Thailand – environment, people: In April, 2000, 100 angry villagers in Khao Sok national park in Surat Thani province, seized a bulldozer owned by the Royal Forestry Department and trunks of trees they had felled for construction of a 1000 sq. m parking lot, a 800m-long road, 10 toilets and concrete stairs leading to a pier in the park. Campaigners point out that villagers get arrested if they collect mushrooms in the forest, or corals in marine parks, yet various World Bank-funded projects are allowed to fell trees and make landscape alterations without prosecution, despite it being against national law.
(Source: Tim-Team)

Tourism Concern also feels that the question of how to manage a rapid increase in demand for ecotourism must be addressed by the organisers of the IYE in order that environments and communities will benefit from the promotional year and not be overcome or marginalised by it.

Finally, the concept of environmentally-sensitive tourism cannot be fully addressed without dealing with the environmental impact of air travel. Air travel is one of the main causes of global warming.

“If tourists have to travel on several plane journeys in order to reach a remote ecotourism destination, can it be really be labelled as ecotourism?” says Patricia Barnett.

<bIs the tourism industry taking environmental issues seriously?
Tourism Concern is very pleased that British tour operators and the British government have recently come together with British NGOs to develop a ‘Sustainable Tourism Initiative’. This is a strategy for the entire tourism industry, not just those involved in ecotourism.

However, the commitment of the tourism industry to tackle these complex issues still seems to be limited.

“The mass tourism operators have learnt the language of sustainable tourism,” says Patricia Barnett. “But little has really changed.”

Proof of this has been seen over the last two years in relation to the tourism industry’s response to the Balearic islands’ decision to implement an eco-tax of 62p per visitor per day.

The ecotax has been decided on in order to raise funds to correct the serious environmental damage done to the Balearics by the tourism boom of the last three decades and to protect fragile areas that are left.

The international tourism industry, including ABTA, have lobbied fiercely against it, saying that it would damage business. This flies in the face of ABTA’s own research, which revealed that 64% of people indicated they were prepared to pay an extra £10 to £25 for their holiday if it went towards environmental or social improvements.

“If the tourism industry are going to lobby against a small ecotax in a developed country, then we are not convinced that they are really committed to changing policies in support of the Year of Ecotourism. When it comes down to it, the tourism industry isn’t willing to take the risk because it is so competitive and operates on such small profit margins,” says Barnett.

A way forward
If ecotourism is to work, it needs to provide not only good conservation measures, but meaningful community participation too.

Tourism Concern has established an International Fair Trade in Tourism Network, which brings together tourism operators, NGOs working in tourism and communities in destination areas, to exchange views and information on socially and environmentally-sound tourism. By using the concept of ‘fair trade’, which has been so successful with other ‘products’ such as tea, coffee, bananas and crafts, we are attempting to find a way to make the tourism ‘product’ more fairly traded.

Tourism Concern has also published a unique guidebook for travellers listing community tourism projects, The Community Tourism Guide (see notes to editors) many of which are ecotourism holidays. Importantly, all of these projects are either run or managed by communities and the profits from tourism used for community development, such as water, education and health facilities.

“The only way that ecotourism can be truly beneficial is for it to be community-based. Some tour operators do work closely with local people in order for the communities to support their business and out of an honest desire to protect environments and optimise benefits to local people, but they are definitely in the minority,” says Patricia Barnett.

“We hope that the International Year of Ecotourism will increase commitment amongst the tourism industry to be more community-focussed in the their development of ecotourism.”

Examples of community-based ecotourism:
 Namibia: one of the most well-known countries for community-based tourism and safaris where a wide diversity of ethnic groups has become involved in tourism usually by setting up campsites supported by private and public initiatives. NACOBTA (The Namibian Community Based Tourism Association) represents and promotes 21 community camps, museum and tour businesses. The profits from tourism are divided amongst the communities and tourism is managed by them for their benefit.
www.nacobta.com.na

 Ecuador: Yachana Lodge was built by the Quichua community of Mondana. Visitors fish for piranha, swim in the Napo river and trek through the Amazon. Income from the lodge helps fund a health clinic, bee farm and permaculture farm. British tour operator, Tribes Travel, operates here working closely with the community.
www.tribes.co.uk

 Kenya: Porini Ecotourism Ltd., a Kenyan-based tour operator working closely with Tropical Places in the UK, has developed a safari camp and relevant infrastructure with a Maasai community in Amboseli. Porini lease the land from the Maasai, pay the community a bed-night fee for every tourist visitor and train and employ local Maasai as game rangers, road maintenance staff, trackers and guides, camp attendants and drivers.
www.porini.com

 The Gambia: normally known as a cheap winter-sun destination, The Gambia packs its charter tourists in along the coast,