WHY CHOOSE ECO TOURISM

Growth and Development of EcotourismIn the early 1970s, people in several remote areas of the world knew howimportant tourism could be, but they did not want to destroy the exoticenvironment that surrounded them (Mitlin and Satternwaite, 2000, p.20). Anexample of such a place is a town in Mexico called Cancun. Cancun used to be anexotic prime beach resort and the number of tourists was not very high. Todaythere are more visitors than natives. This is because when developers recognizedthe potentials Cancun had, they drew up a master plan that placed priority onenvironment protection, but Mexico started experiencing political and economicinstability. This instability and recession made the government and some topbusiness individuals affected by the recession to start finding ways to bring moneyinto the economy. They turned to the tourism industry and Cancun was sacrificed.The result of this sacrifice was that the natives were relocated to the mountainside, the exotic beaches became overpopulated and were clustered with visitors,tourists and garbage. This point was emphasized by Daily (1997, p.7). The reefwhich had a very rich Aqua life was damaged by ships coming into the Wharf.Water treatment became insufficient to save what was left of the aqua life. It alsobecame impossible to meet the requirements of the number of growing visitors.Like in the case of Cancun, other exotic beaches and islands got destroyedecologically. The natural and serene environments were punctuated by masstourism, pollution and garbage. When this sad stories were heard, ecologists andtourism leaders saw the importance of preserving the environment for futuregenerations to also experience and enjoy earth’s natural beauty (Costanza, et al.,2001, P.107). Most ecotourism destinations are found in areas with vast naturalsurroundings. Examples of these places are tropical rainforests, coral reefs,deserts, and ice glaciers. Ecotourism is also important because there is thepresence of culture that is unique to the visitor. The focus of ecotourism is toprovide tourists with news about certain natural areas and the culture found withinthose areas. Ecotourism helps to improve the local economy and conservation efforts of the natives.