Ecotourism can be an incentive for conservation, especially when it triggers positive economic change. Yet it introduces many changes to communities:positive and negative, social and economic. The full range of change is seldom evaluated in direct relation to conservation at the local level. In this study of three Amazon ecotourism projects, local leaders discussed changes from ecotourism in th...

Ecotourism as the most attractive subset of the tourism industry can contribute to natural resource conservation and local development. Although great numbers of people annually visit Abbasabad area, in Veresk, Mazandaran, to enjoy its brilliant landscape and moderate ecologic condition, there is no applicable plan for many natural attractive zones in this area. As a result, some specific well ...

One of the primary challenges facing ecotourism management is to establish a profitable and ecologically sustainable industry, while simultaneously achieving a satisfying experience for visitors and raising standards of living in the host community. This paper analyses the management practices and challenges faced by two ecotourism attractions on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, namely ...

Ecotourism is based on three main concepts: conservation and protection of the environment, supporting local cultures and economies and environmental education for both locals and tourists. Thus far much of the research has focused on the first two components; largely ignoring the importance that environmental education has in the future of ecotourism and the conservation movement as a whole. T...

Nature tourism is being increasingly promoted as a means to combat the inequality and dependency in rural areas. Furthermore, ecotourism as a subset of nature tourism has emerged as a potential mechanism for involving rural communities in the management of their natural resources, and thus benefit from their conservation efforts. This paper presents the results of a study undertaken within thre...

Community-based conservation (CBC) in general, and ecotourism in particular, arose to correct human injustices and social impacts wrought by a p rio r model o f protected area management that subordinated resident peoples' welfare and rights, and local econom ic development, to envirorunental preservation (West and Brechin 1991). Proponents o f community-based ecotourism defend i t as a loca ll...

Tourism is one of the world’s largest economic sectors. Ecotourism is its fastest growing component (United Nations World Tourism Organization 2007), and a promising strategy for sustainable development. Rural Central America and the Caribbean are in need of sustainable development and contain promising ecotourism sites. Despite their empirical importance and potential, tourism and ecotourism a...

Ecotourism represents a highly popularised activity which has exhibited global growth in recent years. In the present paper, we examine the distribution, frequency, and economic value of shark-based ecotourism operations worldwide. A total of 376 shark ecotour operations across 83 locations and 8 geographic regions were identified. Here we describe the global and regional scope of the industry;...