Described as an alternative to mass tourism which can be very damaging to the environment, ecotourism has since been popular. You certainly heard tourism stakeholders talk about this eco-friendly way to enjoy vacation and its multiple advantages. As a human activity, it’s however not perfect and has some downsides, even if many people can hardly imagine it. In this article, I present to you both the pros and the cons of such a praised activity.
The advantages of ecotourism
Ecotourism has a lot of advantages on natural habitat, on environment, on local population. It is a cleaner way to spend vacation, compared to mass tourism for example. With the attention this activity benefits, the entire world becomes more and more aware of the ecological problems. From this perspective, people, including adults but more importantly children are educated and taught how to live eco-friendly. It offers good opportunities to people to see and explore special and untouched areas. Rare species of animals can also be approached and admired. For fossil resources which are scarce and could deplete in a near future, a sustainable use is made. Concerning the benefits that ecotourism can have on local inhabitants, they could be various. Ecotourism may bring jobs and assure income to many persons. It could also help them to preserve some of their knowledge.
The disadvantages of ecotourism
As stated in the introduction, ecotourism doesn’t unfortunately have only advantages. There are many disadvantages that are worth exploring. Firstly, ecotourism is supposed to be on a small scale, but we are facing a significant growth of this sector. The low impact expected is no longer possible, with the development of ecotourism in large scale. It ends with the relocation of local people and many environmental hazards. Another danger is related to the fact that untouched areas and ecosystems are visited. It definitely disturbs the wildlife to a certain extent and wild animals may get used to humans, because most people ride or pet them. Worse, those animals can be killed and some parts sold as souvenirs to tourists.
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