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INTERNATIONAL
TRAVEL DIRECTORY
Ecotourism and Nature
tourism
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What is ecotourism?
Tourism
is one of the world's biggest industries, and it's one that is
particularly important for the development of many areas and regions
even within the developed countries. Rural areas, sparsely
populated areas, poor countries, often offer little in the way of
economic opportunities to local people, and this can lead to
economic migration, loss of services and general decline. Tourism is
one industry that can stop this decline.
However, in order to contribute to the regeneration or the
conservation of such areas, tourism needs to be conducted in a
responsible manner. Mass tourism can lead to the destruction of the
very resources that tourists initially came to enjoy; clean beaches,
local cultures, beautiful environments, an escape from the rat-race of
modern urban living. Just look at the terrible environmental damage
that has been inflicted by the tourist industry on much of the
Mediterranean coast of Spain - a jungle of motorways,
tower-blocks, fast-food outlets and golf courses that are rapidly
draining the subterranean water tables on which the region has survived
for thousands of years. This is unsustainable tourism at its worst.
Ecotourism - also known as green tourism or nature
tourism - is not just tourism for bird-watchers
or going hiking in a national park; it is tourism
designed and managed to ensure that tourists contribute positively to
local economies (instead of being of most benefit to big hotel
companies and tour operators
based in the cities of the industrialsed nations of the
world), and
that their impact on the local environment is positive or at least
neutral, rather than negative. It means hiking, cycling tours, using
existing infrastructure, buying products and services locally in the
community, helping to conserve rural areas and local heritage; it means
respecting natural environments, avoiding waste and damage. |
Ecotourism websites directory
Ecotourism
Organisations:
General
Eco-sites
Tour
organisers and information sites
- Green-club.fr
- French ecotourism portal, with maps and information. A directory of
ecotourism sites and rural accommodation.
- Leap Local - Leap
Local seeks to connect the traveller to the local, enabling the
communities that you visit to benefit from your travels.
- Long-distance
hiking trails in France, with map -
information from About-France.com
- Nature tours New Zealand - Tours off the beaten track and avoiding commercial traps. Small groups. Friendly guides.
- Planet Biodiesel
- Eco Friendly Tour Company. Offering biodiesel powered tours around
Cambodia with profits going to charity.
- SouthernUplandWay
- Information for the preparation of walking
holidays across Southern Scotland.
- Wild Earth
Adventures - Adventure Holidays Canada, Wilderness tours and
Eco tours.
- World
Outdoor Web - Dedicated to the world of
outdoor sports, travel and adventure.
Eco-lodges
- nature tourism:
Voluntary
work abroad
- Unity
Charitable Trust,
is a registered N.G.O. based in Virudhunagar, Tamil Nadu,
India
combining cultural tour and community work opportunity for
volunteers from abroad.
- VSO
- Voluntary Service Overseas - UK NGO which is the world’s
leading independent international development charity working through
volunteers to fight poverty in developing countries
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