Introduction
This essay look discusses pertinent aspect of the hospitality and tourism industry. The
hospitality industry encompasses many aspects, which incorporates tour and travel,
leisure destinations, hotels, resorts, beaches, ticketing agencies, ecotourism and
airlines services. This makes the tourism industry a robust industry, which has an
immense contribution to the economy of a given country. According to the Centre of
Ecotourism, Eco tourism was a term coined to describe travel activities intended to
conserve the environment. It is a travel or tour to natural areas that are undisturbed by
human activities with the aim of displaying the flora, fauna, sceneries, and culture of a
particular place. The term eco tourism was popularised by Ceballos-Lascurain referring
to the aspect of travelling to natural environments with the objective of learning and
understanding about the environment, cultures and history without altering the
landscape and the ecosystem in general. This tourism provides economic opportunities
to the locals as well as the countries, which have the tourist attraction sites. Eco tourism
is an environment-oriented travel that takes into consideration the cultures of the local
people. The travels involved intend to conserve the environment and to keep it for the
development of the country, which has conserved the environment (Yang et al 2000).
Most of the scholars on this subject have outlined the principles of eco tourism. The first
principle is that of environmental conservation where the aim of eco tourism should be
to preserve the natural sceneries and the indigenous flora and fauna. The second
principle of eco tourism is to enrich the local communities who are directly involved in
the conservation of the environment. The local communities should enjoy conserving
the ecosystem by being remunerated well by those who come to see the natural
environment. This is because such conservation is at the expense of something
economic beneficial to the local community. The third principle of eco tourism is that it
should be informative and a learning experience to the tourists. It should act as
reminder of the need to conserve environment by providing reasons why environment is
in need of conservation. Whereas most of the scholars have discussed the principles of
ecotourism this research discuses different empirical studies conducted previously on
eco tourism. It discusses the methodologies that they used in their research as well as
their findings. This discussion looks into the different perspectives of eco tourism and
what can be done to benefit the both the tourist and the local communities involved in
eco tourism (Zhang, 2001).
Literature review
Eco tourism is one of the most influential aspects of tourism and it preserves the
environment while enriching the local population. The aim of this research is to delve
into the theoretical aspects that govern eco tourism with an aim of increasing
conservation of the environment as well as increasing the participation of the local
communities. The literature was reviewed due to its analysis on benefits of eco tourism
and their discussion on environmental conservation and the emerging trends in eco
tourism. Literature excluded were those that did not discuss theoretical considerations
or aspects of ecotourism. They also discussed tourism in general and were not specific
on eco tourism. The research however did not explore ecotourism in relation to any
particular country. Literatures that did not discuss the benefits of eco tourism were also
excluded. However, this research did not include the literatures based on research
methodologies or findings. The following literatures review two major articles that delve
in to the aspects of eco tourism (Zhang, 2003).
Theories of eco tourism
There are few theories that discuss eco tourism and in fact, there is not theory of
tourism that specifically targets eco tourism. Rather, the existing theories are economic
theories that apply to tourism sector and operations. The stakeholders’ theory of tourism
is one of the theories that apply to the discipline of eco tourism. This theory recognizes
the different stakeholders who play a major role in the tourism industry. The industry
cannot thrive without the involvement of the different stakeholders. This stakeholders
range from the government, airline service companies, tour and travel companies.
Unlike in general tourism, eco tourism recognises the flora, fauna, and the ecosystem
and the local community as stakeholders of this type of tourism (Cochrane, 2006). This
means that the tourists and the industry must reserve benefits for all stakeholders.
However, according to Zhang, 2003 eco tourism has not conserved the environment or
benefited the local people. For instance, he gives the example of Kenya where eco
tourism is a major attraction for eco tourists. However, the roads and infrastructures that
are built to take the tourist into the park to see the animals interfere with the core
principles of ecotourism of conserving the environment. The local community is at a
disadvantage because of the fact that they cannot use the land for other purposes yet
the compensation-received from the government is too low (Zhang, 2003).
This article uses the qualitative research methodology by using the case study of Kenya
and the stakeholder’s theory. The theory has looked into the contribution of eco tourism
to the local Masai community in Kenya where the game reserves and national parks are
located. The theory shows how the environment has been affected both positively and
negatively through eco tourism. The author is however critical of the fact that the results
of eco tourism do not always lead to environment conservation and benefits to the local
community (Zhang, 2003).
The other theory discussed by the second study is the externality theory, which
discusses the eternality of eco tourism. Externality is the aspect of incurring additional
costs or revenues in the process of production of goods and services. These costs are
indirect and monetary value is not the appropriate quantification, reflection, and
measure of the actual value. In eco tourism industry, the external costs involve
depletion of environment through creation of new infrastructure and other tourist related
activities. The external revenues usually involve the jobs created from such
developments (Cochrane, 2006). This theory views eco tourism as a spill over effect,
which comes because of conserving the environment.
The externality theory discusses the external factors that affect the local communities
and tourism in general. Externalism discusses that there will be spill over effects
emanating from the eco tourism; this spill over effects may affect the local community or
the environment. In many instances, the effect is not positive especially to the
environment (Cochrane, 2006). Although the intention of eco tourism is to conserve the
environment, the sceneries and indigenous cultures, the spill over effect of this tourism
such as the development of tourist infrastructures affects the environment negatively by
hindering the movement of wild animals. During the process of such developments
indigenous trees ands sceneries may be disturbed or destroyed thereby affecting the
environment negatively. Guo, 2007 provides a case study of instances where the
tourists leave garbage on the natural sceneries thereby compromising the beauty of the
natural environment. The tourist also trample on plants through camping, horse riding,
gaming, and hunting leading to compactness and hardness of soil making it hard for
plants and trees to grow. This disturbance affects the environment negatively. The spill
over effect of the disrturbing the natural environment has led to the creation of artificial
sceneries and tourist attraction sites made by private agencies rather than the local
community and the government. This has reduced revenues that are intended for the
government (Guo, 2007).
Although externality views ecotourism negatively in that it results to environmental
degradation, it is also beneficial in that it results to the development of job opportunities
for the local community who act as guides to the tourists. It has also seen the growth of
other artificial sites that compete with the natural attraction sites. The revenues that the
country receives from the eco tourist have little or no expenses as compared with the
provision of other services that have high costs of operation and production. The higher
the cost of operation the lower the profits realized. Therefore, eco tourism is a profitable
venture as long as the environment is undisturbed or uncompromised (Guo, 2007).
Analysis of the literature
The two literatures have provided case studies of different communities as their
methodology of research. The first case study of eco tourism in Kenya and the second
article has case study about eco tourism in China. The difference is that the two studies
have used different theoretical approaches with the first study using the stakeholders’
theory and the second theory using the external theory. Both studies acknowledge that
ecotourism does not always result in conservation of the environment and that pursuit of
economic benefits usually overrides the need to conserve the environment. Both studies
agree that the stakeholders have to do more to conserve the environment, cultural
heritage and sceneries for them to continue receiving revenues from ecotourism
industry.
The two literatures however miss the principle of learning as part of eco tourism. They
have extensively discussed the conservation of the environment as part of eco tourism
and the economic benefits but they have not indicated the reason why tourists want to
see those sites. The principle of learning about the environment from those sites is
equally critical as part of the conservation of the environment. This is because it is the
only way in tourism stakeholders can market themselves to eco tourists. This is
because as seen earlier the aspect of conserving the environment, which was the
motivation of eco tourism, has been compromised in pursuit of economic benefits. The
studies also show that the governments are over reliant on this source of revenue and
that the government ends up edging out local community from the benefits accrued from
eco tourism (Cochrane, 2006).
Conclusion
From the above studies, ecotourism in its present state cannot be wholly regarded as
ecotourism. This is because eco tourism in the modern day tourism does not uphold the
principles of eco tourism especially in environmental conservation. The tourism is
concerned with gaining economic benefits without conserving the environment. To
make eco tourism comprehensive, all the three principles of eco tourism need to have
priority, and they are environmental conservation, economic benefit to the local
communities and learning. Adhering to one principle of eco tourism, while compromising
the other aspects of eco tourism, generalises eco tourism rather than separating as a
distinct branch of hotel and tourism industry. The government and other stakeholders
need to uphold all the principles of eco tourism by conserving the environment and
teaching the local communities as well as the tourist on the need to maintain the status
quo in those attractive ecosystems. In mitigating externality, governments and should
view the eco tourism as spill over effect of conserving the environment rather than
seeing it as a source of revenue. This will enable the stakeholders to maintain the
integrity of the environment while benefiting from eco tourism.
References
Guo, L. (2007). Chinese ecotourism—the base of sustainable tourism . Journal of
Chinese Progress in Geography, 16(4), 4.
Yang, G, Zhong, L& Ming, Qingzhong. (2000). Ecotourism. Beijing: Higher Education
Press.
pp. 25-39.
Zhang, J. (2001). Ecotourism theory and practice. Beijing: China travel & tourism press.
Zhang, J. (2003). Ecotourism and the benefit of local residents, an analysis of
successful experience of ecotourism in Kenya. Chinese Tourism tribune, 5(2), 60-63.
Cochrane, J. (2006). The sustainability of ecotourism in Kenya. London: Rutledge.
