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The Ecotourism Industry Is Directed Towards Natural, Fragile And Relatively Undisturbed Environments

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1. Introduction Ecotourism is directed towards natural, fragile and relatively undisturbed environments, intended to support conservation efforts, economical benefits for local communities, observe wildlife in natural environments and as an educational alternative (Scheyvens, 1999). Developed and maintained to remain sustainable indefinitely, causing no change, alterations or degradation to the environment and surrounding areas (Reynolds and Brathwaite, 2001).
1.1 Development of Ecotourism The ecotourism industry has exhibited global growth over the past two decades and is expected to rapidly develop and increase in upcoming years (Gallagher and Hammerschlag, 2014), becoming one of the largest industries in the world (Scheyvens, 1999). …show more content…

Whilst eager tourists strive to see the untouched beauty of the natural world, the increased majority have caused a shift in what is now perceived as the mass tourism (Goodwin, 1996, Ziegler et al., 2012).

1.2 Benefits and Drawbacks Particular stakeholders can benefit from ecotourism, whether it be through raised awareness for the need for conservation or economical revenue for local communities, tourist companies and governments (Dodds, 2012). [National benefit] With the growing concern for conservation on a global scale, ecotourism has justified the need for conservation, resulting in a closer relationship between ecotourism and conservation groups (Reynolds and Braithwaite, 2001). Income is dependent on a maintained and well managed ecosystem, having no target species or healthy natural environments for tourists to observe could collapse the ecotourism industry (Dodds, 2012). Therefore, managing and maintaining a healthy natural environment inevitably strives towards conservation goals (Reynolds and Braithwaite, 2001), but will additionally make the ecotourism industry aware that additional benefits are possible from a well conserved protected area (Sekhar, 2003). In addition, keeping target

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