Ecotourism: Synthesis of Case Studies - Essay Example

Synthesis of case studies on ecotourism, comparison and contrast of ecotourism impacts/ issues and successful green practices With the growing diversity in the economic paradigm of the post-modern global world, introduction and gradual expansion of various industries have been witnessed in the recent era. Similar changes have also been evidently observed in the development of tourism as a major source of economic as well as social progress, to its transition in the dimension of ‘eco-tourism’ as a unique measure to bridge the gap between pleasure, tourism and shared environmental responsibilities. Concentrating on a similar value consideration, this paper elaborates on the case studies of Galapagos Island, Costa Rica and Tanzania, with the intention to study their eco-tourism strategies. The discussion accordingly reveals various similarities and dissimilarities in the eco-tourism strategies taken by the three regions. Synthesis of case studies on ecotourism, comparison and contrast of ecotourism impacts/ issues and successful green practices In general, the intention and the principles of eco-tourism can be understood in a precise and rational manner. However, as Honey (2008) argues, reality might be much more complex and lagging at certain points to suffice or replicate the core principles of eco-tourism when implementing strategies at the industrial levels. In order to elaborate on this particular contradiction, further discussion of this paper will synthesize three national case studies of Galapagos Island, Costa Rica and Tanzania, three of the most ecologically dense and allegedly the most affected natural habitats on earth due to continuous human interventions and increasing levels of pollutants in the environment. The issues and the successful practices of eco-tourism strategies implemented in these regions will also be discussed from a comparative and contrasting perspective in the discussion henceforth. Synthesizing National Case Studies Galapagos Island. Ecological richness of Galapagos Island is seldom a subject of contrasting views or disagreement. No doubt, it is the ecological richness found in this island that tourists and research units have been pounding the natural habitat so often. Certainly, human interventions have been observed to be a major cause of rising pollution in the island and also the reason for the abolition of many species unique to Galapagos only, such as the sea lions, marine iguanas, tropical penguins and blue-footed booby to name a few. In this regard, the high sensitivity of the natural species to climate changes has added to the rising concern of the government to preserve its ecological wealth. According to Honey (2008), Galapagos Island is often argued as the origination place of eco-tourism strategies. Comparative to other ecological regions around the world, Galapagos Island has had its own challenges comprising rising number of tourists from the global plethora taking the advantages of massive media exposure, commercial fishing and resource extraction, businesses expansions, along with the fragile conditions of political as well as natural environment added to the list of challenges faced by the island. Correspondingly, to bridge the gap and mitigate the challenges to a greater extent, government laid greater stress on introducing effective eco-tourism strategies that would facilitate tourism as a major industry of the economy, but simultaneously preserve the ecological sustainability of the region. As a measure of organized ecotourism, in the 1960s, two eco-tourism companies joined hands with Lindblad Travel and emphasized controlling the number of tourists arriving in the island at a frequent interval that would have least effect on the natural environment, but will simultaneously give pleasure to the tourists’ visiting. During the 1970s and the 1980s, the number of restaurants and green hotels increased in the region, bringing a new concept to the industry, the “floating boats”, which added to the charm of the island. However, owing to the similar reason, the number of tourists and tourism service providing companies increased by manifolds affecting the sustainability interests of the island until 1990s when the government started laying greater focus on the issue. Subsequently, eco-tourism policies were introduced, the structural framework of the industry was reshaped to accommodate the requirements of the 21st century tourism needs and also to maintain flexibility in adjusting with the continually altering social and ecological environmental dynamics. To be precise, Honey (2008) mentioned that the eco-tourism policies of the island have been concentrated on three fundamental tenets in its eco-tourism strategic framework, viz., high-quality assurance, limited tourist interventions, and controlled continuous monitoring of eco-tourism. Costa Rica. Honey (2008) explains the role of Costa Rica in contributing to the global infusion of eco-tourism as a laboratory. It was in the late 1980s when Costa Rica started hosting eco-tourism strategic interventions being under the impression of US Agency of International Development (USAID) along with implementing privatization and developmental strategies. Since then, continuous promotions and accreditations in the global front have assisted Costa Rica to become one of the pioneers and celebrated destinations for eco-tourism. May not be as unique as the Galapagos Island, but in its own way, the region is regarded to be rich in biodiversity. Similar to the strategies implemented in Galapagos Island, Costa Rica had also focused on the national park system to control interventions from the growing number of tourists in its initial days of 1980s and early 1990s. However, apart from national park system, the country also emphasized gatheration of adequate funds from its international partners and establishment of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that would assist eco-tourists to learn about the natural and social dimensions of the region. Nonetheless, with the growth in the number of tourists in the 1990s, the trend to learn and promote the natural habitat of Costa Rica was being observed to be hindered due to the increasing demand for luxurious tourism facilities and a casual attention towards the ecological significance of the country. To be mentioned, funding had never been a great challenge for Costa Rica being mushroomed by international developmental organizations. Neither was the allocation of funds categorized as a big challenge for the government in the country to facilitate eco-tourism, quite dissimilar to the developmental challenges faced by Galapagos Island. The only barrier to the rise of Costa Rica as a sustainable eco-tourism destination was the trend in the tourism market, changing to a much casual one, along with the continuously profit-centric approaches taken by the national participants of the industry. Understanding these constraints, the Costa Rican government concentrated on empowering the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and rewarding incentives to the national participants in accordance with their contribution to eco-tourism developments. As a result, recently, a few local and national green resorts have been observed to take extra reformative measures to ensure greater sustainability of the ecological environment in Costa Rica (Honey, 2008). Tanzania. When studying the eco-tourism strategies of Tanzania, another ecologically rich country, a common feature of promoting national parks can be witnessed. In comparison with Galapagos Island and Costa Rica, the introduction of eco-tourism has been quite recent in Tanzania, only by the mid-1990s. Additionally, unlike the fragile natural environment of Galapagos, the vegetation in Tanzania has been observed to be strong to deal with frequent upraise in pollution to a greater extent. However, a closer look to the historical developments in the Tanzanian approach to eco-tourism reveals that the most hindering effects witnessed by the environmental factors originated from rapidly increasing human interventions and expanding dais of resource extracting business operations. Nonetheless, Tanzania had been under the shed of eco-tourism strategies introduced by its neighboring countries and international organizations. For instance, Serengeti, one of the most celebrated wildlife is shared between Tanzania and Kenya, and thus, was benefited with the eco-tourism strategies and policy measures applied by Kenya. Again, Mt. Kilimanjaro, owing to its international value, has been sheltered under the eco-tourism and natural resource preservation policies by United Nations (Honey, 2008). It is worth mentioning in this context that with the rising global pressures, increasing social pressures, the participation of NGOs in the national and international contexts, and high industrial potentials, the Tanzanian government has also taken measures to facilitate eco-tourism within its national context. Continuous participation in international summits and policy measures, coalitions with international eco-tourism bodies, preservation of wildlife through national reservation park development and creation of Tanzania Tourist Corporation (TTC) to control the flow of tourists and also the establishment of tourism service providers have been a few of the major eco-tourism efforts taken by the government in the past decade of 2000s (Honey, 2008). Conclusion Studying the national eco-tourism strategies taken by Galapagos Island, Costa Rica and Tanzania, it can be observed that empowering NGOs at the local and national levels, controlling tourist flow with the creation of monopoly in the tourism market, maintained by high degree of government intervention along with the focus on the continuous efficiency of national reservation parks were common in all the three cases. However, with the upsurge of eco-tourism in these three regions at different periods and also by considering their ecological and social along with economic divergences, the strategies have been often reformed and altered as per the need. The core principles however have remained the same that are concentrated on the controlling of tourism activities, in pursuit of preserving the natural habitat. Reference Honey, M. (2008). Ecotourism and Sustainable Development, Second Edition: Who Owns Paradise? USA: Island Press. Read More