Offering an overview of worldwide ecotourism, showing how both the concept and the reality have evolved, this book examines the growth of ecotourism within the Galapagos Islands, Costa Rica, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Kenya and South Africa, their political systems and their economic policies.

Ecotourism A Sustainable Option? Edited by Erlet Cater University of Reading, UK and Gwen Lowman Royal Geographical Society, UK Recent years have witnessed growing public and professional concern with environmental issues, including the fields of tourism and leisure. The adverse impacts of conventional mass tourism have led to demands for more environmentally sensitive approaches to tourist and leisure development. Increasing environmental awareness has also led to a rise in travel to destinations offering a wealth of unspoiled nature. These trends, broadly defined as "ecotourism", have produced one of the fastest growing and most hotly debated sectors in the tourism industry. This well-balanced and wide-ranging book provides the first overview of this key area, providing definitions, theoretical perspectives and detailed case studies, contributed by researchers, professionals and activists. This is an essential introduction to a dynamic and central topic in contemporary tourism.

First published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Using a wealth of international case studies and photos, Ecotourism: An Introduction provides an accessible and comprehensive introduction to the key foundations, concepts and issues related to Ecotourism, the fasted growing segment of the global tourism industry. Among the topics covered are: * the foundations of ecotourism * tourism and ecotourism policy * the economics, marketing and management of ecotourism * the social and ecological impacts of tourism * ecotourism and development * the role of ethics in ecotourism The book includes case studies from Scotland, Austria, the USA, Canada, Mexico and Australia.

Offering an overview of worldwide ecotourism, showing how both the concept and the reality have evolved, this book examines the growth of ecotourism within the Galapagos Islands, Costa Rica, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Kenya and South Africa, their political systems and their economic policies.

Exploring the importance of destination branding and destination marketing as well as their implications on sustainability in tourism, this book approaches the topic through the lens of destination image, taking into account the large influence of appearance on tourist attraction. With consideration to various stakeholders in sustainable tourism development, this book incorporates ideas for new techniques in destination branding and marketing in order to maximize economic impact. The book also discusses the rising influence of social media on tourists’ interest. Emphasizing sustainability in tourism development, the chapters address a number of important issues, such as post-disaster tourism marketing, culture and heritage tourism, eco-tourism, community-based nature tourism, community involvement in destination development, benchmarking for destination performance evaluation, sustainable food practices in tourism, and more. Each chapter of this book incorporates a quantifiable trend in tourism development, including various paradigms and studies that relay different statistics about certain areas of tourism. The book makes use of case studies for specific destinations and integrates strategies, evidence, and analyses to offer a holistic understanding of the myriad factors involved in sustainable tourism development.

This book reflects contemporary developments in the field. Building on the strengths of the first edition, the text discusses the significance of ecotourism in the domestic and international tourism sectors. The origins, markets, venues and impact of ecotourism form the basis of the first part of the book. Business aspects of ecotourism, external environments, organisations and policies are examined in the second part of the book, along with special environments, such as islands, polar regions and indigenous territories, and distinctive activities, such as whale-watching and penguin-watching. The management of ecotourism is covered comprehensively and is illustrated by extensive industry and destination examples derived mainly from the peer-reviewed literature. A highlight of the book is a regional survey of ecotourism that offers comparative insights into ecotourism in Australia, the South Pacific, Asia, Europe, the Americas and Africa.