Ecotourism

With the awareness of protecting the environment, ecotourism is becoming a popular issue. The appearance of ecotourism in the mid-1980s is connected to the Mexican consultant Hector Ceballos-Lascurain who used the term of ecotourism to demonstrate that it is a travel to an unspoiled and tranquil natural areas with the purpose of studying, admiring and enjoying the outdoor activities or the wildlife, as well as any existing cultural aspects in these areas (Weaver, 2006). Compare with the mass tourism, ecotourism is a responsible travel which with the goal of minimizing the impacts and cherishing the appreciation to the natural world. This essay divides into four parts. Firstly, the task will give the definition of ecotourism, and then describe the hard and soft approaches through comparison and contrast. Continuously, two cases study are discussed as the good examples of ecotourism and illustrate the concept of hard and soft approaches. The final part gives the brief summary of the essay which clarify the aim is met properly and also suggest the opportunity for the future study.

The aim of the study is to interpret the ecotourism by the relevant approaches; detail the component and examining two cases study of the concept within a broader critical construction, then make a clear demonstration to meet the goal fully.

Several experts debate the ecotourism in a great depth, because it becomes an increasingly controversial subject to dispute owing to its fast expansion. It’s a difficult task to define ecotourism adequately, because of its complexity and interlocking approaches. According to Wood (cited in Weaver, 2006: 192), he argues for ecotourism as purposeful travel to the natural environment in order to understand the cultural aspects or pay attention to the history of the natural world. It’s a type of tourism in protecting natural resource and both producing the direct economic benefits to the local communities. Also, local communities has directly affected...