Saturday, July 7, 2007

A Tourism No-No: Why Ecotourism is Bad

If you love the environment, perhaps an idea of yours is to spend a vacation in the wilderness, or a place with natural wonders, such as the Grand Canyon. You are not alone in this, because more and more people like the idea of spending time in an environment free from cars, traffic, and tall buildings. However, while ecotourism was initially invented to help preserve the environment, there are actually a number of reasons why ecotourism is bad.

Reason #1 Why Ecotourism is Bad

The first reason why ecotourism is bad, specifically in woodland areas and areas where animals live, is the element of surprise to the animals. Animals that have lived their entire lives in the forest are not tame, and pose a problem to humans, especially if those humans are carrying food. The presence of humans alternately causes stress to wild animals.

Reason #2 Why Ecotourism is Bad

If you have ever visited a National Park, no doubt you have seen at least a few pieces of litter in different places. No matter how diligent the park rangers can be, sometimes the forest is too big to find every single piece of litter. Not only does litter make the environment look messy, but it also can be hazardous to the animals in the environment. Remember, plastic especially is very hard to destroy and is not biodegradable. It really all has to do with how diligent the tourists themselves are about not littering.

Reason #3 Why Ecotourism is Bad

One of the most prevalent reasons why ecotourism is bad has to do with the structures that are built for various ecotourism events. For example, if a park decides to have a nature walk aspect to it, paths will be cleared and some trees cut down to make way for the paths. Also, in parks, lookout towers are sometimes built in trees. While these structures have a purpose, they cannot help but damage the delicate environment.

For More Information

There are a variety of different ways in which ecotourism can be bad for the environment, and if you want more information there are a variety of different options. First of all, if you have environmentalist groups in your area that are know to oppose ecotourism, be sure to talk to them and see what information they can offer. You can also search the internet for more information, just be aware that opinions differ on this subject. You are sure to find interesting information with the proper research.

3 comments:

Chance said...

It seems to me that your examples refer only to normal tourism. The sheer volume of visitors to secluded areas of nature is indeed a problem, which is why greener methods have been proposed.

DX said...

You are talking bias. Tourism is far more bad than how bad is ecotourism. Ecotourism do has some drawbacks but has myriad of advantages over other tourism. It is not bad but is largely good.

DX said...

You are talking bias. Tourism is far more bad than how bad is ecotourism. Ecotourism do has some drawbacks but has myriad of advantages over other tourism. It is not bad but is largely good.