Eco-tourism

Well, nowadays there's an increasing trend towards eco-tourism holidays. So, what is eco-tourism? Well, it's a form of tourism which should not only protect but also actively improve our environment and its cultures. However, many forms of tourism that are presented as sustainable, nature-based, and environmentally friendly are often not what they seem and this is rapidly becoming a somewhat thorny issue. Governments, as well as the tourism industry, promote eco-tourism but there are very well-founded concerns that in many instances it not only lacks adequate scientific foundations but is also not viable as a solution to the world's social and environmental problems, which of course is what eco-tourism is supposed to be about. Many eco·tourism holidays are really nothing more than a marketing ploy and indeed, in the worse cases, can be said to even threaten local cultures, economies, and natural resource bases. The issue is further confused by the multitude of terms to describe types of travel, which supposedly protect the environment. Other than eco-tourism we have adventure travel, sustainable tourism, responsible tourism, nature-based travel, green travel and cultural tourism to name just a few. So the problem we have here is whether a potential traveller who wants a legitimately environmentally friendly travel experience can make the right choice when confronted with this type of marketing.