The term ecotourism has received much attention in
ItThe word ecotourism is made up of two components - eco and tourism the prefix eco refers to nature while the word tourism means the activity of touring. This combination is at odds with the concept of regular tourism in that it includes the notion of tourism that is nature-based and sustainable (Pforr, 2001), whereas customary tourism is not.
Definitions however, are often determined from different viewpoints, principles and concerns, and as such they often arrive at discrete and differing acuities into the concept being defined, and ecotourism is no exception thus, because there are a number of different interests concerned with the development of tourism, a variety of explanations for the concept of ecotourism have transpired (Pforr, 2001). This paper will examine some of the definitions and principles proposed and try to further develop the dialogue, specifically in relation to Yunnan, China.
The idea of combining tourism and nature was originally made pervasive in 1976 by Budowski, who realised the contradiction and variance between the environment and tourism, but believed a symbolic liaison between the two was possible if both could gain advantages (Ecotravelperu) and later by Ceballos-Lascurian, who also worked to spread the concept of ecotourism worldwide (Lash, 2003). Before then, the concept and efforts for environmental protection and ecological promotions regarding tourism moved at a snails pace.
Although however, this supposedly new found concept of ecology came to the forefront on issues relating to tourism in the late 70s and 80s, the idea goes far back in history. The earlier purpose of ecology was not journeying for entertainment but for trade or commerce and exploration. The notion of ecology was adopted by people such as Marco Polo in his discoveries, Caesar in his travels from Britain, and by eccentric Egyptians in the tales by Aristotle all were linked to the concept of ecotourism.
People have always enjoyed outdoor activities in harmony with nature interests such as camping, climbing, rafting, fishing and diving have always been favoured by some as a way to relax and spend the holidays ecotourism therefore, may be a relatively new word but the interest and pursuit of living and holidaying within natural environments is not. What is relatively new within the realms of nature-based tourism however, is the concern for the damaging effects tourism has on the environment. The realisation that if tourist areas are to be sustained for the long term, environmental damage needs to be kept to a minimum, tourists and tour operators need to be educated, and that sustainable development must be a priority (Matysek and Kriwoken, 2003).
Research shows then, that there are numerous definitions of ecotourism, but it seems that many of the people involved in the debate agree that these definitions can be considered as a continuum (Orams, 1995 Pforr, 2001 Diamantis and Ladkin (1999 ) Miller and Kae, (1993). At one extreme end of the continuum are those that consider all tourism is to some degree involved with nature, and thus can be regarded as ecotourism, and at the other are those who believe that all tourism is detrimental to the environment, including ecotourism, (Orams, 1995 Miller and Kae, 1993), in other words, extreme poles of right or wrong (Diamantis and Ladkin (1999 ) Clarke, 1997). The majority of definitions however, fit somewhere between these opposite poles and pertain to the amount of human involvement, or responsibility involved, and whether that involvement is dynamic or inert (Orams, 1995), or broad or narrow (Mercer, 1996).
Lascurains (1996) definition that ecotourism is an atmospherically dependable journey or vacation to moderately concentrated natural regions, in an endeavour to benefit from and value nature that encourages protection, with minimum adverse effects by tourists, and endowed with constructively vigorous socioeconomic participation of domestic people, is most definitely passive or narrow view within the continuum similarly, Ceballos-Lascurian (1996) (cited in Duffy, 2002) also denotes a passive or narrow outlook by regarding ecotourism as sustainable tourism that has minimal effect on the environment.
A more dynamic or broad definition, as quoted by Oram (1995) and cited in Diamantis, (1998b) is Valentines (1993) definition that includes the active involvement of people to protect and manage the natural environment and to ensure that it remains ecologically sustainable and is not damaged or degraded.
It is apparent that much has been written within the definition debate on ecotourism since its prevalence from the 80s, and that there is not a stock definition of ecotourism. On the other hand, there are some reoccurring factors, whether one, all, or a combination, within these definitions, such as the necessity to protect the environment and its characteristics, to help local people by providing income generating opportunities, and to educate both the tourist and tour providers.
One may wonder then, as to whether this seemingly plethora of definitions means that ecotourism is being used inappropriately or too much - perhaps too many things are being tagged as ecotourism (Honey, 2003) - or whether this deficit of a stock or agreed upon definition of ecotourism is ominous and unable to illustrate or account for the scale or enormity of ecotourism. It is obvious however, that the ecotourism market, since its adoption as a product to market, has become one of the fastest growing areas in the industry (Pforr, 2001), and due to the growing requirements from tourists for that ultimate experience of living with nature, its promise to advocate dependable travel to natural environments, and be part of the cause for conservation and advancing local communities (Angelica et al , 2010), the industry will continue to grow in the future. Whatever definition is chosen, ecotourism is here to stay and is a significant growth-area (Mercer, 1996, p3). In fact ecotourism is developing so rapidly that the United Nation (UN) denoted 2002 as the year of ecotourism, and because of the increasing awareness of ecological issues, the rate of ecotourism is growing by 15 in comparison to 3.5 in general tourism (Reid, 2003).
Apart from people wanting that ultimate nature experience and the fact that ecotourism is being advanced by the tourism industry itself, the development of ecotourism is also being impelled by other influences, such as politics and the policies of governments (not always to the advantage of the people and their environment) (Lindberg and McKercher, 1997), and ecologists and preservationists greenies - campaigning for the idea to help their mission to increase awareness in issues of ecology and protection of the environment.
In summary and to reiterate, there is no collective definition for all and sundry to follow, or advocate, but there does appear to be agreement that ecotourism includes a societal responsibility in terms of education (Weaver and Lawton, 2007), the involvement of the local people, or communities, and the focus on conservation.
2.1 .2Ecological ethics
Prior to consideration of the factors, or elements included in ecotourism, mention needs to be made of the philosophies underpinning this rapid development of ecotourism, and there appears no better place to start than with the prefix eco-.
Eco-, pertaining to a number of concepts such as eco-systems, eco-friendly and eco-tours are all fundamentally based on the philosophy of ecological ethics, which are ethical values directing our perspective, system of behaviour, and the way in which we think about and conserve the environment in which we live (Glossary of Environment Statistics, 2001) they are the way in which humans should conduct themselves with nature (Curry, 2007). In other words, ecological ethics pertain to how and to what extent we, as humans, value nature how much concern and what level of responsibility we have for nature. The amount of concern and responsibility placed on nature ecological ethics - varies considerably and can be classified into three green categories light, mild and dark, or shallow, intermediate and deep (Curry 2006).
Since man has been on earth, nature has been violated in the name of human development nature has been destroyed to make way for farms, villages, towns and cities, purely for the use and advancement of mankind, with no regard or concern for the ethics of nature. Many people today under the auspice of ecology are looking after natural environments, but purely for their own benefit, usually economic such people represent the light or shallow category, and are a major concern in terms of sustainability. At the other end, we have those that fit within the dark, or deep green category these people are completely committed to ecology, and are not concerned with only living beings but all ecological aspects of the earth, believing all should be valued, and provided equal concentration and management. The remainder fit in between, within the mild or intermediate green category, and are concerned with only living beings and do not provide for the natural environment. So, it appears that Curry, (2006, 2007) presumes a twofold concern relating human beings with their environment, and segments them within one of three categories.
2.1.3 Sustainable development
At the start of this chapter, and again at the end, the definition of ecotourism was said to play a role in sustainable development, but what do we mean by this
According to Dresner (2002) sustainable development was a concept for debate after
1985, following the World Commission on Environment and Development, but although this swing towards sustainable development was evident, the strongest push to change the way in which the world is developing emerged at the UN Conference on Environment and Development in 1992, wherein almost all world leaders conceded to the fact that current development is not sustainable, and will result in future generations having to bear the costs. The outcome of the conference was a treaty, wherein a number of countries agreed to produce a strategy for long term sustainable development (Magilavy a.i). The concept of sustainable development at this time however, focused on economics, and advocates tried to value the environment by way of monetary standards Purvis and Grainger (2004) report that their aim was to place a price on such things as pollution, resource depletion and human health (p.2). Opponents of the idea however, question how a price can be put on such resources.
The objectives of sustainable development are to maintain secure economic growth and job opportunities for local communities, to protect the environment, and to strive for a better life for all within their environment. There is a difference however, between strong sustainability
and weak sustainability (The Scottish Government, 2006). Advocates of the strong option regard the planet rather than its people as top priority whereas, those favouring the weak approach assume that technology is the way to economic growth, so natural resources can be neglected, so long as a base level is determined.
There is general agreement in the literature, that sustainable development is a confronting and almost formidable objective and one that can only be realised if all players collaborate and work together to determine the best means, policies and practices by which such a task can be achieved. This alliance must include all participating bodies including governments, if genuine sustainable development is to be a viable and achievable concept. Research illustrates that there is an increasing awareness of environmental, social, economic, and political considerations, which are involved in promoting sustainability (Gilbert, R, p76), and education is thus required to in order to address these issues.
2.1.4 Environmental education
One of the three factors common to definitions of ecotourism, as mentioned earlier, is education of both tourists and tour operators this education aims to promote and cultivate ways of thinking and acting in ways that are favourable or advantageous to the environment and help to maintain and sustain that environment (Wearing and Neill, 1999).
2.1.5 Local communities
2.1.6 Conservation
2.5 Tourism Products
2.5.1 What is a Product
A product is defined as something which is proposed and sold in the market. In the terminology of market product it is basically a solution provided to the market by the dealer. A product can be classified as either goods or services (Know this, 2009) A product is known to be goods if it has a proper shape and is touchable in nature. It requires the physical existence of the commodity that can be offered e.g., mobile phone, food items, soft drinks and furniture. The mode of goods can vary between tangible and intangible products there are several technological goods which are not solid or able to be physically handled but are still counted as goods, such as software, information abstracted from web. Despite the fact that they cannot be touched, such products are specifically developed by certain codes and always give the same knowledge, which is why they are denoted as goods.
Services on the other hand, are basically a product type in which the customer is satisfied by the provision of work or the labour required from another source production of goods can even be accomplished through service industries. The nature of services is intangible, the marginal utility derived can vary from time to time and from person to person, and it cannot be preserved laundry services, nursing, consultancies are examples of such services.
2.5.2 Ecotourism products
The ecotourism product consists of the facilities and features being offered for eco-tourism. Many studies have been conducted in order to understand the main concept of ecotourism and its product, but they are still in search of more relevant information. The product is a marketing term being used for ecotourism as defined above in the nature and types of products, ecotourism belongs to the service industries. It is an industry that provides services of tourism for eco-tourists, by helping them experience environmentally friendly visits to their destinations, along with raising their environmental awareness thus mutually benefiting the eco-tourists and the service providers both. Online research has shown that nowadays the term ecotourism product is gaining momentum, due to the increase in ecommerce and the easy availability of required trips for the customer, provided by different types of organisations like governments, agencies, tourism firms and hotels. For businesses to exist, authorities must plan and include a variety of cost effective, viable ecotourism products (Buckley, R. 2009).
2.5.3 The characteristics of ecotourism products
Throne (2009) provides a list of properties that an ecotourism product must possess, which are
Reduce collision
Awareness and value building for atmosphere and traditional ethics
Emphasising benefits for both eco-tourists and shareholders
Generate revenue and cater to the related authorities for proper management
Increase employment rates, especially promoting the involvement of locals
Value rights of humans along with the sensitiveness of nature
2.5.4 Types of ecotourism products
Ecotourism depends on many types of tourism products, catering to different segments of the market which may be collective group visits or sold alone (Buckley, R. 2009). The types of ecotourism products vary from region to region being influenced by many reasons, such as environment, geographical location and attributes of tourists different ecotourism products and services focus on different aspects, for example
Place
Sights
Accommodation
Transportation
Education
Activities
Natural assets
Heritage
Cultural manifestation
2.3.4 Green marketing concept
The slogan represented by advertising from Go Green has been adopted by the ecotourism promotional departments. It is a new way to denote ecotourism, and is a marketing campaign catering to development, promotion and distribution of environmentally friendly products. Green marketing is a method used to employ the ecological remuneration of a service or product to endorse sales. Many consumers prefer commodities that do not harm the atmosphere, and prefer to use environmentally friendly commodities, even if they are more expensive than similar products that do not cater to a sustained natural environment (Karasov, C, a.i). The focus for advertising within the concept of green marketing, is ecological remuneration to sell commodities such as recyclable goods, energy saving products, and safe chemicals.
2.5.5 Ecotourism resources in Yunnan
The ecotourism resources have been defined in detail in chapter 4 findings of this dissertation. Hence the study has shown that being ecologically diversified Yunnan is naturally enriched with the resources required for ecological tourism. The infrastructure supports rivers, mountainous regions, forests, lakes, sights, flora, fauna and environment accompanied with transportation facilities, accommodation, food and other leisure needs as demanded by customers.
2.6 Ecotourism Marketing
2.6.1 What is Marketing
Marketing is a societal and administrative procedure through which persons and factions get what they require and want during forming, contributing and replacing products of importance with others (Kotler et al., 2009). The factors that affect marketing are
Product
Price
Place
Promotion
Environment
2.6.2 Tourism marketing
The idea of tourism marketing depends on generating the supply (marketing mix) equivalent to the recognised demand of the visitor market whereas, by means of creation, cost, location and endorsement, which permit identifying, notifying, encouraging and providing these markets in the best possible way (Holloway, 2004). Tourism marketing requires the following categories (Holloway, 2004)
Acknowledgment and overture of want toward traveling
Alteration of want into tourism facilities
Supplying the visitors with tourism facilities
Sale of tourism facilities
Recognition of tourists activities
The current marketing is a method of accomplishing business, greatly relying on the marketing concept which embrace the following facets that organisations must accomplish (Mahoney and Wernell 1987)
1. Plan their products or services to target customer demand
2. Spotlight individuals to develop their items for consumption rather than the whole market and
3. Expand marketing plans to fit into general business targets
2.6.3 Ecotourism market
The market of ecotourism deals with the demand and supply of ecotourism products - the trips required for tourism, the requirement of accommodation, transportation, food, necessities, guidance and entertainment by the customer to conduct a trip. The market of ecotourism like any other product market, varies along with the attributes of the eco-tourists, the fluctuation of political state of the government, social impacts and environmental impacts As with any other market, understanding of the ecotourism market depends upon
Market research
Market segments
Marketing promotion
2.6.4 Significance of tourism marketing
Like every other product the significance of ecotourism results in many benefits which will be discussed in detail later on to provide an introduction it can be said that the main significance is
Development of ecotourism as a product
Promotion
Economic benefits
Increase in employment rate
Increase in awareness
Gathering tourist attention
As Hardy et al. (2002) argue, a theory in relation to ecotourism has not yet been developed, at least not one that is acceptable, but some that have been proposed will be discussed in this chapter.
2.4 Ecotourism the current situation
2.4.1 Ecotourism globally
The press release from the World Tourism Organisation in 2001 showed that global ecotourism was growing three times more than general tourism, and developing as a market with a flat growth rate. This global ecotourism included nature, tradition, inheritance, adventure tourism, and community based tourism, which are the sectors with more scope for growth in the future (WTO, 2001).
The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) (2006) stated that global ecotourism had been growing at a rate of 20 34 each year since 1990, and by 2004 it was developing three times more rapidly than normal tourism they also estimated that by 2013 sustainable tourism could account for 25 of the global market, to an estimated value of US473.6 billion a year.
According to an estimate by Travel Weekly (2008) the world trade market can expect growth in the present ecotourism market, due to an increasing shift towards ecological development, an increase in nature based tourism, and a growth in construction of proper accommodation such as hotels and resorts.
It is evident that ecotourism is gaining global importance and growing at a rapid speed and pouring billions of dollars into the global economy. Thus it is hoped, that the world is recognising the principles of ecotourism and taking the environment, social and cultural effects of such growth into account and not merely focusing on economic development.
2.4.2 Ecotourism in China
In 1995, the first session of the China Ecotourism Symposium was held in XiShuangBanNa, Yunnan. The session presented Chinas position on environment protection and support of sustainable development. Then, sustainable tourism was gradually introduced into the Chinese market. Essentially, ecotourism is the conscience of sustainable tourism (Weaver, 2006) and the best way to achieve sustainable tourism. The market is changing. There Western influences everywhere, and China is going greener (Trehoux, 2008)
On January 1, 2009, Chinas year of ecotourism was inaugurated in Sanya by the China National Tourism Administration with a slogan Be a green traveler and experience eco-civilization (Wang, et al, 2009, p263-4). In 2008 the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) and the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) legalized the most up-to-date paper on ecotourism in China, which sets out Chinas goals, undertakings and the different kinds of ecotourism they want to develop, among other things (Wang, et al, 2009). Wang et al (2009) also state that the CNTA s currently in the midst of devising a national accreditation system for ecotourism.
2.4.3 Ecotourism in Yunnan
Prior to 1978 the Chinese Government did not pay much attention to tourism, but after Deng Xiao Pings U-turn the government started to participate in the tourism industry in China, led by a coastal strategy (Zhang, 2001). The five year plan of (1996-2000) played a vital role for setting up Yunnan as an ecotourism market (Zhang 2001), particularly the construction of the silk route. Tourism in Yunnan accelerated in 1978, with a growth in tourist numbers and revenue, which initiated the need and development of an infrastructure for tourism in 1980, but it was not until 1990 that Yunnan was recognised as an environment for ecotourism. The Yunnan ecotourism industry at that point consisted of one centre, three tourist routes, four places, five areas, six products, and nine key projects (Zhang 2001).
Yunnan has even strengthened its transportation system, increasing routes within the province and outside it, and linking with other provinces and countries nearby. These transportation methods involve road and railway routes connecting Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, routes and docks that facilitate travellers and commodities to airports and the Mekong River (Verghese, 1998).
The authorities of Yunnan desire development in attractive domestic and international tourist destinations, together with the development in other related services and entertainment services in the tourism region. Ecotourism is playing a very vital role for the economy of Yunnan and figures show that in 1999 ecotourism generated about 50 billion Yuan this was a 10 increase from the previous year, and has been recognised as second on the list of revenue generating industries in the province since then. Yunnan is making great efforts towards ecotourism development, and has created precedence for the ecotourism related regions, such as the eight eco-cultural based routes and five zones (WTO, 2002).
Yunnans cultural attractions and ecological resources, promoted as ecotourism products by the province, consist of 111 reserves and 26 parks covering an area of about 20,000 square kilometres and representing 5 of Yunnan (Mattson, 1999). The hotspots, enriched with ecological and cultural assortments, incorporate ethnic and biological preservations in accordance to ecotourism perspectives a recent example is Xishuangbanna. Another prevailing project is the project of the great river in Yunnan, focusing on North West Yunnan province, and promoting community based ecotourism in the region. The most important area to note is the watershed of Lashihai, which is a lake of Lijang County, and a holy mountain of Tibet Meilixueshan (Bullock, 2002). This project is satisfies both type ecological tourism and mass tourism by endorsing Green tourism. The current strategy of ecotourism in Yunnan focuses predominately on community based tourism projects, management of ecotourism and services relegated to gathering information (Leksakundilok, 2004).
Ecotourism in Yunnan, however, still lacks consideration by the authorities, as explained in an online article by Pasternack (2007) the areas of Yunnan are facing great deficiencies due to the unconcerned attitude towards its ecological development, even though Yunnan possesses attention capturing sites that are quite famous, the Wenhai Eco-lodge for instance, and an enriched natural environment.
Ecotourism in Yunnan has been divided into four sections, which will be defined in detail in chapter 4. Feng (2006) states these that no tourist site has proper financial support by the authorities, nor proper management of landmarks with such minimum resources and involvement by authorities for maximum profits, the domestic structure found in Yunnan may not be able to sustain proper ecological conditions, though the locals and private bodies are working to create their own ecotourism.
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