ABSTRACT
Ecotourism is a vast and promising industry. It can provide foreign exchange and economic rewards for the preservation of natural systems and wildlife. But ecotourism also threatens to destroy the resources on which it depends. Tour boats dump garbage in the waters off Antarctica; shutterbugs harass wildlife in National Parks; and hordes of us trample fragile areas. This frantic activity threatens the viability of natural systems. There is an excess of expressions for nature-based tourism already in the literature. The term nature travel (or sometimes nature-oriented tourism) refers to a style of tourism that combines education, recreation, and often adventure and has been used widely in the literature. The label of ecotourism is synonymous with nature tourism, which can be defined as travelling to relatively undisturbed or uncontaminated natural areas with the specific objective of studying, admiring, and enjoying the scenery, with its wild plants and animals, as well as any existing cultural manifestations. Nature tourism is based on the enjoyment of natural areas and the observation of nature; further, it specifies that such tourism has a low impact environmentally, is labour-intensive and contributes, both socially and economically, to the nation. This chapter explores the essential elements of nature-based tourism (NBT), and examples from the region will help illustrate its diversity of form. Existing literature is reviewed, and an assessment is made on the present state of knowledge about NBT and some of the most pressing issues awaiting research. An overall management perspective reflects the link between nature-based tourism and nature conservation. The focus of this chapter is to provide a context for the analysis of NBT and discuss the relative merits of options. A basic premise is an underlying need for nature conservation at all levels.
