ABSTRACT
As noted by Maslow (1954), people will be moved to satisfy lower-order needs first (those which are physiological, including food, shelter and safety) before upper-level, or psychological, ones (leisure, self-respect and self-actualisation). The implications of Maslow’s model to human behaviour are suggestive of the fact that humans are often caught in a duality between what is universally right and personally satisfying or rewarding. It is perhaps why people continue to practise slash-and-burn agriculture; why governments are reluctant to explore other forms of energy use beyond fossil fuels; and why tourist operators are prone to placing more people on sensitive environments than they are supposed to. There appear to be two main motivations for this action along a broad continuum. At one end of the continuum is the need to survive and support a family, while at the other is the need to prosper economically at all costs.
In this chapter ecotourism is discussed in the context of an ethical imperative – an essential ingredient needed to better conceptualise ecotourism both in theory and practice. This is not just far-fetched idealism, but comes after careful consideration of the foundations of human nature – a topic not at all familiar to tourism theorists. The theory of reciprocal altruism explains why we are both self-interested and cooperative, and the application of this theory to tourism puts into perspective why we are faced with a variety of ethical issues. The chapter also focuses on defining ethics as well as summarising the extent of tourism research and ethics to date.
