“Without tourism, the Pantanal (in South America), the world’s largest wetland, would have just turned into a major cattle feed-lot for McDonald’s” – Costas Christ, at the International Symposium on Sustainable Tourism Development

Highlighting the roles of tourism in supporting and promoting conservation, this article discusses the social, economic and environmental sustainability of travel and tourism, noting that “the very essence of tourism is selling culture and nature, and those must be protected or there will be no industry.” But, can ecotourism be truly sustainable when it involves flying halfway around the world to reach the destination? Do the benefits of ecotourism, for the community and for the environment – outweigh the unavoidable footprints of travelers?

Sustainable tourism, like sustainable development, is “such a vague concept that no one disagrees with but can mean anything you want it to,” says Richard Butler, professor at the University of Strathclyde, in Scotland. “As a result, there are many policies on sustainable development but not much action… From the climate change perspective, it doesn’t matter if an eco-village in the Amazon rainforest is carbon neutral when tourists fly thousands of kilometers to get there.” more…

Related articles:

• Climate Conscious Wings to Costa Rica: A Project of CANAECO (PDF)
• Ecotourism could help the Amazon reduce deforestation and handle climate change (WWF March 24, 2009)
• More posts on “Traveling with Climate in Mind”