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Ecotourism

ECOTOURISM.


Ecotourism developed as a buzz word in the 1980’s.This form of tourism is very reliant on the environment especially areas of unique or pristine quality which have suffered few human impacts. Unfortunately, as usually happens with any new form of ‘entertainment’, popularity tends to lead to resource degradation and this is amplified in environments which are unused to a large human presence.

Ecotourism has often been condemned for exploiting resources that are free to visit. New Zealand’s National Parks are a clear example of such open access resources. Thirty percent of New Zealand is owned by the Department of Conservation and under the National Parks Act, 1980 allows for free entry but does not guarantee the free use of the services within the park i.e. visitor information, the use of huts, and weather forecasts. It is argued that a “benefit principle” should be applied, whereby only those that use the parks pay, rather than everyone i.e. the tax...

Posted by: Helene Hannah

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