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Linking Culture and the Environment

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2 Recreation Ecology in<br />

Sustainable Tourism <strong>and</strong><br />

Ecotourism: a Streng<strong>the</strong>ning<br />

Role<br />

YU-FAI LEUNG 1 , JEFFREY L. MARION 2 AND TRACY A.<br />

FARRELL 3<br />

1<br />

Department of Parks, Recreation <strong>and</strong> Tourism Management, North<br />

Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; 2 USGS Patuxent<br />

Wildlife Research Center, Virginia Tech, Forestry (0324), Blacksburg,<br />

Virginia, USA; 3 Strategic Projects, Programs <strong>and</strong> Sciences, Conservation<br />

International, Arlington, Virginia, USA<br />

Introduction<br />

Sustainable tourism <strong>and</strong> ecotourism are two buzzwords that have generated<br />

considerable debate in <strong>the</strong> tourism literature regarding <strong>the</strong>ir definitions,<br />

attainability, implementation <strong>and</strong> consequences. Much of this debate since<br />

<strong>the</strong> late 1980s has revolved around <strong>the</strong> issue of sustainability (Cater <strong>and</strong><br />

Lowman, 1994; Hunter <strong>and</strong> Green, 1995; Wall, 1997; Butler, 1999; UNEP <strong>and</strong><br />

WTO, 2005). Economic sustainability requires maximizing value along <strong>the</strong><br />

tourism supply/dem<strong>and</strong> chain, as well as addressing important sociopolitical<br />

issues like l<strong>and</strong> tenure <strong>and</strong> governance, to increase tourism revenue<br />

for local as well as international <strong>and</strong> national operators. Underst<strong>and</strong>ing <strong>the</strong><br />

resistance <strong>and</strong> resilience of ecosystem function in response to tourism development<br />

<strong>and</strong> growth is also essential. A 2005 global assessment found that 15<br />

of 24 ecosystem services were significantly degraded, including decreased<br />

fresh water quality, loss of soil nutrients, decreases in fish stocks <strong>and</strong> loss of<br />

forest cover (MEA, 2005).<br />

Sustainable tourism has been defined, based on <strong>the</strong> principles of sustainable<br />

development, as tourism development that ‘meets <strong>the</strong> needs of present<br />

tourists <strong>and</strong> host regions while protecting <strong>and</strong> enhancing opportunity for <strong>the</strong><br />

future’ (WTTC et al., 1995, p. 30). Ecotourism, a fast-growing segment within<br />

<strong>the</strong> nature-based tourism industry, is defined by <strong>the</strong> International Ecotourism<br />

Society as ‘responsible travel to natural areas that conserves <strong>the</strong> environment<br />

<strong>and</strong> sustains <strong>the</strong> well-being of local people’ (TIES, 2008). This chapter restricts<br />

its focus to ecological sustainability in tourism <strong>and</strong> recreation contexts,<br />

©CAB International 2008. Tourism, Recreation <strong>and</strong> Sustainability:<br />

<strong>Linking</strong> <strong>Culture</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Environment</strong>, 2nd edn (eds S.F. McCool <strong>and</strong> R.N. Moisey) 19

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