University of Aarhus ECOTOURISM AS A WAY TO PROTECT ...

Ecotourism as a sustainable way to protect nature
(international, national, regional). This diversity results from different national,
cultural, geographical and historical backgrounds.
As a result of the need for some global ecotourism regulation the Green
Globe 21 with co-operation of the NEAP and other schemes seems to be the best
for the future, setting of the global rules of ecotourism through certification. The
best would probably be, when the rules of the Green Globe 21 are sensitively
applied to the local conditions (environmental and cultural background etc.) by
the local authorities, NGO or private companies (using the strong support by the
Green Globe 21).
In the tourism market it is important to mention that the major motivation
for the providers when applying for "ecolabel" is that they gain some
competitive advantage resulting in an increased revenue flow. So the
environmental performances are often instruments to how they increase their
profits. As an instrument for the consumer’s choice, ecolabels are a valuable
environmental management tool in tourism (Buckley, 2001). And it is a great
challenge for all environmental issues, because this approach is not very
common up to now.
But the ecolabeling is still now in the early stages and only few tourists
routinely search for ecolabels in product purchasing (Buckley, 2001). So the
future emphasis should be aimed to enhance the transparency of the ecolabels
and effectively hand in hand with emphasis on public promotion of tourism
ecolabels as a way to travel more "environmentally".
2.6. Different roles of ecotourism
As mentioned in the section of the economic aspects of ecotourism,
tourism has rapidly developed all over the world. It significantly becomes a
contributor to the local, regional, national, and global economy.
28