National Geographic has coined* the word geotourism: "Tourism that sustains* or enhances* the geographical character of a place – its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage*, and the well-being of its residents."
Planeta.com: ecotourism: a) provides for conservation measures, b) includes meaningful community participation, and c) is profitable and can sustain itself.
Ecotourism: low-impact*, small-scale travel to sensitive and protected areas, while educating the traveller, providing funds for conservation, providing the direct benefits of economic development and political empowerment* to local communities, and fostering* respect of different cultures and for human rights. – Martha Harvey
Ecotourism: Responsible (low impact) travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and sustains the well-being of local people. – The Ecotourism Society (TES)

1 Tourism is by some estimates* the world’s biggest industry. In 1950 there were 25 million tourist visas; currently 700 million; and 1.6 billion projected for 2020. As it has grown, its destructive effects have become more evident and are greater than we may expect. Along with television, tourism is one of the strongest agents* of globalisation – tourists are the shock troops* of Western-style capitalism, distributing social and psychological viruses just as earlier colonists spread diseases.

2 Ecotourism is supposedly the antidote* to mass tourism. It should be small-scale, nature-based, environmentally-friendly. At least that’s the theory. In reality no one has properly defined it in a way that could be acceptable to critics of the industry, therefore allowing marketing men, “greenwashers”*, and corporate developers to flourish*. I’ve heard a casino in Laos described as ecotourism – because it was sited* in untouched countryside.

3 Much ecotourism relies on places from which native people have been excluded*, often forcibly*, or which are being destroyed by the great number of tourists. Yet ecotourism represents only 2-4% of international travel spending. If it grew to the point where it dominated the tourism industry, could such a large-scale industry be managed in a small-scale way? Can anyone who has flown around the world in a jet powered by subsidised* fossil fuel and puffing out greenhouse gases qualify as an ecotourist – whatever the type of holiday that awaits them?

4 The attempt to create an alternative to mass tourism does in itself signify that the industry has gone wrong, the reasons for which are full of paradoxes. First, tourism is seen as a “clean” path to development – an industry without factories, fumes and the consumption* of limited resources. The reality is that it destroys landscapes, either through development or the demands that Westernised appetites (desires) put on fragile* economies and ecosystems.

5 Second, while marketed as “of all-inclusive benefit to the economy”, the financial gains* of tourism are unevenly distributed. Most of the money ends up with local or international elites – hotel-owners, tour operators and airlines. Although tourism creates jobs, it also displaces jobs (or livelihoods*) based on agriculture and fishing. Typically, native lands are taken for national parks or tourist complexes, so people who were once able to make a reasonably independent living off the land find themselves as disempowered wage-earners* in a global economy. One small downturn in the US economy and they’re out of work with no skills or land to fall back on. A 10% reduction in travel (due to Sept. 11, for example) would cause 9 million people to lose their jobs.

6 Third, there is the paradox of the tourist being of great social benefit – from the saying that travel “broadens the mind” to “world peace through travel” (the Hilton hotel motto). In fact, it is hard to imagine an industry with more potential for misunderstanding and conflict. In Asia, Africa and South America, tourism cruelly exposes the fault lines* of global economic inequality. Most interactions between tourists and locals revolve around the cash nexus* (money).

7 Another point is that unlike other industries, which keep their raw materials inside factories and offices, tourists get everywhere (often in large numbers), so that people who gain no benefit from tourism must suffer its consequences*. Also, in its drive to “broaden the mind”, tourism seeks out the richness and strangeness of other cultures, often destroying them in the process. For the sake of the tourist, old festivals have been expanded beyond recognition and new ones have been invented or transplanted from other countries. In one sense you could argue that it’s harmless enough – local people being instructed to wear their regional traditional costume to work. What’s wrong with dressing up and pretending? Isn’t that what they do in Disneyland? It’s not exactly what it claims* to be. It has undergone* a subtle interior change, into a branch of commercial culture, of marketing.

8 On the other hand, it is said that tourism is good for conservation – and there are many cases where it has helped to save a species, such as the mountain gorillas of the Congo. Throughout the world, tourist revenues* keep national parks in existence and motivate governments to protect them. Whale-watching, famously, is now worth far more than whaling. And whether it’s a cottage in the countryside or a cruise in Antarctica, travel can still confront one with dimensions of reality that are new, disturbing, wonderful – and that may leave something more than an image in a photo album. It’s also true that human contact may sometimes transcend the cash nexus*. Simply having been to a place may create an attachment that could prove of value. If one has visited the rainforests of Costa Rica, one is more likely to want – and to pay – to save them.

9 Unfortunately, the industry as a whole doesn’t work this way. Mass tourism is an industry dealing in human interactions and experiences which lacks* any idea of what should inform them. It is also a leading protagonist of the globalisation which is eradicating* all the uniqueness* and beauty upon which tourism itself is based – a classic example of an industry devouring* its own resources.

10 Many critics and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) now hope for the success of community-based ecotourism, in which typically local organisations run facilities, accept visitors there, organise environmentally-friendly activities, provide a taste of local culture and channel the proceeds* into locally-run industries. These are an improvement on mass package-tourism, partly because they remove many of its financial inequities*. That they are a full answer is doubtful*, as community tourism could not handle the projected increase in tourist numbers without turning into something quite different.

11 If the industry is to handle the hundreds of millions of people jetting around the globe, it will have to undergo major reform. One could imagine how – planning controls, tourist and aviation fuel taxes, airport restrictions, a global tourism convention – but it is unlikely that it will. Neither governments nor industry are interested.

12 Tourists themselves are ignorant of the damage done in their name. Although travelling may encourage the beginnings of a basic planetary ethic – a sense of responsibility for other parts of the globe – this is not enough to withstand* the individual desire for the experiences that journeys to distant places are believed to provide. In that sense, tourism is a classic “tragedy of the commons” – many individuals acting independently and in what they perceive* to be their own interests, destroying a collective good. What is needed is a new travel ethic, in which people start to ask themselves about the purpose and value of their journey – why they need to escape, what is it they hope to find – but I fear this will only begin when enough people start returning with the sense that their journey had very little purpose and value, by which time it may well be too late.

Presenter: Fiji is a group of tropical islands in the Pacific Ocean. Tony Green has just (1)____________ Fiji, where he worked during the early eighties. He’s noticed how the islands and islanders have changed. Tony, is Fiji the “tropical holiday paradise” that the holiday brochures tell us about?

Tony: Well, in many ways it still is – if you can get away from the main island and the capital, Suva. There are, after all, over (2)____________ islands in the group, of which only one hundred are inhabited. Politically, Fiji is not a very (3)____________ nation – the main problem is that of the 670,000 people, half are ethnic Fijians and half are ethnic Indians, the descendants of labourers who came to work on the (4)____________ plantations. The Indians tend to run the commercial life of the islands. They have the businesses and the shops, (5)____________ the Fijians own the land and they are farmers and fishermen - oh, and they also dominate the government. (6)____________, many Indians have left Fiji because life has become more difficult for them and these (7)____________ tensions have rather destabilised the country, making it less popular than other more (8)____________ destinations.

Tourism started in the late sixties because flights between America and Australia had to land in Fiji to (9)____________ and visitors began to stop over in Fiji, to (10)____________ which was then an unspoilt, quote “tropical paradise” unquote. The tourists mainly came, and still do come, from Australia and New Zealand. About, I think, (11)____________ go there each year. Tourism is the main dollar earner of the islands. Nearly (12)____________ the country’s income comes from tourists. However, for every dollar earned, (13)____________ cents goes straight out of the country again to pay for what the tourists (14)____________. The visitors eat meat and dairy products and vegetables flown in from New Zealand; they drink Australian beer, (15)____________, and orange juice. The local farmers just haven’t been able to cope with the international (16)____________ of the visitors. The islands of Fiji are very fertile, but the farmers haven’t adapted to the requirements of the tourist industry, which requires a reliable (17)____________ of standard quality products. It’s easier for them to grow sugar cane, bananas, and ginger for export than to cater for the whims of tourists. Consequently, it’s cheaper and simpler for hoteliers to (18)____________ what their guests want to eat and drink, even some of the fruit, by air.

One of the more noticeable (19)____________ of tourism on the people is that you see children playing truant from school to act as “guides” for the tourists. Local shopkeepers pay them to grab tourists and pull them into their gift shops. (20)____________, many of the souvenirs they buy are not made locally at all. They’re imported from places like Taiwan and Hong Kong. The Fijians used to be known for their friendliness and hospitality. This is something I noticed particularly when I was there before, but now you’re beginning to see a sullenness creep into their character. People seem to resent the (21)____________ and “friendly Fiji”, as advertised in the holiday brochures, is no longer so apparent, I‘m afraid. Yeah, these slogans have devalued a complex situation. I suppose you can’t expect everyone to welcome foreigners into their community without the foreigners (22)____________ the locals with respect too. I mean, you can’t buy (23)____________ with dollars, or deutschmarks, or whatever.

Presenter: I see, They do say that travel broadens the mind. Is that your experience?

Tony: Quite the opposite, I’d say. Every international hotel looks very much like another. There are no local styles, and the services they offer are (24)____________ too. In fact, if you look at the visitors in those hotels, they’re all starting to look alike! They dress the same and behave the same. They talk about the same things, they (25)____________ the same opinions, they eat the same food, drink the same drinks. They never learn a word of the local language or find out about the local (26)____________ – apart from the folklore evenings laid on for them at the hotels. They find themselves buying the same Hong Kong-made souvenirs all over the world.

But what is saddest of all is that they are totally (27)____________ of the local people and their aspirations, of their problems, and their interests. The only local people they speak to are waiters, shopkeepers, chambermaids, you know? Tourism, in fact, is not conducive to mutual understanding. In some cases it even gives rise to (28)____________ contempt, I think. The only difference for the tourist being at home and being on holiday is that the weather is (29)____________. On holiday, they have people to do the cooking and serve the food, and do the washing-up afterwards!

Presenter: I see. So, how do you see the future of Fiji?

Tony: Well, (30)____________ what I’ve said, I’m optimistic. Fiji can’t revert to how it was in the past. That’s just too much to ask. You can’t put the clock back. But the (31)____________ on Fiji is no longer an essential refuelling stop. Long-range jets cross the Pacific non-stop now, which means that the tourists who go to Fiji now aren’t people who are just stopping over for a night or two, but people who have chosen to stay there for one or two weeks, or whatever. And Fiji doesn’t depend too (32)____________ on tourism for its income. Recently, important reserves of copper have been found which will improve the balance of payments. I think the number of tourists is likely to stabilise at an acceptable (33)____________. And it looks likely that the relationship between the natives and visitors will develop – as it has in Spain or Greece, for example – into a mature, sensible, businesslike one.