Defining ecotourism: evidence of provider perspectives from an emerging area

Abstract

On-going discussion surrounds the definition of ecotourism. Definitions are usually constructed by policy-makers involved in developing ‘ecotourism’ destinations, tour operators, organisations such as the International Ecotourism Society, certification bodies and academics who wish to bring some order to the multiplicity of definitions that exist. This paper seeks to add information relating to tourism provider understandings of ecotourism, by assessing evidence based on in-depth interviews against diagnostic criteria compiled by Fennell, D. A. [2001. A content analysis of ecotourism definitions. Current Issues in Tourism, 4, 403–421. doi:10.1080/13683500108667896]. The research was conducted in the Greenbox ecotourism destination in the north midlands of Ireland. The Greenbox provides an example of an emerging destination, without a strongly developed image, providing a multiplicity of ecotourism products, the providers of which held narrow understandings of ecotourism for the most part. It was a short-term ‘top-down’ experiment but had longer-term impacts in contributing to a provider-led initiative. Ecotourism was understood principally as being based on the natural environment which needs to be protected and conserved; more detailed understanding was influenced by the personal background and experience of a minority of providers.

Keywords:

• developed world
• ecotourism definition
• tourism providers
• Ireland

Acknowledgements

This paper was originally developed whilst Dr Thérèse Conway held a lectureship in Geography in NUI Galway in 2014–2015. The assistance of the tourism provider interviewees and the local authority tourism officers who provided advice is acknowledged as is that of Dr Siubhán Comer, School of Geography and Archaeology, NUI Galway, who prepared Figure 1 which is reproduced under copyright licence from the Ordnance Survey of Ireland. The authors would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on the paper.

Additional information

Funding

The first author's PhD project, conducted while based at the School of Geography and Archaeology and Whitaker Institute, National University of Ireland Galway, on which the research is based, was funded under the Irish Higher Education Authority Fourth Programme of Research in Third Level Institutions 2008–2014, through the Whitaker Institute at NUI Galway and the Irish Social Sciences Research Platform.