When I first hear the word, eco tourism, it sounds pretty interesting. Imagine a city dweller or tourist who never saw the Amazon River and Forest, the ice shelves of Antarctica, etc. The tourist physically sees this great beauty and is now able to grasp what is global warming, climate change, unsustainable living and how it effects Earth. It sounds all great to me, knowing and seeing what is out there, then being educated on the ways to make the change. As a result, bringing back their experience and spreading it around word of mouth and going to great lengths to fight for the “planet” Okay, It sound good, but, where did the eco tourist go, and where did they come from? What lengths and what modes of transportation did they use to get to point B and back?

What’s the sense of going on an eco trip if, if we are all destroying the planet by taking planes, and gas guzzling cars, and staying in luxurious hotels that are not eco friendly to get there and back? Does the good outweigh the cost? The cost being the impact on the environment to make the trip but at the same time, the knowledge obtained and the possible lifestyle change can possible over shadow the trip.

However, what will be the draw for participants in eco tourism if they have no interest whatsoever in the social and environmental impacts? Showing them pictures of a tropical paradise and then informing them everywhere in billboards, advertisements, commercials, that the paradise they just saw will not be there in 20 to 30 years? Should areas of the world, advertise and show directly to tourist what their impact on the earth is and then show them the destruction, instead of sheltering them. For instance, allow tourism but resorts allow tourist physically to see what deforestation looks like and who and how it effects the ecosystem around them.

I feel that for people to understand what they are doing is unsustainable and physically showing them the results, then that can be their eco tourism and also inform them that the plane they took just increased their unsustainable ways.

I don’t mind indirectly sending someone on a guilt trip, but hey, the question is how to draw the people who just do not care and allowing them to see what happens when they do not care.