Ecotourism

Ecotourism or Responsible tourism refers to an approach to tourism born at the end of 1980's and characterized by a double concern towards the environment and the welfare and respect of the local population.

The relevance of ecotourism has increased significantly in the past twenty-five years and given its importance United Nations proclaimed in 2002 the Year of International Ecotourism. Also, ONU invited political entities and tourism operators to a serious collaboration aimed at promoting the new Ecotourism Model.

Even though a proper definition of responsible tourism is yet to be assigned, in 2005 the AITR - Italian Association of Responsible Tourism - has described the concept as follows:

Responsible tourism is the tourism pursued with respect towards social and economic justice and in full respect towards environment and cultures.

Starting from the above definition, it is possible to identify some guidelines that best suit the concept:

Respect of the environment, Eco-system and Bio-diversity minimizing the environmental impact of all the businesses that are tourism centred;
Respect traditional cultures and local population;
Equilibrated development of the local economies with a fair distribution of the socio-economic benefits derived from tourism with a major attention to the weaker and less visible producers;
When possible, an active participation of the local population to the management of the ecotouristic businesses.