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Sustainable tourism and ecotourism

By Matt Burdett, 24 January 2018

On this page, we look at the concept of sustainable tourism, including the growth of ecotourism.

ecotourism case study geography

  • Near Oodnadatta, Australia. Small groups that don’t reach the carrying capacity of an area are one way to achieve sustainability in tourism.

What is sustainable tourism?

Sustainable tourism can be defined as:

“Tourism that conserves primary tourist resources and supports the livelihoods and culture of local people.” (IBO, 2009)

The United Nations World Tourism Organisation defines sustainable tourism as:

“Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities” (UNWTO, 2005)

Sustainable tourism is therefore not just about the environment, but also about the economic and social impacts. This can apply to mass tourist destinations just as much as niche tourism destinations. The key concept is that the area can be used for tourism indefinitely without causing harm.

Environmental sustainability

Natural heritage and biodiversity must be conserved if tourism is to be considered sustainable. Often, tourism development is sustainable if it uses an element of the environment (such as the natural landscape). By using it, the environment becomes an economic asset to people. This can protect it from being harmed by other economic activities.

To achieve environmental sustainability, the consumption of resources should be minimised, as should the production of waste. This includes the consumption and waste of water, which is frequently a point of tension between locals and tourists in drier parts of the world.

Social sustainability

Sustainable tourism should help to conserve cultural heritage of local people and ensure that traditional values are not lost, although it can help to promote intercultural tolerance. However, this is very difficult. The simple act of meeting a group of people can change their attitudes towards others, which makes it harder to preserve the indigenous culture.

Economic sustainability

The economy is not just about income. It is also about the long-term viability of employment, and avoiding the inequality that can occur when one group benefits much more than others from tourism. Tourism can be a powerful force to reduce poverty, especially in rural areas where other economic activities are difficult to implement.

Informed participation

The UNWTO (2005) argues that to be truly sustainable, tourism development must include the informed participation of stakeholders. (Stakeholders are people who have an direct interest in a particular activity.) This requires suitable political leadership to ensure that diverse views continue to be heard as development progresses.

Mutually beneficial

Ultimately all tourism development is only sustainable as long as tourists want to participate. It is vital that tourists have a positive experience, so they (or their representatives) should be included in some way in the decision making process.

International Year of Sustainable Tourism, 2017

2017 was adopted as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism Development by the United Nations. This was in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals, and five pillars of policy development were chosen as shown in the figure below (UNWTO, 2016):

ecotourism case study geography

  • Six focus areas for the Year of Sustainable Tourism. Source: UNWTO, 2016.

The sustainable tourism ‘growth paradox’

The term ‘paradox’ refers to a contradictory statement. In this case, the concept of ‘sustainable tourism’ may be contradictory because, possibly, no tourism can ever be truly sustainable.

Mullins (2017) summarises the argument that tourism is inherently unsustainable. The environmental damage from carbon emissions from traveling; the cultural interruption from having locals who have to engage with visitors, who may or may not be respectful of the culture they visit; and the economic disruption that comes from having relatively wealthy visitors who are willing to pay more than locals for basic products. All these are examples of the ways in which tourism, even on a very small scale, may still be unsustainable.

Global scale paradox

On a global scale, the resource consumption of tourism is very high. Travellers make a total of 32 million flights every year (this is the number of planes flying, not the number of passengers – there were around 1.2 billion individual movements!), which produces 781 million tons of carbon. When at their destinations, people generally use around twice the amount of water compared to at home. This suggests that global travel is not environmentally sustainable as the ‘vacation mindset’ involves deliberate indulgence, and therefore resource consumption and waste production, on the part of the tourist (Williams, 2016).

Local scale paradox

The more the tourist activity grows, the more disruption is caused, until the original environment, culture and economy is permanently changed and geared towards tourism. Some would argue this has already happened in many destinations. Many of these began as supposedly ‘sustainable’ destinations, but in fact what made them ‘sustainable’ was simply a very small number of visitors. Tourists to Cambodia in the 1970s, visiting the city of Siem Reap and the temples of Angkor, were greeted with an undeveloped tourist infrastructure allowing freedom to interact with the local culture, heritage and environment. Today, the temples themselves have significant protection including entry tickets and strict rules about eating and drinking to protect them, but the nearby towns do not. The secondary tourist facilities provided in the nearby urban areas have developed the city of Siem Reap beyond recognition. Visitors now arrive to a modern airport that has a Starbucks, Dairy Queen, Yoshinoya and Burger King (Cambodia Airports, 2018). The impact on the centre of Siem Reap city has been to strongly Westernise it, as seen in the photograph below.

ecotourism case study geography

  • Siem Reap, Cambodia. The influx of tourists to the nearby heritage site of Angkor Wat has dramatically changed the city. Is this sustainable?

Greenwashing

‘Greenwashing’ is a term “used to describe the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service” (Greenpeace, n.d.). The term can be used for many industries including tourism.

Tourism is sometimes accused of being ‘greenwashing’ because the industry presents itself as being sustainable despite the problems that can result from it.

ecotourism case study geography

  • Queensland, Australia: Whale watching is a form of ecotourism as it is focused on the natural environment.

Ecotourism is often perceived as being ‘green’ tourism, such as visiting a rainforest. This misses a key issue, which is that ecotourism must be sustainable.

Today, ecotourism should be defined as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment, sustains the well-being of the local people, and involves interpretation and education” (TIES, 2015). A similar definition from the IUCN is “environmentally responsible travel to natural areas, in order to enjoy and appreciate nature (and accompanying cultural features, both past and present) that promote conservation, have a low visitor impact and provide for beneficially active socio-economic involvement of local peoples” (IUCN, via The Nature Conservancy, n.d.).

These definitions both have three main elements:

  • Focused on natural areas
  • Ensures well-being of host communities
  • Educational

There are many lists of characteristics of ecotourism (such as The International Ecotourism Society, found here ). The United Nations World Tourism Organisation argues that ecotourism has five main features (UNWTO, n.d.):

  • Nature-based forms of tourism with the motivation to appreciate nature as well as culture in natural areas
  • Often specialised, and small group tours
  • Minimises negative impacts
  • Supports natural areas by creating economic benefits for host communities (including employment opportunities) and increasing awareness

The growth of the ecotourism sector

Ecotourism is growing and has been doing so for some time. However, specific figures are very difficult to find. The following is a summary of some anecdotal evidence that suggests ecotourism is growing (general source: Center for Responsible Travel, 2017):

  • Between 2013 and 2016, around a third of all leisure tourists in the USA made a ‘sustainable’ trip, spending US$600 more than typical travellers, and staying 7 days compared to 4 days at their destination
  • In 2016, the UNWTO estimated that there were 14000 protected areas in the world, with a total of 8 billion visitors, contributing US$600 billion to national economies
  • In 2017, 78% of German travellers said that sustainable travel was ‘very important’, up from 52% in 2016 (AIG, 2017)
  • Wellness tourism is increasing (visiting places for the therapeutic benefits e.g. natural hot springs) (Global Wellness Institute, 2017)

AIG, 2017. Report: Consumers Crave Education on Sustainable Travel Practices and Products. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/report-consumers-crave-education-on-sustainable-travel-practices-and-products-300445163.html Accessed 27 January 2018.

Cambodia Airport, 2018. Dining at Siem Reap International Airport. http://www.rep.aero/shop-dine/dine#anchor Accessed 24 January 2018.

Center for Responsible Travel, 2017. The Case for Responsible Travel: Trends & Statistics 2017. http://responsibletravel.org/docs/The%20Case%20for%20Responsible%20Travel%202017_Final%20for%20Release.pdf Accessed 27 January 2018.

Global Wellness Institute, 2017. Global Wellness Economy Monitor. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ju8lo9y7c4w8wfr/AABB-78rDezm6HjE8znZcdR4a?dl=0 Accessed 27 January 2018.

Greenpeace, n.d. Greenwashing. https://stopgreenwash.org/history Accessed 27 January 2018.

IBO [International Baccalaureate Organisation], 2009. Geography guide First examinations 2011. IBO, Cardiff.

IUCN [World Conservation Union], via The Nature Conservancy, n.d. Eco-Trips and Travel

What is Ecotourism? https://www.nature.org/greenliving/what-is-ecotourism.xml Accessed 24 January 2018.

Mullis, 2017. The growth paradox: can tourism ever be sustainable? https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/08/the-growth-paradox-can-tourism-ever-be-sustainable/ Accessed 23 January 2018.

UNWTO [United Nations World Tourism Organisation], 2005. Making Tourism More Sustainable – A Guide for Policy Makers, UNEP and UNWTO, 2005, p.11-12. Sourced from http://sdt.unwto.org/content/about-us-5 Accessed 23 January 2018.

UNWTO [United Nations World Tourism Organisation], 2016. 2017 International Year for Sustainable Tourism Development. http://www.tourism4development2017.org/ Accessed 23 January 2018.

UNWTO [United Nations World Tourism Organisation], n.d. Ecotourism and Protected areas. http://sdt.unwto.org/content/ecotourism-and-protected-areas Accessed 24 January 2018.

TIES [The International Ecotourism Society], 2015. TIES Announces Ecotourism Principles Revision. http://www.ecotourism.org/news/ties-announces-ecotourism-principles-revision Accessed 24 Januaray 2018.

Williams, C. 2016. Don’t Forget to Move: Why All Tourism Should Be Sustainable Tourism: Protecting the Future of Travel. http://dontforgettomove.com/sustainable-tourism-protecting-future-travel/ Accessed 27 January 2018.

Sustainable tourism and ecotourism: Learning activities

  • Define sustainable development. [2]
  • On this page, five features of sustainable tourism are discussed (economic, social, environmental, informed consent, valued experience). Briefly describe each one. [2]
  • Suggest two further considerations that a tourist might think about when booking a sustainable tourist experience. [2]
  • When was the International Year of Sustainable Tourism Development?
  • What were the main aims of the International Year of Sustainable Tourism Development? [5]
  • Explain the ‘paradox’ of sustainable tourism. [6]
  • Define ‘greenwashing’. [2]
  • Do you think sustainable tourism is a paradox? Or is sustainable tourism possible? Explain your answer. [3]
  • Define ecotourism [3].
  • Do you consider ecotourism to be sustainable? Explain your answer. [5]

Other tasks

Imagine you are a gorilla. You have learned sign language*, and have been asked to give a presentation to the UN General Assembly about the viability of tourism in your rainforest. Plan your speech with a clear argument. Are you in favour of tourism to your rainforest, or not? Remember to include rebuttal points. Consider the sustainable tourism paradox as the focus of your question.

* Some research indicates that gorillas are capable of learning basic sign language and having simple but meaningful communication with humans, although a presentation on an abstract subject would be too advanced. Search for “Koko the talking gorilla” (or watch this video ) to see more. There is also a full website with short clips showing the extent to which gorillas can communicate.

Going further

Look at Destination Better’s infographic, available from http://www.destinationbetter.com/sustainable-travelers-infographic by filling in a short form (no cost or login required).

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Ecotourism and sustainable development: a scientometric review of global research trends

  • Published: 21 February 2022
  • Volume 25 , pages 2977–3003, ( 2023 )

Cite this article

  • Lishan Xu 1 , 2 ,
  • Changlin Ao   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8826-7356 1 , 3 ,
  • Baoqi Liu 1 &
  • Zhenyu Cai 1  

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With the increasing attention and awareness of the ecological environment, ecotourism is becoming ever more popular, but it still brings problems and challenges to the sustainable development of the environment. To solve such challenges, it is necessary to review literature in the field of ecotourism and determine the key research issues and future research directions. This paper uses scientometrics implemented by CiteSpace to conduct an in-depth systematic review of research and development in the field of ecotourism. Two bibliographic datasets were obtained from the Web of Science, including a core dataset and an expanded dataset, containing articles published between 2003 and 2021. Our research shows that ecotourism has been developing rapidly in recent years. The research field of ecotourism spans many disciplines and is a comprehensive interdisciplinary subject. According to the research results, the evolution of ecotourism can be roughly divided into three phases: human disturbance, ecosystem services and sustainable development. It could be concluded that it has entered the third stage of Shneider’s four-stage theory of scientific discipline. The research not only identifies the main clusters and their advance in ecotourism research based on high impact citations and research frontier formed by citations, but also presents readers with new insights through intuitive visual images.

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1 Introduction

Ecotourism, which has appeared in academic literature since the late 1980s, is a special form of nature-based tourism that maintains the well-being of the local community while protecting the environment and provides tourists with a satisfying nature experience and enjoyment (Ceballos-Lascuráin, 1996 ; Higgins, 1996 ; Orams, 1995 ). With years of research and development, ecotourism has risen to be a subject of investigation in the field of tourism research (Weaver & Lawton, 2007 ). In 2002, the United Nations declared it the International Year of Ecotourism (IYE), and the professional Journal of Ecotourism was established in the same year.

With the progress and maturity of ecotourism as an academic research field, countless scholars have put forward standards and definitions for ecotourism (Sirakaya et al., 1999 ; Wight, 1993 ). The main objectives of ecotourism emphasize long-term sustainable development (Whitelaw et al., 2014 ), including the conservation of natural resources, the generation of economic income, education, local participation and the promotion of social benefits such as local economic development and infrastructure (Ardoin et al., 2015 ; Coria & Calfucura, 2012 ; Krüger, 2005 ; Oladeji et al., 2021 ; Ross & Wall, 1999 ; Valdivieso et al., 2015 ). It can also boost rural economies and alleviate poverty in developing countries (Snyman, 2017 ; Zhong & Liu, 2017 ).

With unrestricted increasing attention to the ecological environment and the improvement of environmental awareness, ecotourism is becoming ever more prevalent, and the demand for tourism is increasing year by year (CREST, 2019 ). This increase, however, leads to a number of environmental, social and economic challenges in the development of ecotourism. For example, due to the low public awareness of ecotourism, the increase in tourists has brought a series of negative impacts on the local ecological environment, culture and economy, including disrespect for local culture and environmental protection, as well as more infrastructure construction and economic burden to meet the needs of tourists (Ahmad et al., 2018 ; Chiu et al., 2014 ; Shasha et al., 2020 ; Xu et al., 2020 ). Such challenges and contradictions are urgent problems to be tackled by the sustainable development of ecotourism. Especially against the backdrop of the current pandemic, tourism has experienced a severe blow, but climate change and other environmental issues have not been improved (CREST, 2020 ). In this context, facing these challenges and difficulties, it is essential to re-examine the future development path of ecotourism, to explore how government agencies can formulate appropriate management policies while preserving the environment and natural resources to support sustainable tourism development. Accordingly, it is necessary to consult literature in the field of ecotourism to understand the research progress and fundamental research issues, to identify challenges, suitable methods and future research direction of ecotourism.

Some previous reviews of ecotourism offer a preview of research trends in this rapidly developing area. Weaver and Lawton ( 2007 ) provide a comprehensive assessment of the current state and future progress of contemporary ecotourism research, starting with the supply and demand dichotomy of ecotourism, as well as fundamental areas such as quality control, industry, external environment and institutions. Ardoin et al. ( 2015 ) conducted a literature review, analyzing the influence of nature tourism on ecological knowledge, attitudes, behavior and potential research into the future. Niñerola et al. ( 2019 ) used the bibliometric method and VOSviewer to study the papers on sustainable development of tourism in Scopus from 1987 to 2018, including literature landscape and development trends. Shasha et al. ( 2020 ) used bibliometrics and social network analysis to review the research progress of ecotourism from 2001 to 2018 based on the Web of Science database using BibExcel and Gephi and explored the current hot spots and methods of ecotourism research. These reviews have provided useful information for ecotourism research at that time, but cannot reflect the latest research trends and emerging development of ecotourism either of timeliness, data integrity, research themes or methods.

This study aims to reveal the theme pattern, landmark articles and emerging trends in ecotourism knowledge landscape research from macro- to micro-perspectives. Unlike previous literature surveys, from timeliness, our dataset contains articles published between 2003 and 2021, and it will reveal more of the trends that have emerged over the last 3 years. Updating the rapidly developing literature is important as recent discoveries from different areas can fundamentally change collective knowledge (Chen et al., 2012 , 2014a ). To ensure data integrity, two bibliographic datasets were generated from Web of Science, including a core dataset using the topic search and an expanded dataset using the citation expansion method, which is more robust than defining rapidly growing fields using only keyword lists (Chen et al., 2014b ). And from the research theme and method, our review focuses on the area of ecotourism and is instructed by a scientometric method conducted by CiteSpace, an analysis system for visualizing newly developing trends and key changes in scientific literature (Chen et al., 2012 ). Emerging trends are detected based on metrics calculated by CiteSpace, without human intervention or working knowledge of the subject matter (Chen et al., 2012 ). Choosing this approach can cover a more extensive and diverse range of related topics and ensure repeatability of analysis with updated data (Chen et al., 2014b ).

In addition, Shneider’s four-stage theory will be used to interpret the results in this review. According to Shneider’s four-stage theory of scientific discipline (Shneider, 2009 ), the development of a scientific discipline is divided into four stages. Stage I is the conceptualization stage, in which the objects and phenomena of a new discipline or research are established. Stage II is characterized by the development of research techniques and methods that allow researchers to investigate potential phenomena. As a result of methodological advances, there is a further understanding of objects and phenomena in the field of new subjects at this stage. Once the techniques and methods for specific purposes are available, the research enters Stage III, where the investigation is based primarily on the application of the new research method. This stage is productive, in which the research results have considerably enhanced the researchers’ understanding of the research issues and disclosed some unknown phenomena, leading to interdisciplinary convergence or the emergence of new research directions or specialties. The last stage is Stage IV, whose particularity is to transform tacit knowledge into conditional knowledge and generalized knowledge, so as to maintain and transfer the scientific knowledge generated in the first three stages.

The structure of this paper is construed as follows. The second part describes the research methods employed, the scientometric approach and CiteSpace, as well as the data collection. In the third part, the bibliographic landscape of the core dataset is expounded from the macroscopic to the microscopic angle. The fourth part explores the developments and emerging trends in the field of ecotourism based on the expanded dataset and discusses the evolution phase of ecotourism. The final part is the conclusion of this study. Future research of ecotourism is prospected, and the limitations of this study are discussed.

2 Methods and data collection

2.1 scientometric analyses and citespace.

Scientometrics is a branch of informatics that involves quantitative analysis of scientific literature in order to capture emerging trends and knowledge structures in a particular area of study (Chen et al., 2012 ). Science mapping tools generate interactive visual representations of complex structures by feeding a set of scientific literature through scientometrics and visual analysis tools to highlight potentially important patterns and trends for statistical analysis and visualization exploration (Chen, 2017 ). At present, scientometrics is widely used in many fields of research, and there are also many kinds of scientific mapping software widely used by researchers and analysts, such as VosViewer, SCI2, HistCite, SciMAT, Gephi, Pajek and CiteSpace (Chen, 2011 , 2017 ; Chen et al., 2012 ).

Among these tools, CiteSpace is known for its powerful literature co-citation analysis, and its algorithms and features are constantly being refined as it continues to evolve. CiteSpace is a citation visual analysis software developed under the background of scientometrics and data visualization to analyze the basics that are included in scientific analysis (Chen, 2017 ; Chen et al., 2012 ). It is specialized designed to satisfy the need for systematic review in rapidly changing complicated areas, particularly with the ability to identify and explain emerging trends and transition patterns (Chen et al., 2014a ). It supports multiple types of bibliometric research, such as collaborative network analysis, co-word analysis, author co-citation analysis, document co-citation analysis, and temporal and spatial visualization (Chen, 2017 ). Currently, CiteSpace has been extensively used in more than 60 fields, including computer science, information science, management and medicine (Abad-Segura et al., 2019 ; Chen, 2017 ).

In this paper, we utilize CiteSpace (5.8.R1) to analyze acquired bibliographies of ecotourism to study emerging trends and developments in this field. From macro to micro, from intuitive to complex, from whole to part and from general to special, the writing ideas are adopted. Figure  1 presented the specific research framework of this study.

figure 1

The research framework of this study

2.2 Data collection

Typical sources of scientific literature are Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar. Considering the quantity and quality of data, the Web of Science database was expected to provide the original data in this research. In order to comprehend the research status and development trends of ecotourism, this study systematically reviewed the ecotourism literature collected on the Web of Science Core Collection. The Web of Science Core Collection facilitates access to the world’s leading scholarly journals, books and proceedings of conferences in the sciences, social sciences, art, and humanities, as well as access to their entire citation network. It mainly includes Science Citation Index Expanded from 2003 to current and Social Sciences Citation Index from 2004 to present. Therefore, the data obtained in this study are from 2003 and were consulted on June 3, 2021.

In the process of data retrieval, it is frequently confronted with the choice between recall rate and precision rate. To address the problem of low recall rate in keyword or topic retrieval, Chen et al. ( 2014a , b ) expanded the retrieval results through ‘citation expansion’ and ‘comprehensive topic search’ strategies. However, when the recall rate is high, the accuracy rate will decrease correspondingly. In practical standpoint, instead of refining and cleaning up the original search results, a simpler and more efficient way is to cluster or skip these unrelated branches. Priority should be placed on ensuring recall rate, and data integrity is more important than data for accuracy. Therefore, two ecotourism documentation datasets, the core dataset and the expanded dataset, were obtained from the Web of Science by using comprehensive topic search and citation expansion method. The latter approach has been proved more robust than using keyword lists only to define fast-growing areas (Chen et al., 2014b ). A key bibliographic landscape is generated based on the core dataset, followed by more thorough research of the expanded dataset.

2.2.1 The core dataset

The core dataset was derived through comprehensive subject retrieval in Web of Science Core Collection. The literature type was selected as an article or review, and the language was English. The period spans 2003 to 2021. The topic search query is composed of three phrases of ecotourism: ‘ ecotour* ’ OR ‘ eco-tour* ’ OR ‘ ecological NEAR/5 tour* ’. The wildcard * is used to capture related variants of words, for example, ecotour, ecotourism, ecotourist and ecotourists. The related records that are requested include finding these terms in the title, abstract or keywords. The query yielded 2991 original unique records.

2.2.2 The expanded dataset

The expanded dataset includes the core dataset and additional records obtained by reference link association founded on the core dataset. The principle of citation expansion is that if an article cites at least one article in the core dataset, we can infer that it is related to the topic (Garfield, 1955 ). The expanded dataset is comprised of 27,172 unique records, including the core dataset and the articles that cited them. Both datasets were used for the following scientometrics analysis.

3 Bibliographic landscape based on the core dataset

The core dataset consists of a total of 2991 literature from 2003 to 2021. This study utilized the core dataset to conduct an overall understanding of the bibliographic landscape in the field of ecotourism.

3.1 Landscape views of core dataset

The distribution of the yearly publication of bibliographic records in the core and expanded datasets is presented in Fig.  2 . It can be observed that the overall number of ecotourism-related publications is on the rise, indicating that the scholarly community is increasingly interested in ecotourism. After 2018, the growth rate increased substantially. And in 2020, the number of publications in the expanded dataset is close to 5000, almost double that of 2017 and 5 times that of 2011. This displays the rapid development of research in the field of ecotourism in recent years, particularly after 2018, more and more researchers began to pay attention to this field, which also echoes the trend of global tourism development and environmental protection. With the increase in personal income, tourism has grown very rapidly, and with it, tourism revenue and tourist numbers, especially in developing states. For instance, the number of domestic tourists in China increased from 2.641 billion in 2011 to 6.06 billion in 2019, and tourism revenue increased from 1930.5 billion RMB in 2011 to 5725.1 billion RMB in 2019 (MCT, 2021 ). However, due to the lack of effective management and frequent human activities, the rapid development of tourism has led to various ecological and environmental problems, which require corresponding solutions (Shasha et al., 2020 ). This has played an active role in promoting the development of ecotourism and triggered a lot of related research. In addition, since 2005, the expanded dataset has contained numerous times as many references as the core dataset, demonstrating the importance of using citation expansion for literature retrieval in scientometric review studies.

figure 2

The distribution of bibliographic records in core and expanded dataset. Note The data were consulted on June 3, 2021

The data were consulted on June 3, 2021

The dual-map overlay of scientific map literature as Fig.  3 shows, against the background of global scientific map from more than 10,000 journals covered by Web of Science, represents the distribution and connections on research bases and application fields across the entire dataset of the research topics (Chen & Leydesdorff, 2014 ). Colored lines are citation links, and numbered headings are cluster labels. On the left side is the journal distribution which cites literature, regarding the field application of ecotourism, mainly covers multiple disciplines such as 3. Ecology, Earth, Marine, 6. Psychology, Education, Health, 7. Veterinary, Animal Science and 10. Economics, Economic and Political. On the right side is the distribution of journals of cited literature, representing the research basis of ecotourism. As can be observed from the figure, ecotourism research is based on at least five disciplines on the right, including 2. Environmental, Toxicology, Nutrition, 7. Psychology, Education, Social, 8. Molecular, Biology, Genetics, 10. Plant, Ecology, Zoology and 12. Economics, Economic, Political. It can be viewed that the research field of ecotourism spans multiple disciplines and is a comprehensive and complex subject. The dual-map overlay provides a global visualization of literature growth of the discipline level.

figure 3

A dual-map overlay of ecotourism literature

The total number of papers issued by a country or an institution reflects its academic focus and overall strength, while centrality indicates the degree of academic cooperation with others and the influence of published papers. The top 15 countries and institutions for the number of ecotourism papers published from 2003 to 2021 are provided in Table 1 . Similar to the study of Shasha et al. ( 2020 ), the ranking of the top six countries by the number of publications remains unchanged. As can be seen from the table, the USA ranks first in the world, far ahead in both the number of publications and the centrality. China ranks second in global ecotourism publications, followed by Australia, England, South Africa and Canada. While the latest data show that Taiwan (China), Turkey and South Korea appear on the list. Overall, the top 15 countries with the most publications cover five continents, containing a number of developed and developing, which shows that ecotourism research is receiving global attention. In terms of international academic cooperation and impact of ecotourism, Australia and England share second place, Italy and France share fourth place, followed by South Africa and Spain. China’s centrality is relatively low compared to the number of publications, ranking eighth. Academic cooperation between countries is of great significance. Usually, countries with high academic publishing level cooperate closely due to similar research interests. International academic cooperation has enhanced each other’s research capacity and promoted the development of ecotourism research. Therefore, although some countries have entered this list with the publication number, they should attach importance to increase academic cooperation with other countries and improving the international influence of published papers.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences and its university are the most prolific when it draws to institutions’ performance. It is the most important and influential research institute in China, especially in the field of sustainable development science. Australia has four universities on the list, with Griffith University and James Cook University in second and third place. USA also includes four universities, with the University of Florida in fourth place. South Africa, a developing country, gets three universities, with the University of Cape Town and the University of Johannesburg fifth and sixth, respectively. In comparison with previous studies (Shasha et al., 2020 ), Iran and Mexico each have one university in the ranking, replacing two universities in Greece, which means that the importance and influence of developing countries in the field of ecotourism is gradually rising. Based on the above results, it can be summarized that the USA, China, Australia and South Africa are relatively active countries in the field of ecotourism, and their development is also in a relatively leading position.

3.2 Most active topics

The foam tree map and the pie chart of the focal topics of ecotourism based on the core dataset generated by Carrot2 through the title of each article is illustrated in Fig.  4 . Developing and developed, case study, protected areas, sustainable tourism, tourism development and developing ecotourism are leading topics in the field of ecotourism research, as well as specific articles under the main topics. The lightweight view generated by Carrot2 provides a reference for the research, and then, co-word analysis is employed to more specifically reflect the topics in the research field.

figure 4

Foam tree map and pie chart of major topics on ecotourism

The topics covered by ecotourism could be exposed by the keywords of the articles in the core dataset. Figure  5 displays the keywords analysis results generated based on the core dataset. From the visualization results in the figure, it can infer that ecotourism, conservation, tourism, management, protected area, impact, biodiversity, sustainability, national park and community are the ten most concerned topics. Distinct colors set out at the time of co-citation keywords first appear, and yellow is generated earlier than red. In addition, Fig.  5 can also reflect the development and emerging topics in the research field, such as China, Mexico, South Africa and other hot countries for ecotourism research; ecosystem service, economic value, climate change, wildlife tourism, rural tourism, forest, marine protected area and other specific research directions; valuation, contingent valuation, choice experiment and other research methods; willingness to pay, preference, benefit, perception, attitude, satisfaction, experience, behavior, motivation, risk, recreation and other specific research issues.

figure 5

A landscape view of keywords based on the core dataset

4 Emerging trends and developments based on the expanded dataset

The expanded dataset, consisting of 27,172 records, is approximately nine times larger than the core dataset. This research applies the expanded dataset to profoundly explore the emerging trends and developments of ecotourism.

4.1 Keywords with citation bursts

Detection of citation bursts can indicate both the scientific community’s interest in published articles and burst keywords as an indicator of emerging tendencies. Figure  6 displays the top 30 keywords with the strongest citation bursts in the expanded dataset. Since 2003, a large number of keywords have exploded. Among them, the strongest bursts include ecotourism, bird, disturbance, reserve, Africa, challenge, sustainable development and strategy. Keywords with citation burst after 2017 are experience, challenge, sustainable development, willingness to pay, perspective, strategy, quality and satisfaction, which have continued to this day. The results indicate dynamic development and emerging trends in research hotspots in the field of ecotourism.

figure 6

Top 30 keywords with the strongest citation bursts

4.2 References with citation bursts

Figure  7 sets out the top 30 references in the expanded dataset with citation bursts. The articles with the fastest growing citations can also contribute to describe the dynamics of a field. References with high values in strength column are important milestones of ecotourism research. The two articles with strong citation bursts prior to 2010 focused on the human impact on the environment and animals. West et al. ( 2006 ) discussed the relationship between parks and human beings and the social impact of protected areas, and Köndgen et al. ( 2008 ) studied the decline of endangered great apes caused by a human pandemic virus. The paper with the strongest citation burst in the entire expanded dataset was released by Fairhead et al. ( 2012 ), which looked at ‘green grabbing,’ the appropriation of land and resources for environmental purposes. Milcu et al. ( 2013 ) conducted a semi-quantitative review of publications dealing with cultural ecosystem services with the second strongest citation burst, which concluded that the improvement of the evaluation method of cultural ecosystem service value, the research on the value of cultural ecosystem service under the background of ecosystem service and the clarification of policy significance were the new themes of cultural ecosystem service research. In addition, many articles with citation burst discussed the evaluation method of ecosystem services value (Costanza et al., 2014 ; Groot et al., 2010 ), the evaluation of cultural ecosystem service value (Plieninger et al., 2013 ) and its role in ecosystem service evaluation (Chan et al., 2012 ; Chan, Guerry, et al., 2012 ; Chan, Satterfield, et al., 2012 ; Chan, Satterfield, et al., 2012 ; Daniel et al., 2012 ). The most fresh literature with strong citation burst is the article of D’Amato et al. ( 2017 ) published in the Journal of Cleaner Production, which compared and analyzed sustainable development avenues such as green, circular and bio economy. In addition, it is worthwhile noting the use of R in ecotourism, with the persuasive citation burst continuing from 2012 to the present, as indicated by the orange arrow in Fig.  7 .

figure 7

Top 30 references with the strongest citation bursts

4.3 Landscape view of co-citation analysis

The landscape view of co-citation analysis of Fig.  8 is generated based on the expanded dataset. Using g -index ( k  = 25) selection criteria in the latest edition of CiteSpace, an annual citation network was constructed. The final merged network contained 3294 links, 2122 nodes and 262 co-citation clusters. The three largest linked components cover 1748 connected nodes, representing 82% of the entire network. The modularization degree of the synthetic network is 0.8485, which means that co-citation clustering can clearly define each sub-field of ecotourism. Another weighted mean silhouette value of the clustering validity evaluation is 0.9377, indicating that the clustering degree of the network is also very superior. The harmonic mean value amounts to 0.8909.

figure 8

A landscape view of the co-citation network based on the expanded dataset

In the co-citation network view, the location of clusters and the correlation between clusters can show the intellectual structure in the field of ecotourism, so that readers can obtain an overall understanding of this field. The network falls into 25 co-citation clusters. The tags for each cluster are generated founded on the title, keywords and abstract of the cited article. Color-coded areas represent the time of first appeared co-citation links, with gray indicating earlier and red later. The nodes in the figure with red tree rings are references to citation bursts.

4.4 Timeline view

In order to further understand the time horizon and study process of developing evolution on clusters, after the generation of co-citation cluster map, the Y -axis is cluster number and the year of citation publication is X -axis, so as to obtain the timeline view of the co-citation network, shown as Fig.  9 . Clusters are organized vertically from largest to smallest. The color curve represents co-citation link coupled with corresponding color year, with gray representing earlier and red representing newer. Larger nodes and nodes with red tree rings indicate high citation or citation burst. The three most cited references of the year demonstrate below each node, in vertical order from least to most.

figure 9

A timeline visualization of the largest clusters

The timeline view provides a reasonably instinctual and insightful reference to understand the evolutionary path of every subdomain. Figure  9 shows 19 clusters ranging from #0 to #18, with #0 being the largest cluster. As can be seen from the figure, the sustainability and activeness of each cluster are contrasting. For example, the largest cluster has been active since 2006, while the gray and purple clusters are no longer active.

4.5 Major clusters

Taking clustering as a unit and analyzing at the level of clustering, specifically selecting large or new type clustering, is the foothold of co-citation analysis, which can help to understand the principal and latest research fields related to ecotourism. Table 2 displays a summary of the foremost 19 clusters, the first nine of which are all over 100 in size. The silhouette score of all clusters is greater than 0.8, indicating that the homogeneity of each cluster is high. The mean year is the average of the publication dates of references in the cluster. By combining the results in Table 2 , Figs.  8 and 9 , it can be observed that the five largest clusters are #0 cultural ecosystem services, #1 large carnivore, #2 human disturbance, #3 whale shark and #4 ecosystem service. A recent topic is cluster #16 COVID-19 pandemic. #11 Ecological footprint and #14 social media are two relatively youthful fields.

The research status of a research field can be demonstrated by its knowledge base and research frontier. The knowledge base consists of a series of scholarly writing cited by the corresponding article, i.e., cited references, while the research frontier is the writing inspired by the knowledge base, i.e., citing articles. Distinct research frontiers may come from the same knowledge base. Consequently, each cluster is analyzed based on cited references and citing articles. The cited references and citing articles of the five largest clusters are shown in Online Appendix A. Fig a) lists the 15 top cited references with the highest Σ (sigma) value in the cluster, where Σ value indicates that the citation is optimal in terms of the comprehensive performance of structural centrality and citation bursts. Fig b) shows the major citing articles of cluster. The citation behavior of these articles determines the grouping of cited literature and thus forms the cluster. The coverage is the proportion of member citations cited by citing articles.

4.6 Phase evolution research

Through the above analysis of the core dataset and the expanded dataset of ecotourism, we can see the development and evolution of the research field of ecotourism. The research process of ecotourism has gone through several stages, and each stage has its strategic research issues. Research starts with thinking about the relationship between humans and nature, moves to study it as a whole ecosystem, and then explores sustainable development. Hence, the evolution of ecotourism can be roughly parted into three phases.

4.6.1 Phase I: Human disturbance research stage (2003–2010)

This phase of research concentrates on the influence of human activities such as ecotourism on the environment and animals. Representative keywords of this period include ecotourism, human disturbance, response, coral reef, bird, disturbance, recreation, reserve, park, South Africa and people. Representative articles are those published by West et al. ( 2006 ) and Köndgen et al. ( 2008 ) of human impact on the environment and animals. The representative clustering is #2 human disturbance, which is the third largest one, consisting of 130 cited references from 1998 to 2012 with the average year of 2004. This cluster has citation bursts between 2002 and 2010 and has been inactive since then. As showed in Fig S3 a) and b), the research base and frontier are mainly around the impact of human disturbances such as ecotourism on biology and the environment (McClung et al., 2004 ). And as showed in Fig.  8 and Fig.  9 , clusters closely related to #2 belong to this phase and are also no longer active, such as #5 off-road vehicle, #6 protected area, #10 poverty reduction and #12 sustainable lifestyle.

4.6.2 Phase II: Ecosystem services research stage (2011–2015)

In this stage, the content of ecotourism research is diversified and exploded. The research is not confined to the relationship between humans and nature, but begins to investigate it as an entire ecosystem. In addition, some specific or extended areas began to receive attention. Typical keywords are abundance, resource, Africa, risk, predation, consequence and science. The most illustrative papers in this stage are Fairhead et al. ( 2012 )’s discussion on green grabbing and Milcu et al. ( 2013 )’s review on cultural ecosystem services. Other representative papers in this period focused on the evaluation methods of ecosystem service value and the role of cultural ecosystem service in the evaluation of ecosystem service value. Most of the larger clusters in the survey erupted at this stage, including #0 cultural ecosystem services, #1 large carnivore, #3 whale shark, #4 ecosystem services. Some related clusters also belong to this stage, such as #7 neoliberal conservation, #8 responsible behavior, #9 tourism development, #13 mangrove forest, #15 volunteer tourism, #17 circular economy and #18 telecoupling framework.

Cluster #0 cultural ecosystem services are the largest cluster in ecotourism research field, containing 157 cited references from 2006 to 2019, with the mean year being 2012. It commenced to have the citation burst in 2009, with high cited continuing until 2019. Cultural ecosystem services are an essential component of ecosystem services, including spiritual, entertainment and cultural benefits. Thus, in Fig.  8 , the overlap with #4 ecosystem services can obviously be seen. In Cluster #0, many highly cited references have discussed the trade-offs between natural and cultural ecosystem services in ecosystem services (Nelson et al., 2009 ; Raudsepp-Hearne et al., 2010 ) and the important role of cultural ecosystem services in the evaluation of ecosystem services value (Burkhard et al., 2012 ; Chan, Guerry, et al., 2012 ; Chan, Satterfield, et al., 2012 ; Fisher et al., 2009 ; Groot et al., 2010 ). As non-market value, how to evaluate and quantify cultural ecosystem services is also an important issue (Hernández-Morcillo et al., 2012 ; Milcu et al., 2013 ; Plieninger et al., 2013 ). Besides, the exploration of the relationship among biodiversity, human beings and ecosystem services is also the focus of this cluster research (Bennett et al., 2015 ; Cardinale et al., 2012 ; Díaz et al., 2015 ; Mace et al., 2012 ). The citing articles of #0 indicate the continued exploration of the connotation of cultural ecosystem services and their value evaluation methods (Dickinson & Hobbs, 2017 ). It is noteworthy that some articles have introduced spatial geographic models (Havinga et al., 2020 ; Hirons et al., 2016 ) and social media methods (Calcagni et al., 2019 ) as novel methods to examine cultural ecosystem services. In addition, the link and overlap between #0 cultural ecosystem service and #17 circular economy cannot be overlooked.

Ecosystem services relate to all the benefits that humans receive from ecosystems, including supply services, regulatory services, cultural services and support services. Research on cultural ecosystem services is based on the research of ecosystem services. It can be viewed in Fig.  9 that the research and citation burst in #4 was all slightly earlier than #0. Cluster #4 includes 118 references from 2005 to 2019, with an average year of 2011. In its research and development, how to integrate ecosystem services into the market and the payment scheme to protect the natural environment is a significant research topic (Gómez-Baggethun et al., 2010 ). In Cluster #4, the most influential literature provides an overview of the payment of ecosystem services (PES) from theory to practice by Engel et al. ( 2008 ). Many highly cited references have discussed PES (Kosoy & Corbera, 2010 ; Muradian et al., 2010 ), including the effectiveness of evaluation (Naeem et al., 2015 ), social equity matters (Pascual et al., 2014 ), the suitability and challenge (Muradian et al., 2013 ), and how to contribute to saving nature (Redford & Adams, 2009 ). The cluster also includes studies on impact assessment of protected areas (Oldekop et al., 2016 ), protected areas and poverty (Brockington & Wilkie, 2015 ; Ferraro & Hanauer, 2014 ), public perceptions (Bennett, 2016 ; Bennett & Dearden, 2014 ) and forest ecosystem services (Hansen et al., 2013 ). The foremost citing articles confirm the dominant theme of ecosystem services, especially the in-depth study and discussion of PES (Muniz & Cruz, 2015 ). In addition, #4 is highly correlated with #7 neoliberal protection, and Fairhead et al. ( 2012 ), a representative article of this stage, belongs to this cluster.

As the second largest cluster, Cluster #1 contains 131 references from 2008 to 2019, with the median year of 2014. As Fig S2 a) shows, the highly cited literature has mainly studied the status and protection of large carnivores (Mace, 2014 ; Ripple et al., 2014 ), including the situation of reduction (Craigie et al., 2010 ), downgrade (Estes et al., 2011 ) and even extinction (Dirzo et al., 2014 ; Pimm et al., 2014 ), and the reasons for such results, such as tourist visits (Balmford et al., 2015 ; Geffroy et al., 2015 ) and the increase in population at the edge of the protected areas (Wittemyer et al., 2008 ). The conservation effects of protected areas on wildlife biodiversity (Watson et al., 2014 ) and the implications of tourist preference heterogeneity for conservation and management (Minin et al., 2013 ) have also received attention. It is worth noting that the high citation rate of a paper using R to estimate the linear mixed-effects model (Bates et al., 2015 ) and the use of R in this cluster. The relationship between biodiversity and ecotourism is highlighted by the representative citing articles in research frontier of this cluster (Chung et al., 2018 ).

Cluster #3 refers to marine predator, and as shown in Fig.  8 , which has a strong correlation with #1. A total of 125 references were cited from 2002 to 2018, with an average year of 2011. References with high citation in #3 mainly studied the extinction and protection of marine life such as sharks (Dulvy et al., 2014 ), as well as the economic value and ecological impact of shark ecotourism (Clua et al., 2010 ; Gallagher & Hammerschlag, 2011 ; Gallagher et al., 2015 ). The paper published by Gallagher et al. ( 2015 ) is both the highly cited reference and main citing article, mainly focusing on the impact of shark ecotourism. It is also noteworthy that #6 protected area, #13 mangrove forest and #29 Mediterranean areas are highly correlated with these two clusters (Fig.  8 ).

Moreover, some clusters are not highly correlated with other clusters, but cannot be neglected at this stage of research. Cluster #8 responsible behavior includes 107 citations with the average year 2013, and mainly studied environmentally responsible behaviors in ecotourism (Chiu et al., 2014 ). Cluster #9 tourism development contains 97 cited references with mean year of 2015, focusing on the impact of such factors as residents’ perception on tourism development (Sharpley, 2014 ). Cluster #15 volunteer tourism consists of 52 citations, with an average year of 2011, which mainly considers the role of volunteer tourism in tourism development and sustainable tourism (Wearing & McGehee, 2013 ). Cluster #18 telecoupling framework has 26 cited references with the mean year being 2015, and the application of the new integrated framework of telecoupling Footnote 1 in ecotourism can be seen (Liu et al., 2015 ).

At this stage, it can be seen that the research field of ecotourism begins to develop in the direction of diversification, including the value evaluation and related research of ecosystem services and cultural ecosystem services, as well as the exploration of wild animals and plants, marine animals and plants and biodiversity. Neoliberal conservation, tourists’ responsible behavior, tourism development, volunteer tourism and circular economy are all explored. Some new research methods have also brought fresh air to this field, such as the introduction of spatial geographic models and social media methods, the discussion of economic value evaluation methods, the widespread use of R and the exploration of telecoupling framework. Therefore, from this stage, research in the field of ecotourism has entered the second stage of scientific discipline development (Shneider, 2009 ), featured by the use and evolution of research tools that can be used to investigate potential phenomena.

4.6.3 Phase III: Sustainable development research stage (2016 to present)

This stage of research continues to explore a series of topics of the preceding phase and further extends the research field on this basis. The keywords at this stage are politics, marine protected area and valuation. Some other keywords are still very active today, such as experience, challenge, sustainable development, willingness to pay, perspective, strategy, quality and satisfaction. The representative article is about sustainable development published by D'Amato et al. ( 2017 ), as shown in Fig.  8 belonging to #17 circular economy. The emerging clusters in this period are #11 ecological footprint, #14 social media and #16 COVID-19 pandemic. Cluster #11 contains 70 cited references from 2013 to 2020 with the mean year 2017. This clustering study mainly used the ecological footprint as an environmental indicator and socioeconomic indicators such as tourism to investigate the hypothesis of environmental Kuznets curve (Ozturk et al., 2016 ; Ulucak & Bilgili, 2018 ). Cluster #14 includes 52 cited references, with an average year of 2016. It can be seen that the introduction of social media data has added new color to research in the field of ecotourism, such as using social media data to quantify landscape value (Zanten et al., 2016 ) and to understand tourists’ preferences for the experience of protected areas (Hausmann et al., 2018 ), as well as from a spatial perspective using social media geo-tagged photos as indicators for evaluating cultural ecosystem services (Richards & Friess, 2015 ). As the latest and most concerned topic, cluster #16 contains 48 cited references, with mean year of 2018. This cluster mainly cites research on over-tourism (Seraphin et al., 2018 ) and sustainable tourism (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2018 ) and explores the impact of pandemics such as COVID-19 on global tourism (Gössling et al., 2021 ).

These emerging clusters at this phase bring fresh thinking to the research of ecotourism. First of all, the analysis of ecological footprint provides a tool for measuring the degree of sustainability and helps to monitor the effectiveness of sustainable programs (Kharrazi et al., 2014 ). Research and exploration of ecological footprint in ecotourism expresses the idea of sustainable development and puts forward reasonable planning and suggestions by comparing the demand of ecological footprint with the carrying capacity of natural ecosystem. Secondly, the use of social media data brings a new perspective of data acquisition to ecotourism research. Such large-scale data acquisition can make up for the limitations of sample size and data sampling bias faced by survey data users and provide a new way to understand and explore tourist behavior and market (Li et al., 2018 ). Finally, the sudden impact of COVID-19 in 2020 and its long-term sustainability has dealt a huge blow to the tourism industry. COVID-19 has highlighted the great need and value of tourism, while fundamentally changing the way destinations, business and visitors plan, manage and experience tourism (CREST, 2020 ). However, the stagnation of tourism caused by the pandemic is not enough to meet the challenges posed by the environment and the climate crisis. Therefore, how to sustain the development of tourism in this context to meet the challenges of the environment and climate change remains an important issue in the coming period of time. These emerging clusters are pushing the boundaries of ecotourism research and the exploration of sustainable development in terms of research methods, data collection and emerging topics.

Despite the fact that the research topics in this stage are richer and more diversified, the core goal of research is still committed to the sustainable development of ecotourism. The introduction of new technologies and the productive results have led to a much-improved understanding of research issues. All this commemorates the entrance of research into the third stage of the development of scientific disciplines (Shneider, 2009 ). In addition to continuing the current research topics, the future development of the field of ecotourism will continue to focus on the goal of sustainable development and will be more diversified and interdisciplinary.

5 Conclusion

This paper uses scientometrics to make a comprehensive visual domain analysis of ecotourism. The aim is to take advantage of this method to conduct an in-depth systematic review of research and development in the field of ecotourism. We have enriched the process of systematic reviews of knowledge domains with features from the latest CiteSpace software. Compared with previous studies, this study not only updated the database, but also extended the dataset with citation expansion, so as to more comprehensively identify the rapidly developing research field. The research not only identifies the main clusters and their advance in ecotourism research based on high impact citations and research frontiers formed by citations, but also presents readers with new insights through intuitive visual images. Through this study, readers can swiftly understand the progress of ecotourism, and on the basis of this study, they can use this method to conduct in-depth analysis of the field they are interested in.

Our research shows that ecotourism has developed rapidly in recent years, with the number of published articles increasing year by year, and this trend has become more pronounced after 2018. The research field of ecotourism spans many disciplines and is a comprehensive interdisciplinary subject. Ecotourism also attracts the attention of numerous developed and developing countries and institutions. The USA, China, Australia and South Africa are in a relatively leading position in the research and development of ecotourism. Foam tree map and pie chart of major topics, and the landscape view of keywords provide the hotspot issues of the research field. The development trend of ecotourism is preliminarily understood by detecting the citation bursts of the keywords and published articles. Co-citation analysis generates the main clusters of ecotourism research, and the timeline visualization of these clusters provides a clearer view for understanding the development dynamics of the research field. Building on all the above results, the research and development of ecotourism can be roughly divided into three stages: human disturbance, ecosystem services and sustainable development. Through the study of keywords, representative literature and main clusters in each stage, the development characteristics and context of each stage are clarified. From the current research results, we can catch sight that the application of methods and software in ecotourism research and the development of cross-field. Supported by the Shneider’s four-stage theory of scientific discipline (Shneider, 2009 ), it can be thought that ecotourism is in the third stage. Research tools and methods have become more potent and convenient, and research perspectives have become more diverse.

Based on the overall situation, research hotspots and development tendency of ecotourism research, it can be seen that the sustainable development of ecotourism is the core issue of current ecotourism research and also an important goal for future development. In the context of the current pandemic, the tourism industry is in crisis, but crisis often breeds innovation, and we must take time to reconsider the way forward. As we look forward to the future of tourism, we must adopt the rigor and dedication required to adapt to the pandemic, adhering to the principles of sustainable development while emphasizing economic reliability, environmental suitability and cultural acceptance. Post-COVID, the competitive landscape of travel and tourism will change profoundly, with preventive and effective risk management, adaptation and resilience, and decarbonization laying the foundation for future competitiveness and relevance (CREST, 2020 ).

In addition, as can be seen from the research and development of ecotourism, the exploration of sustainable development increasingly needs to absorb research methods from diverse fields to guide the formulation of policy. First of all, how to evaluate and quantify ecotourism reasonably and scientifically is an essential problem to be solved in the development of ecotourism. Some scholars choose contingent valuation method (CVM) and choice experiment (CE) in environmental economics to evaluate the economic value of ecotourism, especially non-market value. In addition, the introduction of spatial econometrics and the use of geographic information system (GIS) provide spatial scale analysis methods and results presentation for the sustainable development of ecotourism. The use of social media data implies the application of big data technology in the field of ecotourism, where machine learning methods such as artificial neural networks (ANN) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) are increasingly being applied (Talebi et al., 2021 ). The measurement of ecological footprint and the use of telecoupling framework provide a reliable way to measure sustainable development and the interaction between multiple systems. These approaches all have expanded the methodological boundaries of ecotourism research. It is worth noting that R, as an open source and powerful software, is favored by scholars in the field of ecotourism. This programming language for statistical computation is now widely used in statistical analysis, data mining, data processing and mapping of ecotourism research.

The scientometrics method used in this study is mainly guided by the citation model in the literature retrieval dataset. The range of data retrieval exercises restraint by the source of retrieval and the query method utilized. While current methods can meet the requirements, iterative query optimization can also serve to advance in the quality of the data. To achieve higher data accuracy, the concept tree function in the new version of CiteSpace can also serve to clarify the research content of each clustering (Chen, 2017 ). In addition, the structural variation analysis in the new edition is also an interesting study, which can show the citation footprints of typical high-yielding authors and judge the influence of the author on the variability of network structure through the analysis of the citation footprints (Chen, 2017 ).

Availability of data and material

The data that support the findings of this study are available from Web of Science.

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Xu, L., Ao, C., Liu, B. et al. Ecotourism and sustainable development: a scientometric review of global research trends. Environ Dev Sustain 25 , 2977–3003 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-022-02190-0

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ecotourism case study geography

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Costa Rica: A case study of ecotourism

Sam McManus, Founder, YellowWood Adventures

Sam McManus

ecotourism case study geography

With Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the south in Central America, Costa Rica is a thin green strip of tropical rainforest and volcanoes that rise up between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. Its human population is a little over five million, and it is one of the most biologically diverse places in the world due to its unique geography and the many resulting microclimates, which allow for a vast array of ecosystems.

It has become the poster child for sustainable ecotourism throughout the world. With a quarter of its land under the protection of national parks or reserves, the country has become a world-leading example of how linking tourism with a growing protected area network can lead to the simultaneous growth of both its socioeconomic and environmental sectors. The country’s journey to this point is a fascinating one:

ecotourism case study geography

José Figueres Ferrer, the son of Spanish parents settled in Costa Rica, was a well-educated, prosperous coffee grower and rope manufacturer, but his criticism of the government of Rafael Angel Calderón Guardia in July 1942 forced him into exile in Mexico for two years. He then embarked on a political career, founding the Social Democratic Party upon his return, which eventually led to him becoming a revolutionary leader, culminating in the overthrow of Costa Rica’s government via civil war. When he became provisional president of Costa Rica in 1948, he abolished the national army, nationalised its banking sector, granted women and Afro-Costa Ricans the right to vote, guaranteed public education and a host of other decrees which set the country on a path to prosperous stability, subsequently making it an increasingly popular tourist destination in the region.

By sheer dumb luck I was staying in the surf town of Santa Teresa, which happens to be located right next to Cabo Blanco Absolute Natural Reserve on the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula. This unbelievably beautiful and wild reserve was the first nationally protected area in Costa Rica, established in 1963 by Karen Mogensen from Denmark and her Swedish husband Nicolas (Olaf) Wessberg, both examples of the steadily increasing influx of international tourists. With the aid of an international agency, they bought 1,250 hectares of land on the peninsula to protect it against the local farmers who were deforesting huge swathes of rainforest to feed the international demand for beef, causing soil erosion, loss of soil fertility and decimating wildlife populations, including many rare and endemic species.

ecotourism case study geography

Nicolas was later tragically murdered in 1975 whilst spearheading the conservation of the now established and equally beautiful Corcovado National Park on the more southerly Osa Peninsula, and Karen died in 1996. Yet their legacy remains to this day. Both witnessed the first national park of Santa Rosa, established in 1972 in the northwest of the country – the first of now 28 national parks. As with much of human history, Costa Rica’s progress towards developing a national system for ecotourism was long and complex, combining many factors, successes and setbacks. Yet the overarching principle was that as more tourists visited, more wilderness was set aside for protection, as the government could clearly see this is where the long-term economic benefit lay.

Costa Rica’s National Park Services was created, and by 1998, all the natural reservations were organised under a national system. Costa Rica was popularly deemed as the leading ecotourism country in the world, which attracted more tourists in a positive feedback loop model; whereby conservation efforts protect the natural environment whilst also generating healthy economic results, creating in turn both direct and indirect employment, contributing to a reduction of poverty. Tourist numbers steadily increased from 329,000 in 1987, to 1.03 million in 1999, over 2 million in 2008, and 3.14 million tourists in 2019.

ecotourism case study geography

A number of systems have been put in place help manage the impact of this increasing footfall including the Bandera Azul (blue flag) programme which promotes development while curbing the negative impacts of mass tourism. It assists local communities to work against pollution and protect the environment by evaluating the environmental quality of coastal areas, and awarding them a number of stars. The voluntary Certification for Sustainable Tourism Programme (CST) encourages businesses to become sustainable in a variety of ways, including using recycled products, implementing water and energy saving devices, properly disposing and treating waste, conserving and expanding Costa Rica’s forests, in a way that can be measured and publicised. Millions of trees are planted every year as a result, and the tree coverage of the forests across the country have literally doubled in the last 30 years.

The model also has a positive effect on the lives of the local people. The country continues to face some challenges such as income inequality and some of the darker sides of the tourism industry such as sex tourism, but as models go it is pretty fantastic. Costa Rica again came first in the Happy Planet Index rankings in 2020 which measures how well nations are doing at achieving wellbeing and long, happy, sustainable lives of its populations, having previously come top in the 2009 and 2012 rankings also. By 2015, the country was also able to produce 99% of its electricity from renewable sources, and the government continues to invest in renewable energy generation in an effort to meet its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2021. According to the non-profit Borgen Project, the majority of this energy, 67.5%, comes from hydropower, with wind power generating 17%, geothermal sources 13.5% and biomass and solar panels comprising 0.84%. The remaining 1.16% is from backup plants.

ecotourism case study geography

Costa Rica’s eco-tourism experiment offers a path to recovery for the rest of the world.

Over the past years nearly every single local guide we’ve used to lead groups through mountains, forests and deserts has commented to me on the changing and increasing unpredictability of weather patterns, and I can see the effects of global warming for myself, increasingly both in person and via the global media. I am not ahead of the curve, but I am on the curve, and am doing what I can to help protect what Carl Sagan called our ‘Pale Blue Dot’. Christiana Figueres, daughter of the previously mentioned three-time president José Figueres Ferrer, was the former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

She was a key architect of the 2015 Paris Agreement. This is a legally binding international treaty on climate change adopted by 196 Parties at the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 21) in Paris, on 12 December 2015. Its goal is to limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius. To achieve this long-term temperature goal, countries aim to reach global peaking of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible to achieve a climate neutral world by mid-century. The Paris Agreement is a landmark in the multilateral climate change process because, for the first time, a binding agreement brings all nations into a common cause to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects.

ecotourism case study geography

This historic agreement also coincided with the establishment of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the COP 21 in Paris, to end poverty, protect the planet and enable a path to prosperity for all. The SDGs are increasingly becoming integrated as a global language that institutions can agree upon, and work towards. Christina Figueres published a book in 2020 with co-author Tom Rivett-Carnac entitled:

Th e Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis

I would encourage you to read this or listen to it as an audiobook, as it lays out the steps we can each take in our daily lives to help achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.

ecotourism case study geography

For my part, I wish to continue to use adventure travel as a medium to help promote sustainable practices in countries across the world, and to educate our clients on their importance. Adventure travel is still faced with the ‘elephant in the room’ conundrum of the international flights clients and guides need to take to reach some destinations, and the resulting carbon emissions these produce. While we may indeed have green hydrogen-powered planes in 30 years’ time, in the meantime we will continue compensating for these carbon emissions by planting trees via our partner charity WeForest, in Ethiopia, Brazil, and other countries.

More than just aiming for carbon-neutrality, however, we can do far better by actively contributing to the regeneration and rewilding of the environments we visit, by partnering with local conservation organisations that use versions of the model laid out by Costa Rica in other countries around the world. For our adventure itineraries we partner with conservation charities in the countries we travel in, and are seeing this as a welcome growing trend across fellow travel companies. This is an opportunity for the adventure travel industry to financially support conservation in destinations around the world, reduce its overall carbon footprint, and engage travellers in the world’s climate issues. If our itineraries are more culturally focused, we partner with philanthropic charities, to help the vulnerable in the communities we meet, such as the Fistula Clinic in Ethiopia, for example. By using local suppliers for accommodation, meals, transport and guides, funds will also always find their way into the local economies.

Taken from:

' Wax & Gold: Journeys in Ethiopia & other roads less travelled '

by Sam McManus.

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1838493700

 USA:   https://www.amazon.com/dp/1838493700

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To help you choose the right adventure for you, we have given each itinerary a grading that relates to the level of Walking / Trekking you will experience during the trip. This grading can be found on the Yellow map on the adventure page of the website.

All of our trips involve a level of general activity so are designed for people who are in good health, enjoy the outdoors, and have a taste for adventure and some level of fitness. As will be clear from our destinations, the climate (and altitude) may be different to that which you are used to, so please take this into consideration when choosing the most suitable holiday.

Please read our Adventure Itinerary & Essential Information for more information and don't hesitate to contact us if you would like to chat through whether you have found a suitable adventure for you.

Grade 1-3: Entry Level

You need to be in good physical health to enjoy your active holiday, but you don’t need to be an experienced hiker. These itineraries offer a mix of sightseeing and easier walking for around 2-4hrs a day, with the emphasis on sights and cultural experiences. 

Walks will be well marked or on defined pathways, and often around sites of interest. The expected amount of descent/ascent will depend on the landscapes of the destination, but will not exceed 400m/day, and will often be much less. Walks are at low altitude (below 3000m). 

You will not be required to carry more than a day sack with water and essentials. Ensure you are aware of the weather conditions likely in the destination you are visiting and have a pair of comfortable and worn in walking shoes/boots.

Grades 4-6: Intermediate

You need to have a good level of fitness and be a regular walker for these adventures, with ideally some trekking experience. You can expect to be walking for 3-6 hours per day, not including rest stops, normally on good trail paths but with some uneven surfaces at times. 

You will not be required to carry more than a day sack. You may be walking in more challenging temperatures. You will generally be walking at low altitude (below 3000m) but may walk at altitudes up to 4000m. The amount of ascent could be up to 800m in a day but will frequently be less. You may walk on consecutive days.

Ensure you are aware of the weather conditions likely in the destination you are visiting and have suitable clothing for this adventure.

Grades 7-9: Challenging

You need to have a good level of fitness with previous experience of trekking. Extra training before your trip will ensure that you get the most out of your adventure. Areas will be remote and terrain uneven. 

Expect to walk for 5 – 8 hours a day, not including breaks, with some very steep ascents and descents. You will be walking at altitude (over 3000m but not higher than 5000m).

Ensure you are aware of the weather conditions likely in the destination you are visiting and have suitable equipment/clothing for this adventure (see the packing list for your adventure).

Please check individual itineraries for details of what you will need to be carrying with you.

Get in touch

CLICK HERE to schedule a call online with YellowWood Founder Sam McManus.

Or call us directly 24/7 on:

Holidays for hippies – Ecotourism Stewardship – the personal responsibility for looking after things, in this case the environment. No one should damage the present or future environment

Conservation – the careful and planned use of resources in order to manage the natural environment for future generations

The aims of ecotourism: to be environmentally friendly use more renewable sources of energy recycle waste products to involve local people at all levels of planning and during operation – this can include jobs and training build small-scale non-intrusive hotels where people can stay Two short videos about the features of ecotourism

Ecotourism in the rainforest Picture Why should we look after the rainforest? Over the last 50 years the Amazon rainforest has changed and thousands of square kilometres are cleared every year for timber, farming, mining and road building. The result of this that 20% of the rainforest has now been destroyed.

Global warming – the rainforest absorbs a lot of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. However, cutting down the trees and burning them to clear land results in carbon dioxide being added to the atmosphere instead – which, in turn increase global warming

Flooding – clearing the rainforest trees reduces interception and means that, when it rains, the fertile topsoil is washed into the rivers and lost. The rivers also silt up as a result, which means that they are more likely to flood and damage farms, homes and businesses downstream

Ecosystem – clearing the rainforest damages the fragile ecosystem there. Animals and plants lose their habitats and many species become extinct. We also suffer as a result, because Amazon rainforest species have provided the source of many ingredients used in modern medicines. Increasing rainforest clearance means that potential future medicines might be lost before they’re discovered

Tourism – ecotourists like to visit the rainforest and meet its wildlife and people. They bring money to the places they visit. If the forest is cleared, they won’t want to come and communities will suffer financially

Indigenous peoples – Amerindians have lived in the rainforest for centuries. However, increasing contact with the outsiders now moving in to the forest means that they risk catching diseases which they have no resistance to. These diseases can be fatal. Clearing the rainforest also means that the Amerindians lose their homes and way of life. Ecotourism in the Amazon Rainforest Picture Ecotourism usually involves small-scale tourism. The Yachana ecolodge in the Amazon Rainforest is one example of an ecotourism development. The ecolodge is a guesthouse where a small number of ecotourists can stay. Its basically a small environmentally friendly hotel that is surrounded by nature.

The Yachana ecolodge is next to the Napo River – a tributary of the Amazon – which is close to the village of Mondana. It is set in its own, protected, 1200-hectare section of rainforest, which is home to thousands of species of tropical plants and animals. Every room has a view of the river, safe drinking water and a private bathroom with a hot shower. Its dining room serves the guests meals made from locally grown food.

Most of the people who work at Yachana are local. They have jobs in the kitchen, dining room, garden – and help to look after the guests and their bedrooms. The lodge also employs Amerindian guides to show guests the forest environment and its creatures, how local people live and how they use plants for medicines.

The Yachana ecolodge offers a range of ecotourism activities. They involve visiting the natural environment in small groups and causing as little harm as possible to the area and to the local people. The activities help tourists to better understand the environment and the lives of local people. Activities include: rainforest hiking bird watching swimming in the Napo River canoeing photography visiting the local village learning to make traditional ‘mokaua’ pottery taking part in a traditional ceremony visiting a nearby biological research station What’s good about ecotourism? Picture For the environment Ecotourism means that the environment the ecotourists are visiting will be looked after. The trees are not cut down, but conserved for the future, because the forest is now an important attraction and economic asset. Ecotourism is small-scale, ecotourists travel in small groups. This means that they consume few resources, cause little pollution and are less likely to cause physical damage, like trampling vegetation. The Amazon rainforest is an important global resource. By absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the trees act as a brake on increased global warming. Therefore, anything which promotes their preservation is a real benefit – not just for the local environment but for the world. The Yachana ecolodge recycles its waste and uses renewable solar power

The local economy Ecotourism developments, such as the Yachana ecolodge mostly employ local people. Their wages are then spent in local markets – multiplier effect Ecotourism also provides local farmers with two new markets: the tourist developments themselves. like the ecolodge, plus the local people who work for the ecolodge and who don’t have time to grow their own food any more, because they’re too busy with their tourism jobs Ecotourists like to visit villages and interact with the people. They pay for extra services and buy souvenir handicrafts from them. This puts more ,oney into the local economy – the multiplier effect

People’s lives (social) as a result of ecotourism, some local people can now afford consumer goods, like televisions and radios – and motorboats instead of canoes. These change people’s traditional lives and can be seen as a negative impact. But many younger people welcome them. the extra money in the local economy means that more can be spent on healthcare and education – leading to higher literacy levels and life expectancy because more people are better off now, as a result of ecotourism, fewer fell the need to migrate (move away) to cities in search of work. Many migrants are younger adults, who leave an older population behind. One result of less migration from the Amazon is a better balance of people from different age groups – with more younger, fitter people to earn money, grow food and look after the elderly.

How does ecotourism help sustainable development? Ecotourists visit the Amazon rainforest because of its natural rainforest Ecotourism brings money to the area The forest and its wildlife become economic resources – and so do the traditions of its local people Local people, local government and local businesses value nature and tradition more The environment and traditional ways are sustained

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Ecotourism in Costa Rica case study

Ecotourism in Costa Rica case study

Subject: Geography

Age range: 14-16

Resource type: Lesson (complete)

agraham16

Last updated

13 December 2023

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pptx, 2.35 MB

This lesson looks at where Costa Rica is located, the problem they had with deforestation, the effects of this and how the solved this issue (Ecotourism). It then develops ecotourism to look at the positives and negatives of this. It finishes off by looking at a past examination question based on this topic. There is a separate worksheet based on this topic to help students to understand the lesson.

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Podcast: Is taking A-Level Geography worth it?

UCL Research Fellow Abbie Chapman answers the question 'Is taking A-Level Geography worth it?' She tells Ask The Expert podcast host Roberta Livingston about her experience.

Waves from the sea smashing into a rock

22 February 2024

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ROBERTA LIVINGSTON:

Hello and welcome to Ask The Expert, where you ask the questions and UCL’s finest experts answer them. I’m your host Roberta Livingston, a schools engagement assistant at UCL East. In this episode we hear from Abbie Chapman. A research fellow at UCL who did a PhD in Deep Sea Ecology. Abbie is going to be answering the question ‘Is taking A-Level Geography worth it?’ Let’s hear what Abbie has to say.

ABBIE CHAPMAN:

I’m Abbie Chapman, I’m a research fellow at University College London and all that means is that I did a Phd so a longer period of study that was quite specialised, I did that in deep sea ecology actually so I studied life on the sea floor in the bottom of the oceans, where there’s no light. But when I joined UCL, I started researching life on land. And so what I look at now is I spend time mostly on the computer mapping and modelling. So I’m using coding languages, but also other computer programmes. And to look at effectively what the impacts of our food systems are on biodiversity, so the wildlife around us. Particularly in South Africa, India and the UK, but also other countries, I'm compiling to now as well.

So yeah. You're asking is a level geography worth it? Well, my biassed first answer would be yes, definitely, but I'm aware that the answer to this actually really varies depending on who you are and what you want to do and what you love. So the first question I'll be asking you to ask yourself is what do you actually love and enjoy? The reason I say that is because at the end of the day, it sounds really obvious, but you're going to be sitting in the classroom sitting, listening to lessons, reading things, doing the homework, doing your exams, and it's going to be on a certain subject. And it'll be really much, much easier for you to commit yourself to that, to motivate yourself for that, if you actually enjoy it. So I would really think about that before choosing your A levels because there's a lot of advice that goes around about what's the best a level and what's what's not such a good a level. And I have to be honest, in my experience, since all those conversations happened to me too. It's actually not been so important. In the end. I think a lot of the advice I got at school sometimes was a bit biassed towards what would look good at a university, but I'm not entirely sure that's always the best advice. I would, I think mostly about what you enjoy and what you might want to do in the future.

One thing I would flag is if you have a really specific career in mind now some people do. I didn't, but some people do. I would just maybe investigate if you want. If you have courses that you would need to do at a university or a college after your A levels, that would maybe you to start that career. They want specific subjects. Make sure you're doing those. So for instance, if you wanted to be a medical doctor or a vet or a dentist, and there are other careers too, where there's to be important to consider, just make sure you've got a levels that align for that, because maybe geography won't fit by the time you've got the sciences, they might be asking for, for instance, if you don't have a specific career in mind, geography can be really, really even even better than other subjects for a specific reason, really. And that it's sort of more than one subject captured in in geography.

So under geography you have a really rare opportunity to study a real breadth of areas or fields as they sometimes call it university. So universities split things into social sciences and life sciences, but what they're actually talking about there is things that you cover in geography. So in your social sciences, you'll be considering things like how people are living, how cities are built, which communities are more vulnerable in the world, how developing, how developing nations are developing and how they're moving forward in things like agriculture and things like urbanisation.

You'll also look at economics. You'll consider things like development are considered under that, but you'll also look at the impacts of different industries on different groups of people and then under life and physical and even chemical sciences, you do things like bits of geology. They won't be called this. They'll be called geography at school, but they'll be split when you go to university. So you do things like geology and study rock formations. You might study a bit of oceanography, actually, you'll learn about coastal erosion, but if you went to university to study oceanography, you'd learn about that process too.

So your rocks, your volcanoes, your coasts, your rivers, your flooding, that's often what people think of with geography. That's physical geography. There's also the human geography side that you tend to cover in A level geography as well. So you're you're getting a real breadth of understanding. And I also want a flag. I was, I was on a workshop recently with the British Ecological Society. They were asking us to try and make sure how we can capture climate change and what we need to know about climate change in the school curriculum. And when we were doing this, we actually found that most of the climate change science, most of the most up to date research on climate change is taught under geography. A level isn't actually captured so much under biology like they thought it might be, and so if you're interested in climate change and how the world's responding to it, how ecological communities say the wildlife's responding to it, you might find you get to do a bit of that under geography as well.

So I'd always say I'd also say if you find you started an A level like geography and you weren't so sure it was for you longer term, you didn't want to do geography at university or something like that. I mean, it opens up other doors. So I did it and then I actually did do geography at university because I did really enjoy it. But I did end up also doing oceanography because the university I was at was offering that as something I could do alongside. So I got to study the oceans as well as the land and which I particularly enjoyed. And a lot of the people I worked with left to completely different careers as well. It's a really good one for getting into teaching. I find a lot of a lot of my friends and stuff doing that, but others work. For big companies, so some of them work using the mapping skills they developed in geography at university. So basically decide where for instance, you could decide where the next big supermarket is going to be, or where this town needs to be, and considering how it's going to impact nature, how it's going to impact people, and where then next based place to use some land is.

It's becoming a really important subject and really important skill sets that you learn through it for the future of land use in the UK, for instance, or across the world. So I'd say if you if you're thinking thanks to geography about how the world works across space in different subjects in different fields, you're getting what are called interdisciplinary skills and you might not have come across this word yet, but I promise you it's a word you'll see a lot in the future. They want people these days in many jobs.That don't just think about one really narrow subject. You can be really passionate about, really one narrow subject, but it's really helpful if you can talk to people who are passionate about other ones too.

And that might sound really simple, but it can actually be really quite a difficult thing to do if you're not used to having to learn terminology from other subjects, or having to think in different ways and geography prepares you really quite well for that. And also, if you're into things like I was describing, you'll learn something called geographic information systems. That's something you learn at university level, probably not so much during an A level unless you want to explore it all. That means is you're doing some nice mapping really. So you're mapping out different things and seeing what overlaps with what, what's causing problems for what. Where can things go? Where can rivers flow? Where might flooding happen? There's lots of opportunities that are made possible by maps.

And I'd also say that I think part of the was I was looking at the curriculum now because I'm aware that I went a while ago and I didn't want to be misgiving, misleading information. And I noticed there still seems to be an aspect of field work which is great to see. Yes, you might get muddy or you might choose a city based project and not get to say muddy. But field work is brilliant for your CV regardless of what you want to do next because it if you didn't know this already and you're thinking of how to write  a CV for the future, it's an example of teamwork.

For example, you can organise yourself and to be honest it gives the really impression that you probably have a really good attitude and say putting field work on your CV. As always, I believe going to be a really good thing that employers in all sorts of industries. And academia and other types of jobs are going to really appreciate. So I'd also say bear that in mind. So yeah, putting your wellies on or donning your clipboard to go on and interview some people is always going to be well worth doing. So do enjoy that part of your project if you do decide to take the geography a level as well.

And so there you have it! For Abbie taking A-Level Geography was worth it as it opened up many doors for her including the opportunity to study Oceanography. A-Level Geography is almost like a gateway to specific subjects that are available at UCL and other universities so if for instance you wanted to study Geology, taking A-Level Geography would be a requirement. 

And that is the end of this episode, I hope it was helpful! If you wish to submit your own question for an expert to answer just type in Ask The Expert UCL on your search engine and our website should be the first to pop up.

Til next time! Thank you.

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ecotourism case study geography

Abbie Chapman

Conservation, Geography, Oceanography, and Ecology

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  1. Ecotourism

    Ecotourism - Case Study - Internet Geography Ecotourism - Case Study Ecotourism - Case Study Case Study of Ecotourism in Kenya - The Kimana Project Three-quarters of wildlife in Kenya can be found outside of the National Parks. A large amount of the land outside of Kenya's National Parks is owned by the Masai Mara.

  2. Case study: Ecotourism in Kenya

    Six World Heritage Sites Tourism is a major industry in Kenya. However, it is very difficult to ascertain detailed figures on ecotourism, although there are some figures about tourism in general. The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics collects detailed information about tourism.

  3. Case study: Ecotourism in the Maasai Mara, Kenya

    Case study: Ecotourism in the Maasai Mara, Kenya - Sustainable tourism - CCEA - GCSE Geography Revision - CCEA - BBC Bitesize GCSE CCEA Sustainable tourism - CCEA Case study:...

  4. PDF An Eco-tourism Case Study

    598 An Eco-tourism Case Study - Costa Rica Costa Rica is a small, peaceful and democratic country (just less than half the size of England) located between Nicaragua and Panama in Central America (Figure 1).

  5. Sustainable tourism and ecotourism

    By Matt Burdett, 24 January 2018 On this page, we look at the concept of sustainable tourism, including the growth of ecotourism. Near Oodnadatta, Australia. Small groups that don't reach the carrying capacity of an area are one way to achieve sustainability in tourism. What is sustainable tourism? Sustainable tourism can be defined as:

  6. Case study

    Eduqas Changing pattern and nature of tourism - Eduqas Case study - ecotourism in the rainforest Tourism is rapidly increasing and the nature of modern tourism in changing. There are various...

  7. Ecotourism, biodiversity conservation and livelihoods: Understanding

    1. Introduction Ecotourism has been gaining momentum in biodiversity hotspots pertaining to its potential to boost both rural livelihoods and environmental conservation. It has the ability to alleviate poverty, which is profoundly embedded in several areas of society ( Ferraro & Hanauer, 2014; Makindi, 2016; Sirivongs & Tsuchiya, 2012 ).

  8. Ecotourism as a learning tool for sustainable development. The case of

    Ecotourism as a learning tool for sustainable development. The case of Monviso Transboundary Biosphere Reserve, Italy Elena Mondino & Thomas Beery Pages 107-121 | Received 08 Jan 2018, Accepted 03 Apr 2018, Published online: 11 Apr 2018 Cite this article https://doi.org/10.1080/14724049.2018.1462371 In this article Full Article Figures & data

  9. A geography of ecotourism in Cambodia: regions, patterns, and

    This study draws on Weaver's [(2002). Asian ecotourism: Patterns and themes. Tourism Geographies, 4(2), 153-172] spatial and structural analysis of ecotourism in Asia as an organizing framework to develop a geography of ecotourism in Cambodia. In a comprehensive review of academic publications, reports, online ecotourism clearinghouses, and ...

  10. Ecotourism and sustainable development: a scientometric review of

    Ecotourism, which has appeared in academic literature since the late 1980s, is a special form of nature-based tourism that maintains the well-being of the local community while protecting the environment and provides tourists with a satisfying nature experience and enjoyment (Ceballos-Lascuráin, 1996; Higgins, 1996; Orams, 1995).With years of research and development, ecotourism has risen to ...

  11. Case studies in ecotourism

    As a counterpart to the growing volume of more theoretical literature in ecotourism, this volume provides a global compilation and analysis of 170 real-life case studies in ecotourism. It includes ecotours on land and sea, ecolodges and resorts, private reserves and public parks. The case studies range from the world's best models to test cases, small to large, unique to representative. Data ...

  12. PDF GEOACTIVE

    At the end of this case study, you will have learned about ecotourism, looking in detail at two areas of Ecuador where this type of tourism has been developed. You will also have learned that this type of tourism needs especially careful management. Relevance to specifi cations AQA A Unit 2: Human Geography, Section B, Tourism, page 21

  13. Costa Rica: A case study of ecotourism

    Costa Rica: A case study of ecotourism Sam McManus With Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the south in Central America, Costa Rica is a thin green strip of tropical rainforest and volcanoes that rise up between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.

  14. Sustainable tourism case study

    The Galapagos Islands - A case study of Ecotourism. The Galapagos Islands are a small chain of islands found 1,000km from the West coast of South America. They are Ecuadorian, and are home to an incredible array of animals and plants. The Galapagos Islands are most famous because many of the plants and animals found there are not found ...

  15. Sustainable Eco-Tourism: A Case Study from India -Andhra Pradesh

    Abstract. Eco-tourism is ecologically sustainable tourism with a primary focus on experiencing natural areas that foster environmental and cultural understanding, appreciation and conservation ...

  16. Ecotourism

    . The aim of ecotourism is to reduce the impact that tourism has on naturally beautiful environments. Any tourist destination can be harmed by increased levels of tourism. If areas are damaged or...

  17. Ecotourism

    Picture Ecotourism usually involves small-scale tourism. The Yachana ecolodge in the Amazon Rainforest is one example of an ecotourism development. The ecolodge is a guesthouse where a small number of ecotourists can stay. Its basically a small environmentally friendly hotel that is surrounded by nature.

  18. Ecotourism Research Progress: A Bibliometric Analysis During 1990-2016

    The study aims to evaluate research trends of ecotourism, which has attracted wide attention by both researchers and policymakers as an important way to realize sustainable tourism. Bibliometric analysis was carried through the 2,531 records related to ecotourism searching from Science Citation Index (SCI), Social Science Citation Index (SSCI ...

  19. 3.4.3 Management of Tourism

    Protected areas This involves protecting vast areas from development National Parks - Yellowstone was the first to be established in 1872 and now there are more than 4000 worldwide Many countries have National Forests, Country Parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, World Heritage Sites and other areas considered important to protect

  20. Ecotourism in Costa Rica case study

    Ecotourism in Costa Rica case study Subject: Geography Age range: 14-16 Resource type: Lesson (complete) File previews pptx, 2.35 MB pptx, 13.25 MB This lesson looks at where Costa Rica is located, the problem they had with deforestation, the effects of this and how the solved this issue (Ecotourism).

  21. Geography Case Studies

    Geography Case Studies - A wide selection of geography case studies to support you with GCSE Geography revision, homework and research. Twitter; Facebook; ... Ecotourism; Ecotourism - Case Study; Urbanisation. What is urbanisation? What causes urbanisation? Million Cities; What is a megacity? Counter-urbanisation;

  22. IGCSE Geography 0460

    IGCSE Geography 0460 - 3.4 Ecotourism case study - YouTube This video is an educational video for IGCSE Geography. It is part of a series on this subject. Topics covered in this video...

  23. Human Geography: Ecotourism+case study Flashcards

    Usually a small-scale activity with small number of visitors in area at a time. ECOTOURISM: What does it involve. -Conservation- Protecting and managing environment. -Stewardship- taking responsibility for conserving environment. ECOTOURISM: Environmental benefits. -Local people encouraged to conserve environment instead of damaging activities.

  24. Podcast: Is taking A-Level Geography worth it?

    For Abbie taking A-Level Geography was worth it as it opened up many doors for her including the opportunity to study Oceanography. A-Level Geography is almost like a gateway to specific subjects that are available at UCL and other universities so if for instance you wanted to study Geology, taking A-Level Geography would be a requirement. ...