Faculty & Research
Ecotourism as Mass Tourism: Contradiction or Reality?
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Vol 42 No 2
By: David Bruce Weaver
Executive Summary: The original view of ecotourism as specialized adventures experienced by a small group of hardy travelers is expanding to include so-called soft ecotourists, who are far more numerous and seek more services than the hard ecotourists. Many contemporary travelers are interested in the natural environment, but also in the comforts and easy travel afforded by the mass-tourism infrastructure. This paper argues that the two are not necessarily in opposition. In fact, the revenues available from large groups of soft ecotourists may be the key to providing the financing to protect natural areas, as well as bolstering political support for maintaining natural preserves. One model for the heavy use of natural areas is to concentrate most of the activity in a small section of the attraction where site-hardening and site-softening strategies are used to manage large visitor numbers.
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- Ecotourism as Mass Tourism: Contradiction or Reality? By: David Bruce Weaver
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