Greenwashing the world down the drain

The term eco tourism was first established by a Mexican conservationist by the name of Hector Ceballos-Lascurain who revised his first quote made in 1983 which was slightly ambiguous, to the latter in 1996. Which is now given as a definition of eco tourism by the International Union for the conservation of nature (IUCN):

"Ecotourism is environmentally responsible travel and visitation to relatively undisturbed natural areas, in order to enjoy and appreciate nature (and any accompanying cultural features - both past and present) that promotes conservation, has low negative visitor impact, and provides for beneficially active socio-economic involvement of local populations".

The ICUN is the largest global environmental network, lending weight to the above definition.

Finding out about ecotourism for many people will ultimately come down to an Internet search engine. The term eco tourism itself is a relatively new concept so what exactly does it entail? What is ecotourism, how does it work and is it actually going to create a revolution in terms of holidaying and travelling whereby the fad of carbon offsetting becomes the norm, people pay for the pollution they cause and the impacts of holidaying are reduced to the point of being totally negated by either technological advances or simple lifestyle choices that shun the grandiose and luxurious.
The simple answer is no. Ecotourism is a cynical marketing tool being used increasingly upon a population of guardian readers looking to justify their whimsical and luxurious retreats to 5 star hotels on tiny Polynesian islands. This truly is a capitalist’s dream, no longer do companies and consumers need to bury their heads in the sand and turn a blind eye to the obvious and irreversible damage wreaked upon delicate and unique ecosystems. Now people can proudly argue over their mochas and extra skinny lattes about whose five thousand pound Caribbean odyssey was better for the environment, Tarquin who went and counted rare jellyfish for a day or Pipa who helped a turtle lay eggs by watching it for an hour. This might sound overly cynical but the idea of ‘ego’ tourists is not something new. Duffy (2002) believed that the new ecotourism was simply being used as a means of social positioning where people think that they are above the average imbecilic tourist. The ego tourists interviewed by Duffy were scuba diving off Belize on an ‘eco holiday’, yet none considered the effects of motorboats upon the environment or the effect of tourists upon the marine life (recent studies in the black forest show that the presence of tourists noticeably and detrimentally effects local wildlife.), not too mention the effects of flying half way around the globe in the first place.
Just how endemic this ‘green washing’ of the unjustifiable has become first becomes apparent when on an Internet search engine: type in ecotourism. The first 20 results are marketing companies who specialise in ecotourism marketing. To be fair they do come up with some interesting ecotourism marketing ideas, such as sending guests home with a gift; for example a bar of soap in the shape of something memorable about their trip.
Ecotourism as an idea and in the purest sense is not a marketing tool, nor should it be considered one. It is a mindset and a conscious personal effort to have an enjoyable holiday without causing irreversible damage to the planet, and funding the destruction of areas by staying in large hotel or holiday complexes. But this simply does not conform in a society built upon the principal of wealth accumulation and ownership. As such we must look at ecotourism as a marketing tool and see whether or not the Ecotourism organisations are actually any more environmentally friendly than those that do not use this tag. In fact the misrepresentation of eco tourism has led to organisations avoiding using the tag due to cynicism created by hypocritical use of the term.

2002 was designated year of the eco tourist by the united nations, however this provoked a hostile reaction from many eminent ecologists and environmentalists who claimed this would play into the hands of the big corporations using eco tourism as a marketing tool and worse still using the eco title to gain access to sensitive areas such companies would never be allowed to set foot in under the auspice of normal tourism.
People such as Deborah McLaren, the coordinator of Rethinking Tourism, a conservation group in America; Chee Yoke Ling, a representative of the Third World Network and Nina Rao co-chair of Tourism Caucus an African far trade NGO with links to the UN commission for sustainable development.
Its not hard to see why these complaints were lodged, post 2002 many tourism organisations such as Skal began to operate eco tourism awards, the winner of one such award was Marari Beach Resort in India. This resort boast traditional Indian fishing huts, air conditioning and swimming pools set over 9 Islands. The most popular of which is the Casino Island. This eco tourism award winner is far out of the price range of local people and being all-inclusive means they will see little benefit from its existence. And Skals main business partner? Best Western. One of the largest multi national hotel networks in the world.

Unfortunately this is a common and reoccurring theme within the minefield of eco tourism. Awards and more importantly accreditation are not necessarily a guarantee that the company is acting responsibly. The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) operate a Green Globe 21 scheme, which destinations need to pay to become part of, this is however backed up by assessors who visit the resorts to asses their eco credentials. Just how strict these assessors are, or whether they exist at all would be an interesting question. Green Globe 21 accredited resorts include Sandals Dunn's River resort in Jamaica, a huge complex built around an artificial 18 hole golf course. The average golf course consumes at least 35 Million Gallons of water per year, which works out at around 2,500 Gallons per round played. Hardly what I consider to be environmentally conscious practice. And this is without taking into account what 234 en suite air conditioned rooms built on a beach does to the marine environment, nor does it take into account the costs of getting to Jamaica by air.

Certainly there is much good to come of a more socially aware public who believe in helping the planet, and eco tourism itself should surely be welcomed. The unfortunate problem we have at the moment is that the term has simply been hijacked by businesses using it to make more money. The other issue relates to the holidaymakers themselves. For all people say, when studied they really aren’t thinking about the consequences of their actions at all. Sharpley suggests that tourism is escapist and people pay money to be entertained, so they are more likely to give priority to serve their self-interests above those of the environment. This is what Duffy experienced in practice. The potential is huge, but the issue still remains, when are people going to take responsibility for their actions.