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Sustainable Ecotourism Development in Central America and the Caribbean: Review of Debates and Conceptual Reformulation
Author(s) -
Klak Thomas
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
geography compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.587
H-Index - 65
ISSN - 1749-8198
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-8198.2007.00055.x
Subject(s) - ecotourism , tourism , sustainability , scholarship , sustainable tourism , sustainable development , tourism geography , political science , environmental ethics , environmental planning , geography , economic growth , environmental resource management , economics , ecology , philosophy , law , biology
Tourism is one of the world's largest economic sectors. Ecotourism is its fastest growing component (United Nations World Tourism Organization 2007), and a promising strategy for sustainable development. Rural Central America and the Caribbean are in need of sustainable development and contain promising ecotourism sites. Despite their empirical importance and potential, tourism and ecotourism as research topics present several difficulties. This article surveys recent tourism and ecotourism scholarship and pays special attention to other recent literature reviews that contribute to that scholarship. It offers a three‐dimensional view of sustainable ecotourism development based on ecological integrity, economic viability, and social justice. Our common conception of ecotourism needs to broaden. It is typically presented as one of many distinct alternatives to mass tourism such as cultural, historical, and agro‐tourism. It is more fruitful to view alternative tourisms as synergistic components of a sustainable tourism ensemble. The article explores consequences of neglecting any of the three sustainability dimensions. It concludes by summarizing the article's contributions to the practice and analysis of sustainable ecotourism development.