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In 2019, a record number of people traveled internationally, 1.5 billion, to be exact. However, conventional mass travel has been shown to be unsustainable and actually has many hidden, deeply intertwined costs for both tourist destinations and our planet. The good news is that over the past decade trends in travel have been changing considerably. As the world becomes more aware of the threats that human-induced climate change poses to people, our planet, and our future; ways to reduce the carbon footprint of activities such as mass tourism are being sought. What can we do about our recreational travel habits? The answer is ecotourism. Ecotourism is a way of travelling that minimizes the environmental impact of visiting tourist destinations, while respecting the local culture and people. The practice allows host countries to benefit and future generations to enjoy these beautiful areas as much as we do. Now let’s find out what researchers from Purdue University in Indiana, USA have to say about this new trend. "Heritage and culture and its protection are very important parts of sustainability. They are very vulnerable to the negative effects of tourism, which is why we need to ensure that we have the correct policies in place to ensure its protection for future generations." "I study community-based tourism and that is a form of tourism that is being operated by a community, usually in rural areas, specifically in rural areas in Indonesia for my research. I think identifying the resources that they have is really important and how they can use that to show their culture, and then, once they’ve identified those things, then the tourism operation can be initiated." "Sustainable tourism is about looking after people’s economic well-being, it’s about looking after their heritage and their culture, and it’s also about looking after the environment so that we can keep these three things working together for the benefit of the communities." Many thanks, Purdue University students, for sharing your knowledge about eco-tourism. May your research continue to touch the lives of all the planet’s inhabitants.
