Ecotourism in South American Countries: Has the Agenda Changed?

The ecotourism agenda of the South American countries has changed. In many countries in South America, there is a plan called ecotourism. The original idea was that many developing countries in South America suffered from a very bad economic situation and many people suffered. In order to improve the status of these poor countries, the concept of ecotourism was formulated. Essentially, ecotourism is a program that allows visitors to donate foreign capital to the regional economy while visiting South America countries.

The term ecotourism has been circulating for many years. However, the word soon became suitable for hotels and tourist attractions. Regarding Latin American countries, mainly Costa Rica, the international tourism rate is high, it is more appropriate. Ecotourism is not something everyone can understand. This term may have multiple meanings. However, at that time, the ecotourism project must include two things. Tourism can be regarded as ecotourism, including participation by local communities, support for efforts to conserve, and self-sustaining activities with high profitability.

Ecotourism is currently used as an excellent tool to promote sustainable development in developing countries. This creates environmental, economic and social benefits to the community. Today, ecotourism is being carried out by many travel planners and marketers. An important aspect of ecotourism is its proper planning and implementation. In the case of inappropriate planning, it converts all economic benefits into social and environmental disasters. Ecotourism developed rapidly into a global phenomenon without signs of deceleration. It is not a universal remedy for sustainable development, but its possibility to promote sustainable development is worth considerable attention. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of ecotourism on sustainable development of Costa Rica.

Kenya is always a pioneer of ecotourism. It is the first country to adopt the principles and practices of ecotourism for its national park system. Initially, ecotourism was used to provide the local people around the park with the benefits of natural resource protection. The Kenyan government hopes that the willingness of local people to profit from the existence of parks will reduce their willingness to poach wild games in the park.  Possible solutions: educate visitors about acceptable behavior and encourage domestic travel. Parks in Kenya can increase the capacity of visitors by developing a zoning strategy that helps spread the entire park more equally (Weaver, p. 123). This leads to a more equitable use of the park and prevents part of the park from being overused.