Environmentalists often fear that tourists will trample all over sensitive natural resource areas, but tourism may bring the needed and only economic incentives to help drive conservation. According to a University of Georgia study published in the Journal of Ecotourism, environmentalists should team up with ecotourists to protect fragile ecosytems from landing in the hands of developers. “Ecotourism destinations benefit in the form of enhanced tourism competitiveness from the protection of quality natural resources,” study co-author Bynum Boley said. Tourism is a $7.6 trillion global industry, provides 277 million jobs and is a primary income source for 20 of the world’s 48 least-developed countries. It also subsidizes environmental protection and helps protect, conserve and value cultural resources that might otherwise be undervalued by the host community, Boley said.
Tourism can help protect natural landscapes, study shows
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