What Is Ecotourism?

The world is a remarkable place — from the snowy peak of Mount Everest to the darkest depths of the Mariana Trench, and all the wondrous corners in between. People are drawn to watch elephants roam the Serengeti, learn about forest traditions from communities in the Amazon, and marvel at the reefs of the Coral Triangle. Ecotourism offers a way to do all of this while conserving the natural places we visit. 

Yet in recent years, “ecotourism” has become a buzzword. The term is increasingly used to describe any trip in nature, even when those experiences disrupt wildlife, damage habitats, or exploit local cultures. This kind of greenwashing masks harmful practices and undermines what ecotourism is actually meant to accomplish.

This raises the question: What is ecotourism, really?  True ecotourism isn’t just about being in nature. At its heart, ecotourism is about traveling responsibly to natural areas, protecting those environments, supporting the communities that call them home, and fostering a deeper appreciation for the landscapes and cultures that make them unique. 

In this guide, you’ll learn what ecotourism means and why it matters. We’ll explore its definition, the principles that shape it, and how it differs from sustainable and nature tourism.

Why Ecotourism Matters

Many of the world’s most inspiring tourism destinations are also among the planet’s most fragile ecosystems. In Costa Rica, rainforests pulse with biodiversity, sheltering endangered species such as tapirs. In Raja Ampat, vibrant coral reefs are increasingly stressed by warming seas. 

Travel can leave an imprint that adds pressure to sensitive places when it isn’t done responsibly. While well-managed tourism can benefit nature, wildlife, and local communities, unchecked growth can lead to overtourism. Overcrowding, pollution, habitat destruction, and resource exploitation can leave lasting marks on the very places people travel to admire.

Ecotourism Definition

Ecotourism is responsible travel in natural environments that minimizes negative impacts, directly contributes to conservation, benefits local communities, and fosters respect for nature and culture through education.

It’s a simple idea embedded in powerful intention; that travel, when done with awareness and accountability, can help protect and support the places and people visited along the way. 

Our definition of ecotourism brings together the core principles shared by major global organizations—including TIES, IUCN, GEN, and UN Tourism—to reflect the standards widely recognized across the field.

History and Evolution of Ecotourism 

The term “ecotourism” was first described in the 1980s by Mexican architect and environmentalist Héctor Ceballos-Lascuráin. It was used to describe how low-impact travel could protect natural habitats and support local economies. Hector’s vision was simple but transformative. He believed that outdoor activities like birdwatching and hiking could provide sustainable livelihoods, without damaging the landscapes they depended on. 

By the 1990s, sustainability had become central to global development conversations. In 2002, the United Nations officially recognized ecotourism as a key driver of responsible travel.

Today, ecotourism is one of the fastest-growing sectors of tourism. It is projected to exceed $665 billion by 2030, reflecting the world’s growing shift toward more sustainable and mindful ways of exploring.

Key Principles of Ecotourism

Although different organizations emphasize slightly different elements, ecotourism is built on a common foundation. Drawing on these shared threads, we synthesized a set of core principles that guide how ecotourism should be designed and experienced so that tourism actively supports, rather than harms, the places and people it touches.

1. Minimize Negative Impacts on Environments and Wildlife: Ecotourism focuses on reducing the environmental footprint of travel by avoiding damage to ecosystems. It encourages travelers and operators to prevent pollution and waste, manage resources responsibly, and minimize disturbances to wildlife and their habitats.
2. Minimize Negative Impacts on Communities and Cultures: Cultural integrity must be protected with ecotourism, ensuring that tourism doesn’t exploit, disrupt, or disadvantage local people. It calls for respect for cultural traditions, fair employment practices, active community participation in tourism decisions, and maintaining residents’ access to natural areas and resources.
3. Provide Financial Benefits for Conservation: Beyond minimizing harm, ecotourism also provides financial benefits for conservation that directly protect and regenerate the environment. It generates funding for conservation through park fees, guided experiences, and partnerships with local organizations, helping to safeguard the landscapes and wildlife that draw visitors in the first place.
4. Provide Economic Benefits for Local Communities: Ecotourism doesn’t just fund conservation; it also provides an important source of income for local people who live alongside nature. By creating quality jobs, supporting local enterprises, and ensuring that revenue stays within the community, ecotourism helps strengthen economies and build long-term resilience.
5. Empower Indigenous and Local Communities as Equal Partners: Those who live closest to nature and carry generational knowledge about it are often its best protectors. Although Indigenous Peoples make up only six percent of the global population, they steward over a third of the world’s key biodiversity areas. Ecotourism acknowledges the role of Indigenous and local communities and engages them not just as part of the experience but as equal partners, ensuring that they have a real voice in tourism decision-making, opportunities for leadership, and a fair share of its benefits. 
6. Build Awareness and Respect: Education is a fundamental part of ecotourism. Through guided interpretation and immersive experiences, travelers learn about local ecosystems, cultures, and conservation challenges. This encourages a deeper appreciation for the people and environments encountered, leading to informed, responsible choices and inspiring lifelong stewardship. For local guides and communities, ecotourism can also strengthen understanding and pride in their natural heritage, reinforcing the value of protecting the places they call home.
7. Create Positive Experiences for Visitors and Local Communities: Ecotourism creates rewarding experiences for both visitors and local communities. It fosters meaningful connections rooted in mutual respect, transparency, and shared benefit. In this way, ecotourism becomes a positive force that enriches all parties involved.

Ecotourism vs Sustainable Tourism vs Nature Tourism

The terms ecotourism, sustainable tourism, and nature tourism are often used interchangeably, but they each describe something slightly different. Understanding how they connect and where they differentiate helps clarify what genuine ecotourism really involves.

Sustainable tourism is travel that balances economic growth, community well-being, environmental health, and visitor satisfaction, reducing harm and creating lasting benefits for people and the planet. It is a broad concept that applies to many forms of tourism, from city tours to beach resorts to hiking trips. While it’s often associated with eco-travel, it isn’t limited to nature-based experiences. For example, sustainable tourism might involve fair employment practices at theme parks, renewable energy systems at museums, water-saving measures in resorts, waste reduction programs in restaurants, or cultural experiences co-designed with local communities.

While sustainable tourism focuses on how travel is conducted, nature tourism describes where travel takes place. Nature tourism is travel that depends on and takes place in natural areas and landscapes, often for recreation or appreciation of wildlife, scenery, and outdoor activities. While nature tourism connects people with the outdoors, it isn’t automatically sustainable or environmentally friendly. Unmanaged nature tourism can still damage habitats, disturb wildlife, and strain local resources if not guided by responsible practices.

Ecotourism sits at the intersection of these ideas, combining a love of wild places with the responsibility to protect them. Guided by its core principles, it actively supports conservation, respects local culture, and provides tangible benefits to the communities that depend on nature for their livelihoods.

Today, there is renewed focus on adopting regenerative travel practices, which center on restoring and giving back to the places we visit, leaving them better than we found them. While these ideas have long been central to ecotourism and sustainable travel, they are now gaining greater attention throughout the travel industry.

Category	Nature Tourism	Ecotourism	Sustainable Tourism
What it is	Travel that depends on and takes place in nature.	Responsible travel in nature that supports conservation, benefits communities, and fosters respect.	Travel that balances economic growth, community well-being, environmental health, and visitor satisfaction.
Destination	Natural environments	Natural environments	Any destination–natural, urban, or cultural
Examples	Wildlife safaris Hiking White-water rafting Snorkeling Off-road ATV tours Ziplining Hunting Visiting beaches	Community-led educational mangrove tour Reef-safe snorkeling trip in a marine sanctuary Stay at a locally run ecolodge that protects and restores the surrounding jungle	Stay at a hotel that reduces waste and energy use. Cooking class designed and led by an Indigenous community member Reef-safe snorkeling trip in a marine sanctuary
Impact	Can benefit or harm nature and local communities depending on how it’s managed.	Strengthens positive benefits and minimizes negative impacts for natural environments and local communities.	Strengthens positive benefits and minimizes negative impacts for natural environments and local communities.

What Ecotourism Looks Like in Practice

Ecotourism takes many forms across the world. It can range from community-led safaris to coral conservation dives, all rooted in the same idea. While every destination brings its own culture, activities, and landscape, the goal remains constant: to protect nature and empower local people.

Costa Rica

When thinking about ecotourism, Costa Rica is often one of the first places that comes to mind. The country has turned its extraordinary biodiversity into both a national treasure and an educational experience. 

Over a quarter of Costa Rica’s land is protected as national parks and reserves, creating space for ecosystems and wildlife to thrive. The country also pioneered one of the world’s earliest sustainable tourism certification programs, which now includes more than 400 certified businesses. This certification reinforces ecotourism principles by guiding and incentivizing operators to engage in ecologically and socially conscious practices. 

In Costa Rica, visitors can explore rainforests, volcanoes, coastlines, and cloud forests while directly supporting a range of conservation efforts. For example, expert-guided birdwatching in Monteverde offers a chance to learn about tropical bird species, while helping to sustain protected areas managed by local families. In Tortuguero, turtle-spotting programs led by local guides provide income that helps fund patrol teams who watch the beaches, making it much harder for poachers to illegally take eggs.

Raja Ampat, Indonesia

For many divers, Raja Ampat is a dream destination. This Indonesian archipelago lies in the heart of the Coral Triangle, a vast seascape often described as the “Amazon of the Seas.” Its waters hold an astonishing array of life, with more than 1,700 fish species and 76% of the world’s coral species found across the region. Ecotourism here helps fund the maintenance of marine protected areas covering more than 4.9 million acres (2 million hectares). 

In the southern reaches of Raja Ampat is Misool, a private island resort built around conservation-focused tourism. The resort protects a massive no-take marine reserve and reinvests tourism revenue into community-led conservation programs such as ranger patrols, a manta ray sanctuary, a turtle nursery, and plastic recycling. 

Bhutan

Bhutan is known for integrating conservation into every sector—including tourism. Through the UNDP Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN), the country uses river rafting as a tool for both adventure and environmental protection. Certified rafting guides now patrol rivers to prevent illegal fishing, manage waste, and protect endangered species like the white-bellied heron, demonstrating how tourism can help ecosystems thrive.

Kenya

Kenya was the first African country to establish a national ecotourism society and is often considered the birthplace of community conservancies. Today, there are more than 200 community-owned conservancies. In these areas, local people live alongside wildlife and deter poaching on their own land, helping protect nearly two-thirds of Kenya’s large mammals that live outside formal government-protected areas. These areas have become some of Kenya’s most remarkable places to visit. Tourism revenue from experiences such as guided safaris, wildlife photography, cultural activities, and community-run safari camps directly benefits the people who steward these landscapes.

At the LUMO Community Wildlife Conservancy, three ranches united to protect wildlife corridors while continuing to sustainably graze their cattle. Formerly degraded rangelands have rebounded, now supporting elephants, cheetahs, and rare antelope species. Tourism at LUMO funds education, health care, and local jobs, providing strong incentives for conservation.

In addition to ecotourism, carbon offsets present an emerging opportunity to diversify funding for community-led conservation. Projects like the Yaeda-Eyasi initiative in Tanzania show how Indigenous communities can earn income and preserve their traditional livelihoods by protecting their lands, a model that could further strengthen benefits for community conservancies. 

Next Steps for Eco-Friendly Travel

Each of these examples shows ecotourism in action: not as a single type of trip, but as a different way of approaching travel. But even in places known for being eco-friendly, not every experience qualifies as ecotourism. When planning a trip, take time to research tour operators, accommodations, and activities to understand their specific practices and ensure they align with ecotourism principles. By choosing experiences that follow these principles, travelers and tourism professionals can help shape a more sustainable future for the industry. For a deeper look at each principle—and more real-life examples of what they look like in practice—explore our Ecotourism Examples from Around the World guide.

You can also download our eco-friendly travel tips list for practical ways to reduce your impact while exploring the world. For tourism professionals, our Sustainable Tour Design Checklist provides guidance on integrating best practices into trip planning. And if you’re looking for ongoing support, consider becoming a Sustainable Travel International member to gain access to tools and resources that support responsible operations and long-term positive impact.