Alternative Tourism: general term used to describe tourism that is small scale, run by specialist independent operators and embraces sustainable practices. Often perceived as the opposite of mass / commercial tourism. It includes, ecotourism, wildlife tourism, rural tourism, adventure tourism and green tourism. Ecotourism: a type of alternative tourism located in exotic protected areas focusing on the education of host and local communities to protect natural and cultural heritage. Sustainable Tourism: tourism that encourages continued investment and maintenance of local jobs, protects and enhances local customs and livelihoods and cultures and conserves natural landscapes and ecosystems. Green tourism: tourism that attempts to reduce environmental and ecological impacts.

Sustainability was defined by the World commission on Environment and Development in 1987 as ‘development, which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’. Therefore: Should not consume renewable resources faster than the rates of natural replacement. Sustainable tourism is not a preservation of the physical environment, but development based on economic, socio-cultural and environmentally sustainable principals. Economic sustainability involves encouraging continued investment in tourism and maintenance of local jobs over time. Socio-cultural sustainability protects and enhances local customs, livelihoods and cultures. Environmental sustainability ensures that natural landscapes and ecosystems are conserved or enhanced by tourist developments. Rising visitor numbers should not detract from the quality of the tourist experience and environmental carrying capacities must not be exceeded.

Planning: Controls must therefore be in place before building occurs, to ensure that the scale, nature and character of tourist facility are suited to blend in with the environment. However, in reality it is difficult to achieve. Why? Local communities may favour other economic options e.g. Natal province in South Africa, an area of coral reefs, grassland swamps, afforested dunes and deserted beaches, and the Rio Tinto Zinc company suggested mining for Titanium instead of developing ecotourism The local Zulus preferred mining as the company had a reputation of paying high wages and opening schools and clinics and ecotourism would not bring as many benefits.

Sustainable tourism must involved small numbers tourists, are small scale and dispersed in nature. Host communities are involved in or take control of developments leading to improvements in their local economy. Criticism: Sustainable tourism generates insufficient jobs to benefit the national economy. For this reason a combination of mass and ecotourism is seen as the best way forward. E.g. Sri Lanka where tourist enclaves occur along the coast and alternative tourism projects occur inland. There is a pressure to make mass tourism in MEDCs more GREEN e.g. through more efficient use of water and energy and the recycling of waste. The term Green tourism refers to all forms of tourism that attempt to reduce environmental and ecological impacts.

How can Sustainability be measured? This difficult to evaluate as to whether tourism is sustainable or not. Measuring carrying capacity (i.e. the number of visitors an area can support without causing damage to ecosystems) does have limitations. Limits to acceptable change (LAC) is a technique used in USA National parks and recognizes that change is inevitable but planning controls must be put in place to manage growth. Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is another approach which highlights the direct and indirect environment impacts of any proposed development and suggests strategies to minimize these while also maximizing the benefits of the project.

Ecotourism now has 5% of the market and has become popular over the last 20 years. Holidays are expensive, small scale and run by locals. It has grown as a reaction to the problems of mass tourism. However, small numbers restrict opportunities for economies of scale, few local jobs are created which reduces chances of the multiplier effect. The areas tend to be fragile and some locals do not have the expertise to conserve these areas. High costs have also led to claims of elitism. The cultural exchange betweens and locals has also led some to believe that western culture penetrates deeper than by mass tourism.