Monday, May 17, 2010

Lets be Responsible Tourists

Eco tourism is defined as "Responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people." (TIES, 1990)

But sadly, while traveling into the jungles and trekking through the lovely forests we, tourists are so careless. You will see plastic bags thrown carelessly, empty water(plastic) bottles, wrappers, plates and cups left by tourists spoiling the scenic beauty. We, come for a vacation and leave a large ecological footprint behind.

Whats irresponsible is when tourists demand for unreasonable stuff. Being apart of nature camps and volunteering on projects,you come across Tourists with different options. Some want a camp fire and when you say "Sir, please understated this is a Tiger Reserve" , he quickly adds "Oh but you get it in a resort". The others feel they have been cheated that they haven't seen a "Tiger" in a Tiger Reserve.
These are well educated people yet so utterly indifferent.

This all stems from a lack of responsibly as an individual. As i mention in my earlier post, its high time we act like Responsible tourists, travelers and buyers. Eco tourism can surely benefit Wildlife and our ecological footprints can be greatly reduced. You can also make sure the Resort you go to is being responsible and Eco friendly.

Eco tourism is about uniting conservation, communities, and sustainable travel.
On further reading I read this lovely article and a blog post by NCF and it couldn't have been written in a better way.

Here's a link to see the article,

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/68700/ecotourist-tread-carefully.html

Lets act Responsibly and be responsible the next time we venture into the forests.

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