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		Ecotourism Ecotourism   En Español Resources Maps Generates Income Reduces Threats Communities Sharing Lessons Nature Travel Natural Events

Ecotourism and Threat Reduction

Managing tourism for naure's benefit

Canaima National Park, Venezuela © Aurelio Ramos/TNC

In many protected areas, tourism is a major activity that occurs without much forethought or preparation. Beach hotel developments near sea turtle nesting areas disrupt breeding, and large numbers of visitors unwittingly disturb local community life. To ensure that the benefits of tourism outweigh the costs, careful planning and management of tourism impacts are needed.

The Conservancy assists partners in producing tourism management plans that consider location and construction of buildings, land use zoning, interpretation and guidelines for visitation. We also develop tools and resources for managers, operators and local organizations to measure tourism impacts in protected areas, and offer technical assistance through workshops, and training courses.

Building Park Capacity to Manage Tourism

While many protected areas have management plans, these plans often do not include measures that ensure tourism takes place in a sustainable manner. Therefore, we have worked with our partners to develop improved tourism management plans at national park systems around the world. As a part of this work, we produce training manuals and publications on ecotourism management about topics ranging from green-guidelines for tour operators to programs for monitoring tourism impacts. These practical resources include a two-volume handbook entitled "Ecotourism Development: A Manual for Conservation Professionals," which is available in four languages and, like all our publications, is accessible on-line and has served as a valuable tool for park staff and conservation managers worldwide.

More about the Conservancy's ecotourism strategy:

• Generating income from tourism for conservation
   
• Reducing threats to wildlife and natural communities 

• Supporting community-based ecotourism

To find out other ways we share best-practices, click on sharing lessons learned. For a list of free, on-line ecotourism resources, visit our resources page.