Mangroves And Ecotourism: Ecological Or Economical?

by Ahmad Mahdzan Ayob

2. Motives for promoting ecotourism

An interesting European speaker at an ecotourism seminar held at UUM last year posed an interesting question about the “eco” part of ecotourism (Wheeler 2003). Although most people would associate “ecology” with the prefix “eco” in ecotourism, the speaker suggested “economics” as a possibility for the prefix “eco.” What he was insinuating was that some people saw ecotourism as a money-spinner, and not so much as a savior of the natural environment. The speaker was (and still is) a professor of ecotourism! Then he made a plea for people “to be realistic and not too over-reliant on the (false) expectations of Ecotourism.”

Therefore, should ecotourism be seen or interpreted as ecological or “economical” tourism? Should it be viewed in this way, as “either-or” or a dichotomy? The answer is not so simple. According to the Quebec Declaration on Ecotourism (2002), the stakeholders, such as ecotourism businesses must be able to make profits to be sustainable, and the environment too must not suffer as a result of ecotourism activities, while the local community must also benefit financially from the activities being promoted. In other words, the three-way symbiosis mentioned earlier in this paper must continue to function in order for ecotourism to be sustainable. One entity cannot take advantage of the other; otherwise the entire system simply collapses. It is like one entity killing the goose that lays the golden egg!

Thus, one may conclude that economics and ecology must go hand in hand in the development of ecotourism. Economic logic (eco-logic?) should be applied in trying to build ecotourism projects. A simple economic logic is that if the returns exceed the costs, leaving a sufficient surplus for entrepreneurship, then one should proceed with the project. If not, the project will not be viable to the private sector; hence it will not contribute to economic growth, which it was intended to do. Similarly, if the benefit to the environment is greater than the damage done to it, then proceed with the project.

The driving force behind any business is consumer demand. In the case of ecotourism, the consumers are the nature- or eco-tourists. They normally constitute a small group within the tourist population; in marketing they form a niche. It is they who will determine whether or not to visit a certain site for their outdoor recreation. They have many kinds of competing sites to choose from – sandy beaches, waterfalls, state woodland parks, jungle trails, marine parks that allow snorkeling or scuba diving, bird watching at bird sanctuaries, inland wetlands, mangrove forests etc.

On the supply side, the authorities will have to scrutinize any proposed project so that it does not damage the protected area. There is thus a “balancing act” that has to be done by the government as a custodian of the natural heritage on behalf of future generations. In this “act” the interests of the private sector, the environment and the local community will have to be safeguarded in the name of “sustainability.” The Brundtland Report defines sustainable development as one that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (Weaver, 2001).

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