Is Eco-tourism a sham?

As PT Barnum said, "There's a sucker born every minute." And no doubt," eco tourism" costs a lot more, to boot.

By the way, I hope that you are having a wonderful trip in Hawaii. If you get hungry, the local Kalua Pork and Lomi-Lomi Salmon are delicious. Stay away from the Spam Masuba.

It depends on the place and how eco-tourism is managed. In Costa Rica, it has been a major force in terms of preserving natural habitat. When the local people can benefit from conserving nature instead of destroying it, they have a strong reason to do so.

In Uganda and Ruanda, eco-tourism has helped fund the protection programmes for the Mountain Gorilla populations there and has shown the inhabitants living near the parks that living Mountain Gorillas are of economic value to them. So, in those countries it has been vital to preserving a species.

So, it seems to me that it all depends on how it is planned and managed.

I agree with spandadham. The intentions and practices must be aligned in order to be credible. Which leads back to my comment much earlier here about over using the word "green" as it tends to then become more of a trend than a passion. Eco-tourism is said to be one of the reasons why the Galapagos Islands are in such bad shape now. There are too many people going there and the companies running these "eco trips" are making a bundle by labelling it as such. It tends to make me wonder where the true intention is behind the terms used.

On another note, I know you were probably disappointed in the urban "touristy" atmosphere of the big island. I was as well when I was there and that was 18 years ago. It was like being in NYC. Heck, we even ate at a Pizza Hut there. However, Kauai was like paradise and virtually untouched by human hands. Would be great if you could even shoot some video of it while there. The helicopter tours are fantastic, and that's coming from someone who had a great fear of going up in one, until I did.

I think it's a little of both. I posted a piece recently that I wrote about Wal-mart's greening. The guy they put in charge of their sustainability initiative had been using disposable styrofoam plates at home rather than dishes. That smacks of insincerity on the part of the company, that it's strictly about their bottom line and their PR. If it were cheaper and prettier for them to sacrifice virgins in the parking lots every other Saturday, then that's what they would do.

I guess my bottom line then is that if the intentions and values are aligned with the practices and policies, then it's not a sham. Otherwise, it's suspect in my eyes.