Volume: 5  Number: 3  Page: 192–210  doi:10.2167/joe152.0

Ecotourism: The Evolving Contemporary Definition

Holly M. Donohoe and Roger D. Needham Department of Geography, University of Ottawa, Simard Hall, Room 047, 60 University, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5, Canada

A rise in the popularity of ecotourism has coincided with voluminous definitional discourse. Amongst stakeholders, confusion has resulted from the disparate nature of these definitions. In the absence of a common definition or set of key tenets the challenge has been to ensure operational ecotourism that adheres to the theoretical underpinnings of the concept. Without some semblance of definitional consensus, ecotourism may be on a precarious course whereby the ethics upon which the activity is conceptualised, the natural environment upon which the activity depends, and the legitimacy of the industry are at risk. The ambition of this research is to disentangle a set of themes from the evolving definitional debate in order to provide a framework for the development of ecotourism policy and applications. Recurring themes are identified through the application of content analysis methodology to select contemporary definitions. Those themes that appear most frequently are then introduced as an ecotourism conceptual framework based on key tenets. The tenets are meant to represent a set of established fundamental beliefs central to ecotourism: (1) nature-based; (2) preservation/conservation; (3) education; (4) sustainability; (5) distribution of benefits; and (6) ethics/responsibility/awareness.

Keywords: Canadian ecotourism, content analysis, ecotourism, definition, key tenets, standards

© 2006 H.M. Donohoe & R.D. Needham

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