Bursting the bubble: the socio-cultural context of ecotourism

Abstract

Ecotourism is a form of tourism that is highly visible and growing rapidly. It is commonly presented and understood as very different from conventional mass tourism because it is especially responsible, and even beneficial, environmentally and socio-culturally. However, such a view may be inaccurate. The favourable image of ecotourism is a consequence of viewing it in an ecotourist bubble, analogous to the idea of the tourist bubble. Within this ecotourist bubble, the destinations and experiences sold to tourists are abstracted from their contexts, thus inducing a distorted image of them and of ecotourism itself. Aspects of what the bubble excludes are illustrated through a consideration of two destinations in the Caribbean