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A. Machnik
• small groups
• education
• high quality of food
• wild, inaccessible, uncrowded places
• high quality accommodation
• protection (in the sense of natural and cultural heritage) (www.eplerwood.com).
Kerstetter et al. (2004) found out that ecotourists are more liable than other tourists
to buy local products, maintain local environmental quality, help others learn about
the environment, and even to join the local conservation associations. Ecotourists
will also perceive how and to what extent a service is ecofriendly by evaluating staff
behaviour, eco-programmes, and ecotourism knowledge (Ban and Ramsaran 2017).
Just as there are many types of ecotourism, there are many types of ecotourists.
They can be analysed by such demographical criteria as age, material status, educational background or even nationality, as well as motivations and attitudes. Interesting
research was carried out by Beaumont (2011), who as a result of examining tourist
motivations for visiting one of Australia’s national parks, identified three types of
ecotourists (in addition to the distinction of the ‘non-ecotourist’ type): peripheral
ecotourist, strong ecotourist and complete ecotourist. Cretu (2018) has distinguished
four different types of ecotourist:
• hardcore ecotourists—scientists or people traveling for educational purposes
• ecotourist ‘table’—people who visit famous natural destinations
• occasional ecotourists—tourists who come into contact with nature during a
holiday, incidentally
• dedicated ecotourists—people who travel to protected areas to understand natural
and local history.
Ecotourism is attractive to nature-oriented and socially and culturally conscious
tourists (Lee and Jan 2018). Generally, nature and cultural values of the tourist
destination are important for many tourists, not only for the ecotourist. A factor in
deciding whether someone can be called an ecotourist should be his approach to
a given area and host community and his sense of responsibility and involvement
(including willingness to pay and readiness to some inconveniences) level (Fig. 1).
5 Problems and Challenges of Ecotourism Development
In addition to problems also typical for other forms of tourism, including sustainable
tourism, such as the lack of one precise definition that makes it difficult to introduce
particular forms in practice, ecotourism struggles with one basic problem—that it
is ambitious and difficult to achieve its principles (Liu 2003; Sharpley 2010; Walsh
and George 2019). It is exceptionally hard to fulfil all the principles at the same time
(Thompson et al. 2017). That makes it a niche tourism, not for everybody and not
for all destinations, as opposed to sustainable tourism, which can be achieved in all
A. Machnik
• small groups
• education
• high quality of food
• wild, inaccessible, uncrowded places
• high quality accommodation
• protection (in the sense of natural and cultural heritage) (www.eplerwood.com).
Kerstetter et al. (2004) found out that ecotourists are more liable than other tourists
to buy local products, maintain local environmental quality, help others learn about
the environment, and even to join the local conservation associations. Ecotourists
will also perceive how and to what extent a service is ecofriendly by evaluating staff
behaviour, eco-programmes, and ecotourism knowledge (Ban and Ramsaran 2017).
Just as there are many types of ecotourism, there are many types of ecotourists.
They can be analysed by such demographical criteria as age, material status, educational background or even nationality, as well as motivations and attitudes. Interesting
research was carried out by Beaumont (2011), who as a result of examining tourist
motivations for visiting one of Australia’s national parks, identified three types of
ecotourists (in addition to the distinction of the ‘non-ecotourist’ type): peripheral
ecotourist, strong ecotourist and complete ecotourist. Cretu (2018) has distinguished
four different types of ecotourist:
• hardcore ecotourists—scientists or people traveling for educational purposes
• ecotourist ‘table’—people who visit famous natural destinations
• occasional ecotourists—tourists who come into contact with nature during a
holiday, incidentally
• dedicated ecotourists—people who travel to protected areas to understand natural
and local history.
Ecotourism is attractive to nature-oriented and socially and culturally conscious
tourists (Lee and Jan 2018). Generally, nature and cultural values of the tourist
destination are important for many tourists, not only for the ecotourist. A factor in
deciding whether someone can be called an ecotourist should be his approach to
a given area and host community and his sense of responsibility and involvement
(including willingness to pay and readiness to some inconveniences) level (Fig. 1).
5 Problems and Challenges of Ecotourism Development
In addition to problems also typical for other forms of tourism, including sustainable
tourism, such as the lack of one precise definition that makes it difficult to introduce
particular forms in practice, ecotourism struggles with one basic problem—that it
is ambitious and difficult to achieve its principles (Liu 2003; Sharpley 2010; Walsh
and George 2019). It is exceptionally hard to fulfil all the principles at the same time
(Thompson et al. 2017). That makes it a niche tourism, not for everybody and not
for all destinations, as opposed to sustainable tourism, which can be achieved in all