Silicon Valley EcoTuesday chapter organized an interesting talk in July. Don Eagleston, the President and CEO of the Sunnyvale Chamber of commerce talked about `Authentic Urban Ecotourism’. Don is a leader in establishing Ecotourism plans in urban environments, a concept new to conventional Ecotourism. In this talk this month Don defined the criteria required for authentic ecotourism and how it differentiates itself from greenwashing and adventure tourism.

Brief note about the presenter: Don was the CEO of the Pacifica Chamber of Commerce and also operated the National Park Visitor Center in Pacifica. His partners were Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, NOAA, The Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and the California Coastal National Monuments. Don received his certification in Environmental Planning and Ecotourism from Humboldt State University.

EcoTourism is a growing “fad” among the multi-billion dollar tourism industry. As the environmental impact due to tourism is becoming more and more apparent, the tourism industry and the consumers are turning to ecotourism as a means of restoring balance. Tourism industry is trying to prove the old adage of tourist visits – “take nothing but photographs (or memories) and leave nothing but footprints.” In fact, the tourism industry has come up with a definition of EcoTourism which in itself is questionable – “Responsible travel to remote areas improving the well-being of the indigenous people”. One can argue and counter-argue whether this definition is the right one or whether this addresses only the first order effects and there could be many second order effects, which need to be considered. Even the speaker himself questioned the complete validity of this definition and pointed to many tourist locations in India and other places where they make the whole location self-sustainable. This may cause some inconvenience to the visitors, but ultimately the location is preserved for the future generations to enjoy. This means that one has to eat in banana leaf which is compostable, drink rain water which is reclaimed, etc.  In his talk Don offered a unique perspective of converting/developing urban tourist destinations for ecotourism. He has a prescription for this and he has proved his formula at many different city sites such as Pacifica, etc. The key advantage in his idea, I think is leveraging the proximity of the tourist places to main urban centers. I think this also takes care of some secondary effects such as miles driven to reach the place, etc.

Don explained the components of ecotourism and how his plan addresses each:

(1)    Travel to pristine national areas – Of course urban landmarks by definition is not so pristine. But it saves lot of gas mileage.

(2)    Minimize the impact to the location – Don offers many suggestions to do this. He also tours the place beforehand and suggests recommendation to improve in this area. Some of the examples are, instead of taking a car tour, one can do a walking or cycling tour. Kayaking will be good in a ocean tour setting.

(3)    Conduct guided tours – He suggests developing tourist guides to do tours. This also offers employment and a stream of income to the local people.

(4)    Teaches sustainable practices – He suggests certification for the guides in sustainable practices.

(5)    Inform about the local conservation efforts – Guides need to be updated periodically with new information on the local conservation efforts and how the tourists can participate.

(6)    Participation, management and control by indigenous people – In an urban setting, the indigenous people are from the local population, who could be migrants. But the urban setting also provides employment and keeps the local people within the community.

(7)    Contribute financially to the conservation efforts – The projects could be seen as beneficial to the local conservation efforts

(8)    Provides financial benefits for the local people – Sustained employment is a great motivation for such projects.

(9)    Respect local culture

(10)Supports human rights

Don consults with various cities to convert tourist destinations into ecotourist centers. Don’s ideas around creating urban ecotourism are practical and at the same time work with the existing setups and processes. I think people like him are working hard to provide us with a sustainable future. We should resolve to seek such tours whenever we go on vacations.