Ecotourism and ecological restoration

The fast pace of tourism development around the world is causing untold damage to some of the most endangered ecological systems. From Dubai to Honolulu and from Cancun to Beijing, the environmental impacts of tourism are alarming. Ecological restoration (ER) of disturbed lands should be an important approach to sensitive tourism planning. This paper addresses the need for restoring biodiversity and how ecotourism has shown to be a strong force in the field of ER. Two examples (one each of private and community based ecotourism) incorporating ER will be highlighted in this paper: Phinda Game Reserve, South Africa and the Baboon Sanctuary in Belize. We call for greater dialogue across disciplines, notably ER, conservation science and ecotourism.