When I first thought about ecotourism as a means to diminish environmental impact, I thought it was pointless because calculating the amount of fuel used to reach far and away destinations would surely cancel out any good that would come from making such trips. In my mind, traveling somewhere off the beaten tourist path didn't make sense because all forms of travel consume such vast amounts of fuels thus contributing to global climate change.
However, after visiting some ecotourist sites online, it occurred to me that people are going to take vacations no matter what, but they could use their vacation to support a as they relax, rather than feed mindlessly into tourism-based economies that do not need their support.
If more people were interested in traveling to see rain forests, or aquatic ecosystems, there would be a demand to maintain those ecosystems rather than destroy them for profit. Government organizations would be forced to preserve the quality of those ecosystems because tourists would bring money into their region.
Ecotourism offers the opportunity to use vacation time as a means to preserve natural systems and prevent degradation. Even if the cost of traveling to exotic destinations means contributing to CO2 emissions, I think those same CO2 levels would be emitted regardless. People will travel and emit CO2 regardless of their destination, but with ecotourism there is at least an option to put those used miles to a good use (...sort of).
In this sense, I think that ecotourism offers an excellent alternative to the stereotypical vacation by allowing vacation dollars to support an important cause.
If only all vacation destinations offered such a benefit...
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