Abstract
As a concept, development was evaluated only as an economic goal until the 1970s, and its physical, social, and cultural environment elements were ignored and left in the background. The concept of development has turned into a sustainable development phenomenon, which includes physical, social, and cultural factors, as people notice environmental pollution over time. Sustainable development, which integrates the mission of many industries interacting with the environment, has also gained ground in the tourism industry and has led to sustainable tourism understanding. Therefore, destinations have developed different tourism types within the sustainable tourism framework. Ecotourism has come to the forefront as a tourism type that can minimize physical, social, and cultural damage of tourism to the environment. Therefore, the current study, aiming to reveal the impact of ecotourism on sustainable development, covered the subjects of sustainability, sustainable development, sustainable tourism, ecotourism, and the relationship between sustainable development and ecotourism.
TopThe Sustainability And Sustainable Development Concepts
The concept of sustainability was first used by the German scientist Hans Carl Von Carlowitz in his economics book “Sylvicultura Oeconomica” in 1712. This concept, which aimed to protect forests and wildlife that were damaged by mining exploration, was later used in the scope of excessive fishing activities. The sustainability concept was actively involved in taking measures for proper soil cultivation and protecting soil structure in the 1930s (Vehkamäki, 2005). In this context, sustainability is “a model that combines environmental balance and economic growth by emphasizing the effective use of natural resources and the importance of environmental quality, meeting the needs of today without compromising the needs of future generations” (Hayta, 2009: 145). Coccossis (1996: 3) defines sustainability as “reestablishing the balance that should exist between social, environmental and economic purposes but deteriorated by the negative effects of humans on environmental resources.” On the other hand, Middleton and Hawkins (1998: 38) define sustainability as “a balance that provides harmony between human activities and social, cultural and natural environment.”
Key Terms in this Chapter
Ecotourism: Educational, environmental, folkloric, nature-sensitive ecological travels.
Ecology: A branch of science that studies organisms and their environmental relationships.
Ecotourists: People who have free time to travel, have high economic income, are well-educated, and are interested in the natural environment.
Sustainable Tourism: An understanding that aims to meet the needs of the tourism industry and local communities without endangering future generations' ability to meet their needs.
Environment: The ambience in which an organism lives.
Sustainable Development: A development type that considers both present and future generation needs while using raw material resources, making investments, determining the goals of technological developments, and institutional changes.
Sustainability: A balance that ensures harmony between human activities and the social, cultural, and natural environment.