Eco-tourism services in light of new clusters and application of intellectual property rights

Abstract

Contemporary eco-tourism includes the basic principles of sustainable development and actively contributes to the preservation of natural and cultural heritage of a specific area by involving the residents of local communities in the planning, development and distribution of generated revenues. It is based on the abundance of biodiversity (particularly rare and endemic species), the traditional knowledge and folklore tradition of a specific area. Products and services that are specific to this form of tourism have always been on the verge of being both beneficial and harmful for the identity of a particular area. Yet, one of the current solutions for attaining good economic results of eco-tourism is grouping all available resources within a particular local community for the purpose of promoting its distinctive features and diversity. In this paper, the author discusses a significant trend of forming eco-tourism clusters and points out to the contemporary solutions aimed at protecting the genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore of local communities within tourism services. The development of intellectual property protection, whose goal is to preserve traditional knowledge and skills of certain local communities, has a significant impact on the development of eco-tourism as well as on the increase of its competitiveness in the global market.