Wildlife Tourism, Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism – Problems with Classification

Abstract

Purpose. Clarification of the relationship between the three title related concepts – wildlife tourism, ecotourism, and sustanaible tourism Method. A review of definitions related to the discussed concepts in literature was performed. Based on this, main groups of the criteria used by researchers were distinguished. It enabled determination of the optimization space, defined by three axis: (i) the axis of the level of respect for the environment, (ii) the axis of the naturalness of visited places, and (iii) the level of tourists' interest in nature. In such defined optimization space, areas corresponding with wildlife tourism, ecotourism and sustainable tourism were designated. Findings. It was found that the existing inconsistency in the definition of nature tourism and ecotourism in the literature results from the usage of the different criteria, which are not always congruent to each other.These criteria are, to a large extent, represent the axes of the defined optimization space. In the mentioned space, three-dimensional areas corresponding to the discussed concepts were identified. Due to the partial overlapping of those areas when defining the relationship between them, a disjunctive approach cannot be used . Some forms of nature tourism meet the criteria for ecotourism, whereas others do not. On the other hand, not all forms of tourism that meet the criteria for "eco-tourism" can be considered as "wildlife tourism". Research and conclusion limitation. The main constraints of the proposed concept are limitation to three criteria, as well as problems with quantitative estimation of the position on axes for particular tourist activity. Practical implications. The proposed approach to the classification of sustainable tourism, ecotourism and wildlife tourism may be useful in the process of preparing managementplans for the protected areas (e.g. Natura 2000 sites), because it reduces the risk of confusion with a different interpretation as to what the prefered form of tourism in this areas really means. Originality. The paper presents a new, original, method for the classification of forms of tourism related to the natural environment. Paper type: methodological/review.