История развития экотуризма

История развития экотуризма

• Since the beginning of the 80s. last century, one of the priority types of travel is ecological tourism, the purpose of which is to protect nature. The history of the development of "ecological tourism" goes back to the deep past. Even the ancient Egyptians undertook long journeys in order to expand their knowledge of the world around them. Herodotus, Aristotle, Pliny the Elder traveled a lot to different countries, studying not only cultural and historical sights, but also natural conditions. Much later, many years were devoted to traveling to remote corners of the planet for the purpose of scientific research of various landscapes, flora and fauna, local cultures, such researchers as Alexander Humboldt, Charles Darwin and others.

• However, until the middle of the last century, only "lone travelers" could enjoy the natural beauty, penetrate into exotic corners of our Earth. And they were mostly very wealthy people. Such travels could not entail significant socio-economic changes in the regions visited by travelers, nor could they provide an influx of significant financial resources that would contribute to the preservation of unique natural areas, rare species of plants and animals, and distinctive local cultures.

• With the further development of organized tourism, one of its first directions was travel to the natural world. In the middle of the last century, Thomas Cook began organizing trips to the Scottish Mountains, and in 1863 he proposed the first commercial ascent of Mont Blanc. To a large extent, the interest in such travels was promoted by English romantic writers, who glorified the beauty of wild nature and the delightful world of alpine peaks, valleys and meadows in their works. On the American continent, travel to the natural world also became popular thanks to literary descriptions made by famous naturalists and naturalists who took part in scientific expeditions - M. Lewsek, W. Clark, D. Audubon.

• In Russia, writers and travelers of the second half of the 19th century, such as N.M. Przhevalsky, P.P.Semenov-Tyan-Shansky, D.N.Mamin-Sibiryak, played a significant role in attracting people to the knowledge of natural attractions. and glorified the nature of Russia. During this period, the "Society of Natural History Lovers" with branches in many cities, the Crimean Mountain Club, and the Caucasian Mountain Society emerged and became widely known. In Russia, mountain tourism is becoming more and more widespread; great attention is paid to excursion activities.

• By the end of the last century, wilderness travel around the world is becoming increasingly popular. To a large extent, this was facilitated by the creation of a system of national parks. And yet, these trips, this tourism, the purpose of which was mainly to admire the picturesque landscapes, retained an elite character and were available only to a few.

• The twentieth century brings dramatic changes in both the focus and scope of natural travel. At the beginning of the century, hunting safaris to exotic countries were considered especially prestigious in order to get the largest trophies - elephants, rhinos, etc. In the fifties, photo safaris are already becoming more popular than hunting tours, but the main object of interest is still the big five - the five largest species of African mammals, which were previously most valued as hunting trophies (elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion, leopard )

• All this leads to the fact that large capital began to concentrate in the tourism business. The rapid growth of the tourism industry led to the concentration of production - hotel chains appeared, the construction of tourist centers began.

• By investing heavily in the development of tourism, big capital demanded maximum profit in the shortest possible time. The natural landscape and the local population were perceived in this case only as a prerequisite, a means to an end. It is not surprising that the growth of such a massive unregulated attendance of wonderful natural complexes turned out to have a very negative impact both on them and on the local socio-cultural environment: rare plants were destroyed, trees were cut down, water bodies were polluted, soils were trampled, populations of many animal species disappeared or significantly decreased. Both the wild primordial nature of the unique natural corners and the local economies and cultural values ​​of the "host" countries are under threat.

• define ecotourism (дать определение)
• What year did ecotourism begin?
• what types of tourism?
• name researchers (исследователь) of nature?