What is Ecotourism and How Can My Tour Business Fit In?

Travel Agent Interests

02/03/2022

Ecotourism is a popular travel option today. But becoming a legitimate, sustainable tour operator takes more than claiming to be green.

Ecotourism has been a travel niche for many years. But the growing concerns over the environment and sustainability have created a new urgency for tour operators and customers alike. Have you considered making your business more eco-friendly to take full advantage of this important opportunity?

What Is Ecotourism?

According to The Center for Responsible Travel (CREST), ecotourism is defined as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment, socially and economically sustains the well-being of local people and creates knowledge and understanding through interpretation and education of all involved (including staff, travelers and community residents).”

Although the discipline of ecotourism arguably dates back to the creation of the Sierra Club’s outing program in 1901, it picked up momentum in the 1980s with the advocacy of noted environmentalists such as Megan Epler Wood, Russell Train, Russell Mittermeier and Thomas Lovejoy.

What started as a revolutionary idea back in the 1980s has become a travel-industry best practice and one of the most popular forms of global travel. According to Green Global Travel, ecotourism is believed to be one of the fastest-growing sectors of the business. It represents about 6% of world gross domestic product and grows about 5% annually.

In its simplest form, ecotourism rests on five key concepts:

Build environmental and cultural awareness between tourists and the local populace. The tour operator’s role shifts from just running a trip to helping educate customers about the environmental impact of their travel. Operators also strive to create more authentic interactions between travelers and local residents, not just performer/audience relationships.
Assure that all tours have a low or zero impact on the destination’s environment. The idea is to minimize a tour’s carbon footprint while positively impacting the places they visit.
Use the revenue that ecotourism generates for nature and wildlife conservation. It can also be used to offset financial losses from not continuing with urban expansion, deforestation, unsustainable agriculture and poaching strategies.
Provide financial returns to local residents. Ecotourism ideally should raise the standard of living of the indigenous populace. This results from direct cash transfers (fees to local guides, hotels and transportation vendors, etc.) and indirect transfers through a collection of taxes from tour operators and affiliated travel providers.
Advance human rights. Tour operators should educate travelers about human rights principles and support the desire of local residents to retain ownership of their land and other community resources.

How to Produce More Sustainable Tours

The Global Sustainable Tourism Council has produced management criteria and standards for tour operators who want to protect the environment. They embody four main themes that together work to create sustainability:

Engage in effective sustainability planning. In other words, make sustainability a key focus of your management process and track its key performance indicators over time.
Maximize social and economic benefits for the local community. This depends on developing a strong understanding of community needs and engaging with local people to meet those needs.
Enhancing cultural heritage. This involves using tourism as a lever to increase local residents’ desire and ability to protect and grow their cultural heritage, not just as a tourism “product” but also as a sign of respect for their history and forebears.
Reducing negative impacts on the environment. Sending your tour clients to a travel destination must never result in damage to the local ecosystem, built environment or quality of life.

Here are specific tactics you can take, as a tour operator, to reduce the environmental and cultural footprint of your trips:

Encourage your customers to buy local handcrafts and other products rather than those sold by global brands. This will ensure that your tours have a more significant financial impact on local residents, keeping money local rather than sending it to a worldwide brand.
Ask customers not to buy products made from endangered species. The last thing you want is for your business to accelerate species extinction.
Contribute directly to local conservation projects. Consider donating a portion of your profits to local groups working to protect the environment.
Educate your clientele about sensitive cultural or religious issues. In pre-trip communications or trip briefings, make sure your customers are aware of visitor behaviors that might offend local sensibilities.
Assure that all your travel suppliers maintain human-rights standards. If a vendor engages in female or child exploitation, immediately drop it from your approved vendor list.
Invest in the area where your business operates. Invest money in projects that enhance the quality of life of local residents.
Contribute to the preservation of resources your company uses. For example, if your company does forest/wildlife treks, invest in a local conservation group working to protect forests and animals.
Hire local staff. Wherever possible, hire local residents to execute your tours. This will help to assure that your customers are treated well wherever they go.
Source your supplies locally. This is another way to ensure that the local community values your customers.
Take responsibility for damage to the environment. Also, be sure to use energy-efficient practices.
Use conservation and reduction measures to protect water and other natural resources. Never allow one of your tours to consume too much water or other natural resources or to poison them in any way.
Provide incentives to your employees and guests to use fewer carbon-burning vehicles. Encourage them to carpool and use public transport to minimize carbon pollution.
Make sustainable best practices a key feature of your employee training programs. Don’t just tell employees you wish to engage in ecotourism. Show them the specific practices that will make your tours environmentally sustainable.
Be responsible in how you consume and discard water and energy and how you process waste matter. Never despoil the local environment since it will erode the experience of future groups you send to the location. Wherever possible, recycle resources and follow “leave-no-trace” guidelines.
Limit the size of your groups. Consider limiting group sizes to the maximum number that can visit a destination without eroding it.

How to Market Eco-Friendly Tours

The first step in becoming known for your ecotours is incorporating this objective into your overall marketing plan. Include specific revenue targets, define the types of tours you plan to conduct and identify your desired target markets. Establishing a marketing budget will also help you to keep your promotional efforts focused and affordable.

The heart of your ecotourism marketing plan will be your promotional tactics. Since most travel marketing has migrated online, be sure to specify the content you plan to create to establish your position. Typically, this includes articles, blog posts, white papers and emails to your desired prospects. Your next step will be to define how you’ll use social media to disseminate this information with content in hand. Options include establishing accounts on Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook, along with Twitter and TikTok. LinkedIn is not a primary social media platform for travel marketing.

Posting your content regularly on social media will help build a following, with the side benefit of driving traffic to your website. Instagram and Pinterest are particularly powerful as they are highly visual platforms, perfect for sharing photos from exotic locations. Not only should you consistently post on at least these two services, but you should also encourage your customers to do the same, using your firm’s hashtag in their posts. Also, ask returning clients to post comments about their vacations on consumer-review sites such as Tripadvisor, Yelp and Google Reviews. Since most people check a firm’s social media accounts and customer reviews before booking travel, it’s essential to build a large number of reviews from satisfied clients to create a solid online reputation for your company.

Creating detailed content about your ecotourism philosophy and travel destinations will help prevent people from thinking you’re merely “greenwashing” your reputation to attract new clients. Greenwashing is defined as the practice of creating the false impression that a firm’s products and services are eco-friendly when, in fact, they aren’t. This is mainly achieved through deceptive advertising content that gives companies a phony green sheen. To combat this impression, post highly detailed content and evocative photos explaining your philosophy of green travel. Illustrate the sustainable best practices to which you adhere. Show your clients engaging positively with local people and striving not to harm the environment. In short, if you want to be seen as a legitimate ecotourism provider, back up your promotional claims with specific, verifiable evidence, published frequently and spread extensively on the internet.

The Importance of Having E&O Insurance

If your trips go according to plan, chances are your customers will return home full of happy memories. But in the unlikely event something goes awry, they might decide to file a legal claim against you. It’s essential to have E&O insurance to protect yourself should an issue arise.

What is E&O coverage? It’s a form of insurance that covers you when you make a mistake or forget to do something that financially injures a client. When this happens, your insurer will:

Supply you with an approved defense attorney at no extra expense to you
Assign a claims adjuster to handle your case
Hire expert witnesses to buttress your case
Pay for arbitration, mediation or other forms of alternative dispute resolution
Pay for court administrative expenses
Pay for legal settlements and judgments against you should you lose your case in court

The total cost to resolve an E&O claim can easily reach five or six figures or more. The payout might be even more significant if it involves a green tour, as these often set high consumer expectations. As long as you keep your coverage in force, your insurer will pay these expenses for you. Without insurance, you will be personally responsible for them, exposing your business and personal assets to legal assault. Don’t let this happen to you.

If you currently don’t have Tour Operator E&O insurance or your insurer isn’t meeting your needs, consider doing business with 360 Coverage Pros. As E&O specialists for travel agents, agencies and tour operators, we provide coverage for as low as $278.42 per month. To learn more, visit our website.