International Workshop on Marine Ecotourism 2001

Marine ecotourism has often been identified as a possible response to the economic problems faced by peripheral coastal communities. It can be seen as tourism based on the sustainable use of the natural marine environment. The range of activities involved includes marine and coastal-based activities such as viewing whales and dolphins, seabird ornithology, diving, leisure boating, yachting and sightseeing, as well as land-based activities such as visiting marine and coastal interpretation centres, viewing coastal seascapes, beach walking and rockpooling.

Many coastal communities are now turning to marine ecotourism as part of their regeneration strategy. The development of marine ecotourism represents an important route by which the quality (including environmental quality) of the tourism products provided by peripheral communities may be improved. Marine ecotourism also has the potential to re-deploy some of the infrastructure and resources formerly employed by the local sea fishing and tourism industries. However, there is a growing awareness that this form of tourism is not intrinsically sustainable. Indeed, experience suggests that unless tourism activity of any kind is properly planned and managed, it risks compromising the economic, social and/or environmental components of the sustainability of an area. Tourism also has the potential, through its transport implications, to harm the global environment. This recognition demands that strategies of appropriate co-management of the activity and the spatial environment in which marine ecotourism takes place be established to make the activity as a whole more sustainable.

Papers were given by researchers, educators and practitioners from the broad range of academic and professional disciplines that relate to the marine ecotourism field from across the world

An edited selection of these papers is to be published by Channel View Publications in late 2002.

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