One Web site that is focusing on this issue belongs to the nonprofit Ecotourism Society (logo above), which bills itself as serving researchers, conservationists and business people. The society is not, it says, in the business of providing travel information for consumers. Instead, the society seems to be trying to focus on helping the providers of ecotourism experiences with the knowledge they need to stay in business by not ruining the environment they depend on. I tried to see who the members were but didn't have a password to get in, however, a book listing of a membership directory says there are more than 1,200 ecotourism professionals in 50 countries. The society's bookstore offers an assortment of books that ecotourism professionals can use for learning about ecotourism and for planning their own business. These books are clearly not of interest to ecotourists.
Although the site isn't designed for ecotourists, the site does offer three fact sheets: How to Choose a Tour Operator, Introductory Fact Sheet for the Independent Traveler, and Marine Ecotourist Fact Sheet. As someone who has done a lot of ecotourism, I can tell you from personal experience that picking an ecotourism company where I've been has been pure blindfolded pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. You never know what you're going to get, and most often it hasn't been good. How to Choose a Tour Operator offers a set of questions for you to answer about potential tour operators to assure yourself that you're getting an eco-responsible organization. In many of the places I've been, however, there hasn't been much choice of operators. You take who you an get. I ought to print out the fact sheet, copy it and distribute it to the tourist organizations I book with, not that I've ever had the feeling that many care beyond the superficial.
The Introductory Fact Sheet for the Independent Traveler is, in my opinion, simplistic, but then, I'm awfully experienced in "environment"
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