Abstrakt
Ecotourism is usually seen as an alternative to mass tourism, or as a type of tourism that is based on a sustainable balance or a symbiosis between nature and culture (e.g., Weaver 2001, Higham 2007). For many rural and indigenous communities the ecotourism has become a gateway to the global economy (Stronza 2010), but it was also considered to be ideal rather than reality (Cater 1995), etc.
This paper follows from the research on the east coast of Madagascar (Tamatave province). It focuses on three basic issues: First, the author of this paper tries to come to its own understanding of ecotourism in the context of some local communities' participation in regional networks or in international tourism business.
Second, he tries to find some common features as well as differences that are associated with specific impacts of tourism on local communities. Third, on the basis of author's experience from many areas of the world, of numerous anthropological, sociological, economic or other studies that have been introduced in the past twenty years, he tries to give at least an approximate answer to these two questions.
What will be the evolvement of the activities related to the development of ecotourism and what are the consequences of these activities for specific examined local communities.