外文翻译--生态旅游内涵的若干思考

中文 5255 字 毕业设计 (论文 )英文翻译 课题名称 院 系 专 业 旅游管理专业 班 级 姓 名 学 号 指导老师 2 012 年 5 月 10 日 Reflections on the Connotations of Ecotourism Abstract: As the most desirable option for sustainable develop-ment of tourism industry, ecotourism still suffers from lack of a clear-cut and widely accepted definition, posing many risks and threats in its practices. Based on collection and collation of various concepts and explanations of ecotourism both at home and abroad, this paper reflects on the current connotations of ecotourism in terms of four aspects, namely, objects of ecotour-ism, ecotourists, nature of ecotourism as well as the relation-ship between ecotourism and communities. In-depth analysis was performed in an effort to revise the misinterpretation of ecotourism and provide implications for ecotourism initiatives. The main conclusions and fruits of this article include: 1) The objects of ecotourism should go beyond natural, pristine, or even only primitive natural areas to including cultural resources together with their natural context which also deserve preser-vation. 2) Tourism operators, compared to tourists, have more leverage and hence should shoulder more responsibilities for conservation. 3) Ecotourism should serve as a principle to guide tourism initiatives towards sustainability, rather than merely a special tour package. 4) The theoretic foundation was laid for community participation in ecotourism. Key words: ecotourism, connotations, externality 1 Concepts and connotations of ecotourism Controversy has always existed over the definition and essence of ecotourism since the formal introduction of the term by Ceballos-Lascurain around two decades ago. Chinese experts Lu and Wang (2001) listed altogether 73 expressions of this term in their publication The Study of Ecotourism, some estimates that there have already been at least 100 definitions of ecotourism. Here are several defini-tions of considerable influence. As the first person to use the term of ecotourism, Ceballos-Lascurain (1991) initially defined it as traveling to relatively undisturbed or uncon-taminated areas with the specific objective of studying, admiring, and enjoying the scenery and its wild plants and animals, as well as any existing cultural manifestations (both past and present) found in these areas. The United States Ecotourism Society (Blangy and Wood, 1992) gave the short-est possible but also comprehensive definition to ecotourism,Responsible travel that conserves the environment and sus-tains the well-being of local people. Black (1996) defined ecotourism in such a way as An experience with a focus on the natural and/or cultural environment, an ecologically sustainable activity, an activity with a predominant educative and interpretive program, and an activity that contributes to local community groups and projects and to the conservation of the surrounding environment. IUCNs CNPPA (Ceballos-Lascurain, 1996) proceeding from their own tenet, defined ecotourism as Environmentally responsible travel and visitation to relatively undisturbed natural areas, in order to enjoy and appreciate nature (and any accompanying cul-tural features-both past and present) that promotes conser-vation, has low visitor impact, and provides for beneficially active socio-economic involvement of local populations. Ceballos-Lascurain (1998) refined his initial definition by arguing that ecotourism should be An environmentally responsible mode of tourism, which entails traveling to or visiting natural areas without causing disturbance in order to enjoy, appreciate and study the natural attractions (landscape and wildlife) of these areas; as well as any cultural expres-sions (past or present) via a process that promotes conserva-tion, has a low environmental and cultural impact, encour-ages active participation and socioeconomically benefits the local population. Finally Honey (1999) defined ecotourism as Travel to fragile, pristine and usually protected areas that strives to be low impact and (usually) small scale. It helps educate the traveler, provides funds for conservation, directly benefits the economic development and political empowerment of local communities, and fosters respect for different cultures and for human rights. It can be found that, from the aforementioned definitions, as time went on, the concepts of ecotourism have continu-ously been broadened and the connotations enriched. To sum up, the present connotations of ecotourism mainly include the following contents: (1) objects of ecotourism: natural areas, as well as ecosystem featuring co-existence between man and nature; (2) subjects of ecotourism: those who travel in a responsible form and shoulder obligations for environmental protection and social advance in destination areas; (3) nature of ecotourism: a new and special type of tourism products; (4) function of ecotourism: performing environmental education for travelers, improving their environmental outlook and ex-erting effect on their way of life; facilitating the participation of the local residents, and upgrading their standard of living. 2 Doubts over connotations of ecotourism Owing to the lack of a clea r-cut and generally accepted definition and the subjective extension of the concept, the term of ecotourism has long been abused, misleading the decision making, planning and management in ecotourism initiatives. As a result, the accuracy of the connotations of ecotourism should be examined and analyzed to address the complexity of eco-tourism and the problems in ecotourism development in China. 2.1 Doubts over objects of ecotourism Among almost all the definitions of ecotourism, the objects of ecotourism are generally confined to natural tour-ism resources, especially natural areas with sound ecologic environment which have only slightly or never been dis-turbed or polluted, such as protected areas, forest parks, etc. However, controversy has emerged on this point. The original motivation for tourists to participate in ecotourism is to go back to nature and nature comprises different types of ecosystems, including forest ecosystem, grassland ecosystem, sand ecosystem, fresh water eco-system and ocean ecosystem, etc. At present, on the one hand, ecotourism is mainly conducted in the environment of forests, grasslands, fresh waters and oceans, which have sound ecosystem and quality surroundings. While desolate sands, marshes, etc, on the other hand, with their wildness and mystery, also have equal or greater attraction towards ecotourists despite the difficulties in tourism development.These areas have inclement ecological environment but distinctive characteristics, delivering more opportunities for inspiration and education of environmental protection. Tourists could gain deeper understanding of the relationship between man and nature, thus reflecting on and discipline their behaviors (Yin and Yan, 2003). As a result, these areas should not be excluded to the objects of ecotourism. A large number of scholars argue that only natural tour-ism resources can be the objects of ecotourism. However, since human beings are the most important component of earth ecosystem and human activities are the most important contributing factors in ecosystems, it will be one-sided not to incorporate cultural tourism resources into objects of eco-tourism. Such ethnic and folk cultural tourism resources, ac-tually, as Dongba Culture of Naxi ethnic minority group, Li-jiang and the marriage and family system of Mosuo people, both in Yunnan, are more vulnerable than natural resources and require stricter protection (Tian and Li, 2004). In one sense, rather than a special product, ecotourism should serve as a principle, or a pattern for tourism practice; so as long as they are conducted in accordance with such principle or pattern, conventional sightseeing, business travel, folk tour, vacation travel can all be perceived as ecotourism. Obviously, the attempt to confine objects of ecotourism to natural tourism resources, especially well preserved natural areas, will contribute to confusion in concepts of various con-ventional tours and mislead ecotourism practice. Two nega-tive implications will emerge under such concepts: (1) Entic-ing large numbers of tourists to rush to ecologically sound areas, which will definitely lead to severe damage or pollu-tion to these areas. Research findings suggest that, in China, among the nature reserves of provincial level or above, 22% of them have suffered damage to the protection targets and 11% of them are subject to ecosystem degradation, owing to the ecotourism initiatives in those areas. (2) Sending mis-leading signals to developers and operators that conventional tourism is immune to environmental restriction, which will, in turn, make tourists neglect conventional tourism resources, and finally new areas are found and established as ecotourism destinations, hand in hand with impairment to ecosystem. 2.2 Doubts over ecotourists According to related literature, ecotourists can be divided in terms of broad and narrow senses. Ecotourists of the broad sense refer to all visitors to ecotourism destinations. Despite statistical practicality, it fails to describe the holistic profile of ecotourists and reveal the essential difference between them and conventional tourists; ecotourists of the narrow sense refer to those who shoulder responsibilities for environmental pro-tection and economic development of the ecotourism destina-tions (Zhong and Zhao, 2003). It makes better sense to adopt the latter definition of ecotourism, for it seemingly highlights the substantial characteristics of ecotourists and bears greater accuracy. However, it lacks true value in practice. First, from a view of the demand of the tourists themselves, they travel to destinations for fun, relaxation and leisure, rather than obligate learning. Ecotourism can only achieve the goal of improving the experience quality for visitors, but has no way to require tourists to bear so much duty and obligation. Second, the dramatic imbalance in information between tourists and operators/agents also defies the purpose to impose any obligation on tourists. (1) The fact that tourism products are supplied and consumed at the same time just determines that tourists have no chance to collect and study the information on local ecotourism prior to visiting and experiencing. (2) Tourists are neither able to evaluate the impact of their behavior on the area nor obtain the information on other tourists of their kind. (3) Tourism enterprises are incapable of appropriately evaluating the responsible awareness and behavior of tourists. Third, from a statistical point, it is impossible to divide conventional tourists and ecotourists or to define and mea-sure the responsibilities of the tourists. As a result, supply side must be taken into consideration since no practicality can be seen by only emphasizing the duty of tourists from demand side. In ecotourism, suppliers bear the primary responsibilities; in contrast, tourists only bear secondary ones. Suppliers of ecotourism products have every means to rationalize the mechanism to guide the behavior of the tourists, in an attempt to achieve the goals of ecotourism to reinforce environmental protection and boost local economy. 2.3 Doubts over nature of ecotourism A tendency has existed to define ecotourism as a new spe-cial type of tourism products or tourist activities, designed for the interests and demand of a small group of people, drawing a line of distinction between ecotourism and mass tourism, which has aroused a great deal of controversy. In the first place, there is every indication that, according to domestic experiences, the term of ecotourism has been abused as a fashionable label to attract the attention from the source market. It should be argued that ecotourism should represent a kind of principles or approaches for tourism development, rather than a specific product. From the outset, ecotourism has been intended for the conservation and sustainable develop-ment of resource and environment. Such a principle should work as the guidelines for every type of tourism. In the second place, if ecotourism is indeed a special kind of tourism products or a special form of tourist activi-ties, designed for a small group of people, it could definitely not have drawn so much concern and attention from tour-ism industry and academy. Hence, ecotourism is not the op-posite of mass tourism; instead, it should function to reform and upgrade the latter. Only when ecotourism is widely popularized and accepted to replace the conventional pat-tern of tourism, can it fulfill its promise to reinforce the sustainable development of tourism. 2.4 Doubts over the relationship between ecotourism and communities Despite the argument by scholars linking ecotourism and community participation, no clear description of the relation-ship between them has emerged owing to lack of theoretic basis. In this article, the theory of environmental economics, rather than ethic, is applied to illustrate their relationship. From an economic point of view, tourism resources are utilized optimally, where marginal social cost (MSC) equals to marginal social benefit, or, the state of Pareto optimality is actualized. While speaking for tourism products, their MSC comprises not only the cost for developing, producing, deliv-ering and maintaining, but also the potential cost caused by the ensuing environmental pollution and resource overuse; hence, the marginal social cost is often larger than marginal private cost (Li, 2002). Tourism operators only bear the first part of the total costs, the second part imposed on the surrounding communities, contributing to the problem of externality. In real life, such externality is reflected through environmental pollution, traffic congestion, disruption of economic order and loss of local traditional culture, disturbing the normal life of local residents to different extents. Tourism operators should, yet fail to bear these costs, and tend to overuse tourism re-sources out of the motivation to seek maximal profit. It can be concluded from above economic analysis: ex-ternalityoveruse of tourism resourcesunsustainability of tourism, s o in order for tourism industry to develop in a sustainable manner, externality must be eliminated to even marginal social cost and marginal private cost, which is also a key point of ecotourism. Internationally, the essential way to address externality is to internalize it, to be specific, including three viewpoints, namely, Pigovian tax, Coase theorem and merger of corpora-tions. (1)Pigovian tax is implemented through taxation of and compensation to victims by government. While in the real world, this does not work especially in tourism, owing to the impossibility of defining the social cost for tourism and the difficulty from the frequent transaction between tourism operators and communities. (2) Coase theorem is to address externality through defining property right,which does not work in tourism either, due to the involvement of tourists. What is more, Coase theorem only applies for circumstances involving a small number of people and low transactional cost, obviously not instrumental in addressing tourism externality. (3) Merger of corporations proposes the combination of the externality producing corporations and the externality suffering corporations, which will create the elimination or internalization of external influences.The single corporation, after merger, will decide the scale of production on the level where marginal cost equals marginal benefit, no externality existing, so cost and benefit of this corporation are equal to those of society. In this case, the distribution and utilization of resources will achieve the state of Pareto optimality. As a result, in an effort to eliminate tourism externality, merger of corporation must be adopted, in other words, community participation must be actualized. It can be concluded from the prior discussion: community participationelimination of tourism externalitysustainable use of tourism resourcesecotourism, so the connotation of ecotourism contains the pattern of community participation.For ecotourism, community participation is not a shouldthing, but a must one. Here community does not mean the wide areas around the scenic spot, but interest groups, or stakeholders, related to externality. Additionally, the involvement of communities in tourism has the potential to maximize the multiple economic, ecologic and social benefits. 3 .Conclusions Both domestically and internationally, ecotourism practices are well under way. Unfortunately, however, ecotourism lacks a theoretic system concerning from basic theoretic study to practice study, inevitably contributing to severe damage to ecologic environment, abuse of the term as a label, dissatisfaction and complaints from the tourists as well as insufficient involvement of local residents, etc. This article has no intention to recreate a brand new concept of ecotourism; instead, it aims at figuring out what on earth ecotourism is through a series of analysis and discussions, in an attempt to provide implications for future ecotourism initiatives. The main conclusions of this article are as follows. (1) The objects of ecotourism include, but in no way confined to pristine and well preserved natural tourism resources .Cultural tourism resources and all areas that have typical characteristics and the potential to deliver environmental education to tourists should also be included. (2) There is no point emphasizing the obligation of ecotourists, instead, the role of supply side must be hailed. Appropriate systems should be adopted to influence the pattern of tourists behavior for the purpose of achieving the goals to promote envir