Ecotourism

Reading audio



2004-11-23

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.
Today we tell about visiting places to enjoy the natural environment
or ecology. This kind of holiday vacation is called ecotourism.
(ee-co-TOUR-ism)

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

A humpback whale breaches the water.<br />
(All Pictures - NOAA)
A humpback whale breaches the water.
(All Pictures - NOAA)

We begin our holiday in the
northeastern United States. We are in the town of Bar Harbor, Maine.
We have paid money to take a three-hour trip on a large boat. We
will be traveling several kilometers off the coast to look for
whales. We hope to see several kinds of whales -- the huge humpback,
the finback and the smaller minke.

VOICE TWO:

A small storm passed the area last night and the water is rough.
The ocean makes the large boat move in several directions at once.
The movement of the boat makes walking difficult.

The trip out to the ocean takes about forty-five minutes. Soon,
the captain slows the engines. We begin to wait. A member of the
crew says they have seen whales here for the past several days. If
we are lucky we too will see a few.

VOICE ONE:

Suddenly a crewmember shouts, "There — on the left side of the
boat. Look! It's a humpback whale." About ninety meters from our
boat, a huge humpback whale raises its head above the water. Slowly,
it begins to move down again. Moments later the huge tail clears the
water and then slowly moves below the waves.

A crewmember tells everyone to look for a smooth area of water.
That means the whale will be again rising to the surface. Minutes
later, a smooth area is seen to the left. The color of the water
turns from deep blue to light green and the whale again comes to the
surface. This time, two whales appear.

Now everyone is standing on the left side of the boat holding a
camera. The captain of the boat is careful not to come too close to
the whales. He does not want to frighten or harm the huge animals.

A pod of humback whales.<br />
A pod of humback whales.

A few minutes later, it is time to
return to the harbor. The passengers will take back with us several
photographs of the whales. We will also take memories of one of
nature's largest animals. We will always remember how we shared a
few minutes with these wonderful creatures.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

We have just experienced what travel industry officials call
ecotourism. The word ecotourism means several things. It is a
holiday vacation that can include visiting and learning about local
areas and cultures. It can mean visiting extremely wild areas. It
can also mean learning about nature, animals, birds, plants and new
ways to live on our planet. And it is tourism designed to limit
damage to the environment.

Our three-hour trip to see humpback whales off the coast of Bar
Harbor, Maine was a small ecotourism adventure.

VOICE ONE:

Travel and holiday experts say ecotourism is the fastest growing
part of the holiday vacation industry. It is possible to visit
almost any country to learn about the culture, history, food,
plants, animals or anything else that might interest you. You can
learn about and watch whales in the American states of Maine and
Hawaii, and in Mexico.

You can visit a natural protected area in Costa Rica, one of the
top ecotourism countries in the world. You can travel to the huge
national parks in several African countries to see and photograph
lions, elephants and other wild animals.

You can swim deep under water to experience this beautiful world
if you learn how to use special breathing equipment. Companies offer
underwater exploration trips in Australia, Mexico, several islands
in the Caribbean, the Mediterranean and many other places.

VOICE TWO:

Tourism, the travel and holiday industry, provides huge amounts
of money to the economies of many nations. So ecotourism has become
extremely important. And officials in the travel industry say
ecotourism works to create, improve and protect holiday areas that
people will want to visit.

Ecotourism also teaches the people who live in areas that
tourists may want to visit and enjoy. Government agencies use
ecotourism methods to teach these people how to develop these areas
for visitors. The people learn to protect the natural environment so
that they remain popular places to visit.

VOICE ONE:

An example of this kind of protection is our whale-watching trip
in Bar Harbor, Maine. The boat companies that operate such trips are
very careful not to harm or frighten the whales. The boats do not
come too close to the large animals.

Crewmembers on the boats warn passengers not to throw anything in
the water. The boat companies work to protect the whales. They want
the whales to return to the area and feel safe there.

Most professionals in the travel business learn very quickly that
the environment must be protected if an area is to remain popular.

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VOICE TWO:

Some environmental scientists have strongly criticized the
tourism industry. These scientists say the travel industry often
fails to understand that thousands of people visiting an area can
greatly harm the environment.

Environmental experts say people who visit an area are sometimes
careless in their actions. They leave food, paper, and bottles
behind. They harm plants, animals or objects important to a local
culture.

The experts say people on holiday often do not understand the
damage they can cause. In some cases the experts say ecotourism is
killing animals and destroying the environment. They say it is
destroying the very thing it is seeking to develop and protect.

VOICE ONE:

A boat ride to watch whales is a good example of what
environmentalists mean. Three years ago, a large humpback whale came
up under a ship off the coast of the eastern state of Massachusetts.
The whale was seriously injured. In another accident, a smaller
minke whale was hit by a ship and killed. These accidents were
caused by ships carrying people who paid money to see the whales.

However, travel industry officials say environmentalists do not
understand how important economic growth can be to the local economy
in a developing country. And they say ecotourism can be a very
important part of that growth.

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VOICE TWO:

The World Tourism Organization is the leading international
organization in travel and tourism. It serves as an international
meeting place to discuss tourism policy issues and education. It
works to help countries and local communities develop ecotourism
areas.

The World Tourism Organization's members include one hundred
thirty-eight countries and territories. It has more than three
hundred-fifty members representing local governments, tourism
organizations and private companies. The headquarters of the World
Tourism Organization is in Madrid, Spain.

Last month, the World Tourism Organization held a meeting in
Washington, D.C. Officials from many governments, international aid
agencies and several of the world's leading universities attended
the meeting.

It was the first meeting among many government agencies,
developing countries and university officials. Their goal was to
look for ways to cooperate and use the economic power of tourism to
increase development.

VOICE ONE:

At the meeting, the World Bank vice president and the president
of the Inter-American Development Bank spoke about the importance of
tourism.

Both said ecotourism creates jobs and brings money to local
economies. They also said ecotourism creates the need for local
people to learn to protect the environment. They said agencies and
departments within each government must learn to work together to
create a tourism industry that can help the economy.

The World Tourism Organization says tourism has become the main
source of foreign money earnings in the forty-nine least developed
countries in the world. But it says the money from tourism in these
countries still represents only one percent of the world total.
World Tourism Organization records show that there were more than
seven hundred million international travelers last year. These
visitors spent more than five hundred thousand million dollars.

The organization says there will be nine hundred million
international tourist visits by the year two thousand ten. Experts
say ecotourism is becoming an important part of the future for many
countries in the world.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced by
Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for another
EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.


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