Ecotourism Resources on the Internet: AReview of Ecotourism WebsitesRosemary Burton and Julie WilsonUniversity of the West of England, Bristol

For the purposes of this review, websitescontaining the word `ecotourism' werescanned. The term is frequently used to referto `sustainably managed' nature-based tour-ism, but there are so many nuances andvariations in the de®nitions scholars offer, thatsome authors (e.g. Blamey, 1997) have debatedthe whole issue at some length. This reviewdeliberately refrains from entering the debate,as web users may themselves wish to use theInternet to explore these variations.There is inevitably some overlap between

what is deemed `sustainable tourism' and`ecotourism'. This review re¯ects these blurredboundaries and considers `ecotourism' sitesalongside `sustainable tourism' sites that havesigni®cant nature-based or `environmentallyfriendly' tourism content.It should be emphasised that all WorldWide

Web (WWW) resources should be evaluatedcarefully prior to use and reference to websiteassessment criteria may be helpful, (Back,1999; Grassian, 1999; UWE Bristol, 1999).The selection of sites for review was made

on the basis of:

(1) the credentials of the originator of the site;(2) the quality of the information content;(3) comprehensive coverage in terms of the

breadth of the subject content and theinternational dimensions perspective;

(4) ease of use;(5) number (and range) of links with other

quality sites.

The initial scan produced around 30 sites, ofwhich eight were selected for review. Twoecotourism-speci®c sites stand out: Big Vol-cano and Ecotourism Explorer. Along withEcoNETT, the EU-sponsored sustainable tour-ism site, they provide a comprehensive worldcoverage of information and contacts. Thesethree are major umbrella sites and althoughthere is inevitably some duplication between

them, each has its own particular character,strengths and uses. Big Volcano and Ecotour-ism Explorer both have Lycos Top 5 AwardsLycos claims to be `the oldest and most prestigiouswebsite directory'. It selects sites according to theircontent (depth, thoroughness, accuracy and beingup to date), on design (elegance, ease of use, etc.)and overall, on a 0 to 100 scale. The top 5 directoryis reviewed and updated regularly. Lycos is theregistered trademark of Carnegie Mellon Univer-sity.

ECOTOURISM EXPLORER: http://www.ecotourism.org/

This is a site created by The Ecotourism Society(TES) of America, based in North Bennington,Vermont. Although there is a members onlyresource area that has not been included in thisreview, there are several useful resourcesonline for non-members. In the ecotourismprofessionals section, users can follow threemajor pathways to more information onresearch, conservation and business.The research page is a good entry into the

American ecotourism research scene, withsources covering ecotourism market statisticsand up-to-date research papers. It identi®essome USA, Canada, UK and Australian Uni-versity departments, two US library ecotour-ism collections and an ecotourismbibliography, as well as a reasonable list oflinks to other ecotourism related sites. It alsohas a business page, providing relevant in-formation (e.g. business reports) on sustain-able practice, marketing, a green hotel resourcepage and ecotourism guidelines for naturetour operators.There is a comprehensive list of forthcoming

world-wide ecotourism events and confer-ences and a long list of regional ecotourismassociations and contacts.Ecotourism Explorer is well organised for

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such a large site with so many componentparts, but some resources tend to get hidden,despite a well-structured index and a naviga-tion bar. Links back to the index could becomea stronger feature in order that important partsof the site are not missed Ð the current link isnot prominent enough. The pages appear to beupdated reasonably often.

BIG VOLCANO ECOTOURISM RESOURCECENTRE: http://www.bigvolcano.com.au/ercentre/ercpage.htm

Big Volcano is apparently a commercialcompany set up by media staff preparing theBig Volcano Visitor Guide (a guide to theWollumbin World Heritage Region of North-ern New South Wales and Southern Queens-land in Australia). The company aims to fosterappreciation, understanding and conservationof the natural environment through pro®tabletourism that sustains the culture and well-being of its local communities.Big Volcano Ecotourism Resource Centre

claims to be a guide to ecotourism practice,ecologically sustainable development and gen-eral tourism and travel best practice world-wide. Entries are reviewed and selectedagainst speci®ed criteria, including relevanceto the tourism industry; extent to which theyencourage best practice management; furthereducation; and training by the industry. Thusall sites have ecotourism relevance and mostlinks/entries have a brief comment on theircontent or usefulness. This is extremely helpfuland allows users to easily select what theywant. However, the review process by de®ni-tion reduces the coverage and although itfunctions as an `umbrella site', it does notclaim to be `comprehensive'. It covers mainlyAustralian and North American (plus world-scale) sources.The most useful sections include:

(1) associations and societies Ð world-wideand a good selection;

(2) ecotourism papers and research;(3) other ecotourism sitesÐ limited but all of

good quality;(4) other tourism resources.

The site has a very useful site map for ease ofnavigation.

ECOTOURISM INFORMATION CENTER (INASSOCIATION WITH THE ECOTOURISMSOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA): http://ecotour.csu.edu.au/ecotour/

When fully developed, this Australian sitecould be a very useful adjunct to Big Volcano.The promised expansion into speci®c researchareas will differentiate it from other moregeneral umbrella sites.

PLANETA: http://www.txin®net.com/mader/ecotravel/etour.htm

To redress the geographical balance of thethree ecotourism sites reviewed so far, anintroduction to some Spanish ecotourismsources and more speci®c South Americanlinks are available online at Planeta Maga-zine's ecotravel site.

THE GREEN TRAVEL WORLDECOTOURISM DIRECTORY: http://www.green-travel.com/

This site provides a miscellany of operator,research and voluntary group links world-wide, including the Paci®c and Asia (Southeastand South). However, both sites provide littlemore than the names, with only fragmentaryindication of content, quality or source.

ECONETT:http://195.212.4.4

For extensive European and further world-wide cover, EcoNETT (which includes allaspects of sustainable tourism) is worthvisiting. It is a site sponsored by the WTTCand the EU and it is one of the biggestumbrella sites.In total, there are over 1200 ®les listed on the

EcoNETT site, but no selection criteria arestated explicitly. The EcoNETT library con-tains reports, books, journals and other Inter-net sites, and the `Who's Who' section hasdetails of 150 experts and organisations. Otherentries are categorised: the codes of conductsection has 30 plus entries, the awards andecolabels over 70, good practice over 90 andmore than 100 sustainable tourism projects.Many of them are not explicitly ecotourism but

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nonetheless, much relevant material is avail-able here.The site also has very useful sections on

environmental legislation, Agenda 21 andEuropean Commission tourism actions andpolicies; all essential background for theecotourism researcher. For networking pur-poses, it has a useful `What's New' section andhosts a rural tourism discussion forum. It has avery good links section, with a conferencediary in the measures/initiatives section.EcoNETT has an attractive, easy to read designand is relatively fast to load, but despitehaving a margin navigation bar, there is somuch information that it is often dif®cult toreturn to the homepage.

STRING:http://www.yorku.ca/research/dkproj/string/rohr/index.htm

STRING is complementary to EcoNETT. TheSustainable Tourism Research INterest Groupwas the outcome of a 1997 meeting at theInternational Development Research Centre inOttawa, Canada. The purpose of their site is toprovide tourism researchers with a collectionof Internet resources relevant to sustainabletourism by acting as an umbrella host direc-tory.STRING also aims to discuss the current

research agendas in the area of sustainabletourism in an effort to discover how donoragencies, International NGOs and interna-tional organisations are involved in the pro-motion of tourism as a tool for sustainabledevelopment Ð this differentiates the sitesigni®cantly from those discussed so far.All of the STRING links are to external

resources and these include:

(1) Multilateral and bilateral organisations Ðprovides links to tourism programmes andpolicies initiated by international institu-tions and donor agencies;

(2) online articles and bibliographies;(3) Non-governmental and research organisa-

tions Ð working in the area of sustainabletourism or ecotourism;

(4) Codes of ethics and practice;(5) Governmental organisations Ð national

tourism associations and governmentagencies developing tourism policy;

(6) Conferences and internet resources Ðprovides links to information about con-ferences as well as miscellaneous Internetresources on tourism. These links areextensive and could facilitate networking.

STRING's site is very easy to navigate (a`return to top' function is regularly available),with a tasteful design. It is regularly updatedas the webmasters are reliant on potential sitesto contact them and be added to the STRINGdirectory.

TOURISM CONCERN:http://www.tourismconcern.org.uk

This site is worth mentioning for its value toschool and undergraduate students. TourismConcern is a UK based charity aiming to raiseawareness of tourism's impact on commu-nities and the environment world-wide.Tourism Concern's site is one of the few to

clearly declare its identity and objectives as apressure group campaigning for a particularpurpose, with the caveat that it obviouslyselects material to support or demonstrate aparticular point of view. It is perhaps the bestsite for access to teaching resources andsource material for students (teaching packs,booklets, videos, slide sets, etc. Ð electronicorder forms are provided). In its role ofeducating the industry and travellers alike, itreproduces a limited selection of tourist codesof conduct and a reasonable selection ofresearch and discussion papers, available toorder online.In terms of usability, a margin navigation

bar helps to guide the user through thismultipart site and it is quite easy to return tothe homepage/previous pages. The longerpages have a useful category menu, whichallows you to jump to the section required,although regular `top of page/back' linkswould improve this function.It claims to be UK's best source of resources

for tourism students; as long as students usethe material intelligently and can distinguishbetween campaigning material and primarysource information, this is undoubtedly thecase.

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THE INTERNATIONAL GEOGRAPHICALUNION ON SUSTAINABLE TOURISM(IGUST): http://www.for.nau.edu/geography/igust

Excellent for networking, a list of world-widemembers and a discussion list IGUST-L.

SUMMARY

There are thus many good sites, but there isoften much duplication in their content. This isinevitable when it is those very links that makethe net a network. For the researcher, as long asthe sites keep up to date, there may be enoughumbrella sites and repetition is unnecessary.Specialist sites that attempt to be more genu-inely comprehensive on more speci®c aspectsof the subject would be the next most usefulstep. There appears to be a geographical orlanguage gap in that few English language

sites link to sites or sources in other languagesor to material originating in south or southeastAsia.All sites were accessed during May 1999.

REFERENCES

Beck SE. The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: or, WhyIt's a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources. http://lib.nmsu.edu/staff/susabeck/eval.html (visited2 June 1999)Blamey RK. 1997. Ecotourism: the search for anoperational de®nition. Journal of SustainableTourism 5(2): 109±130.

Grassian E. Thinking Critically about World WideWeb Resources. http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/college/instruct/web/critical.htm (visi-ted 2 June 1999)

UWE Bristol, Library Resources online Ð Guide forevaluating Internet resources. http://www.u-we.ac.uk/library/resources/general/internet/eval.htm (visited 22 June 1999)

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