Ecotourism for environmental conservation: a bibliographic review

Abstract

This paper presents the state of the art on the role of ecoturism in the care of 
the natural environment. The objective was to compile and analyze the 
contributions made on the topic in the international, national and local 
contexts. Bibliographic and documentary information was carried out in 
specialized searchs and institutional databses. Results show that studies on 
the topic could be framed in 5 axes –diagnostic, promotion of tourism 
development, conservation, subjectivity and environmental impact–. Likewise, 
ecoturism has not yet being assimilated within the social reality of Latin 
America due to several limitations and problems of different nature. It 
concludes with the importance of intersectoral cooperation so that ecotourism can offer results in the short and long term. The need to rethink ecoturism in 
the face of the socioenvironmental crisis and uncertainty of the 21st century is 
also highlighted.