How to understand the concept of ecotourists

Ecotourists are the product of tourists’ increasing ecological awareness. They are the main body of ecotourism activities and a key factor in the formation and development of ecotourism. Therefore, the definition of ecotourists is very important, but currently there is no unified view in the theoretical circles. Below, I will analyze ecotourists from three definitions: ① From a market perspective, ecotourists refer to tourism consumers who go to ecotourism areas and consume ecotourism products as the main content of their tourism activities. The advantage of this definition is that it facilitates statistics on the number of ecotourists and related indicators, is beneficial to tourism enterprises and tourism research on the ecotourism market, and provides favorable data for their market analysis and production operations. However, this definition is too commercial and cannot accurately define true eco-tourists. It only involves eco-tourism fixed places and eco-tourism areas. The eco-tourism products provided by eco-tourism are all requirements for the activities of eco-tour operators and cannot Ensure that tourists have ecological awareness and environmental protection knowledge, are their activities after entering ecological scenic spots ecological activities, and are they taking actions to protect the environment? Therefore, this definition has obvious flaws. ② From a psychological perspective, ecotourists refer to those tourists who have certain ecological and environmental protection knowledge and can reflect ecology and environmental protection at any time in their tourism activities. That definition, as far as I'm concerned, is about ecotourism itself. Very suitable. It not only emphasizes that ecotourists have ecological and environmental protection knowledge, but also points out that ecotourists take actions that demonstrate ecology and environmental protection in tourism activities and are responsible ecotourists. However, this kind of eco-tourists are very passive in the selection of scenic spots and have no clear ecological requirements. They just passively accept the arrangements in the tourism market, abide by their duties, and express ecology in themselves. They can only be part of mass tourism activities. ecologist. ③ The third definition is a synthesis of the previous two definitions. Ecotourists refer to tourists who have ecological and environmental protection knowledge and are willing and able to purchase ecotourism products. This definition of ecotourists not only avoids the shortcomings of the first definition of whether ecotourists have ecological and environmental protection knowledge, but also makes up for the shortcomings of the second definition of ecotourists passively entering ecotourism areas. It is a strict definition of ecotourists. Ecotourist. However, there is only a small group of eco-tourists, and the accessibility requirements are too high, which has a certain inhibitory effect on the development of the eco-tourism market. In general, eco-tourists are different from traditional tourists in mass tourism who do not pay attention to the learning of ecological awareness and environmental protection knowledge and only pursue lower-level tourism experiences; they are also different from environmental advocates who pay too much attention to environmental protection and The tourism itself and the tourism experience it brings are ignored. At present, among all the definitions of eco-tourists, there is a certain universality: eco-tourists must have ecological awareness and environmental protection knowledge, go to eco-tourism areas to consume eco-tourism products, and at the same time actively communicate with local residents. Tourists who have low service requirements, learn local culture, and actively participate in environmental protection.