ecotourism

14 Stories

Harry, Back in UK, Doesn't Want to Be Called 'Prince'

Just Harry, he requests at working summit for his sustainable travel initiative

(Newser) - Just Harry, please: On his first trip back to the UK since he and wife Meghan agreed to the terms of their exit as senior royals, that's how Prince Harry asked to be introduced—Harry, minus the "prince." As Good Morning America reports, he also flew commercial...

What's a Whale Worth? More Than You Might Think
What's a Whale Worth?
More Than You Might Think
new analysis

What's a Whale Worth? More Than You Might Think

Team of economists with the IMF do the math

(Newser) - Whales are actually cash cows, or so suggest economists with the International Monetary Fund. A team helmed by Ralph Chami took a look at the economic benefit provided by whales when it comes to carbon sequestration and ecotourism and arrived at a big figure: $2 million apiece. Their analysis hasn'...

Shark Watching: More Lucrative Than Shark Eating

Eco-tourism will double, while shark fishing industry declines

(Newser) - Sharks may soon be more valuable to the tourism industry than the restaurant industry. That's good news for the 38 million sharks killed each year to meet the demand for shark fin soup. A new study says that the global shark-watching industry is currently worth $314 million annually, but...

One Ton Crocodile Nabbed
 One-Ton Crocodile Nabbed 

One-Ton Crocodile Nabbed

21-foot male to be star of Philippines ecotourism park

(Newser) - A gigantic saltwater crocodile as heavy as a Volkswagen Beetle has been captured by residents of a Philippine village. They plan to make the monster the star of a new local ecotourism park. The 21-foot, one-ton male was nabbed in a creek and could be the largest croc captured in...

Stonehenge, Machu Picchu Among 'Threatened Wonders'

How tourists damage eight of the wonders they love most

(Newser) - From the litter strewn around Machu Picchu to the noisy highway junction next to Stonehenge, mass tourism and misguided development have many of the world's most famous travel destinations looking worse for the wear. Wanderlust magazine reports on the top eight threatened wonders, what can be done to help them,...

Greenies Shudder as Big Biz Embraces EcoTravel

Environmental groups hammer out standard for 'sustainable living'

(Newser) - Ecofriendly travelers once camped outdoors and foraged for food, but today a hotel in Times Square can claim it's as green as a lodge in the Costa Rican rain forest, Anna Kuchment writes in Newsweek. In other words, eco-vacationing has gone big business, and environmental advocates fear the notion is...

Time Slows on Easter Island
 Time Slows 
 on Easter Island 
Travel

Time Slows on Easter Island

Ancient culture thrives despite tourism surge

(Newser) - Tourists have left no stone unturned on Easter Island, flocking at rates of 50,000 a year to arguably the world’s most remote habitation. Five hours of flying over uninterrupted Pacific Ocean lands you on this mostly undeveloped volcanic rock with its haunting stone figures (moai), but today it...

Frolic Guilt-Free in Costa Rica
 Frolic Guilt-Free in Costa Rica 
TRAVEL

Frolic Guilt-Free in Costa Rica

Flight, hotel promise to offset vacation's carbon footprint

(Newser) - If carbon-footprint guilt is keeping you from taking a vacation, one company has your sun-soaked answer, TreeHugger reports. From the domestic flight to the hotel stay—and even airport transfers in biodiesel vans—NatureVacations' eco-friendly package to Costa Rica promises to offset every ounce of carbon you produce on your...

Darwins Were Planning Panama Canoe Resort

'Dead' boater and wife were working on a Panama paradise

(Newser) - The British man who faked his own death in a boating accident had been planning with his wife to open an eco-tourism resort offering idyllic canoeing holidays, the Times of London has discovered. John and Anne Darwin spent almost half a million dollars on property in Panama, including $390,000...

Melting Alaska, Tourist Hot Spot
Melting Alaska, Tourist Hot Spot

Melting Alaska, Tourist Hot Spot

Visitors flock to see climate change first-hand

(Newser) - Tourists traditionally head to Alaska for cruises and fishing, but for a growing number, it’s a global warming pilgrimage. Heating up five times faster than anyplace else, Alaska has drawn politicians, scientists, and now tourists to see the melting future, the Christian Science Monitor reports. “This has immediate...

World's Best Green Hotels
World's Best Green Hotels

World's Best Green Hotels

Leave a footprint as small as your carry-on at a luxurious eco-hotel

(Newser) - Solar-heated pools, energy-conserving lights, composted food scraps . . . hotels aren't all bastions of consumption and waste. Travel+Leisure teamed up with Conservation International to assemble a list of 20 eco-friendly hotels:
  1. Spice Island Beach Resort, Grenada
  2. Soneva Fushi Resort & Six Senses Spa, Maldives
  3. Heritance Kandalama, Sri Lanka

Tourism Heats Up as Arctic Does
Tourism Heats Up as Arctic Does

Tourism Heats Up as Arctic Does

Travelers flock to see dwindling ice caps, speeding up their destruction

(Newser) - The effects of global warming are drawing a crowd. About 1.5 million people will visit the arctic this year, as climate tourists swarm to see the world’s ice caps as they are beginning to melt. But it’s an ironic endeavor, the Wall Street Journal notes, because eco-tourists...

Israelis Eye Building Islands
Israelis Eye Building Islands

Israelis Eye Building Islands

Israel approves plans for new international airport on artificial island

(Newser) - The Israelis want to build artificial islands in the Mediterranean, off the coast of Tel Aviv, and put an international airport on one of them. It's been talked about, on and off, for more than a decade; the project has finally been deemed feasable by a planning committee. The panel’...

Philanthropist Bets $40M on Eco-Tourism

Greg Carr would put nature back in Mozambique nature preserve

(Newser) - Philanthropist Greg Carr wants to turn an African ecosystem around—and he’s willing to pay to do it. The tech-bubble whiz kid will spend $40 million over the next 30 years to restore Mozambique's Gorongosa National Park, destroyed during the country's 16-year civil war. Stephanie Hanes follows Carr as...

14 Stories