After all the publicity on pollution in Beijing at last summer’s Olympic games, it may seem contradictory that the China National Tourism Association has declared 2009 “Chinese Ecotourism Year.”  On the other hand, it may be the perfect time to get the ball rolling.  With rural areas in China attracting up to 300 million tourists per year, ecotourism activities may be ripe for the picking.

 Lily Kuo of China International Business Magazine reports:

“Not only is this new breed of tourist traveling independently, a growing number of travelers are making an effort to go green as well. With increasing foot-traffic to China’s rural or natural sites, international NGOs and environmentalists have turned their efforts to tourism. The nature charity WWF has established a scheme to train local guides at nature reserves in Sichuan, while in Yunnan, The Nature Conservancy has established the country’s first green national park, Pudacuo, which is modeled on the American national park system. Other efforts include a scattered number of eco-lodges and smaller projects like Haobao Organic Farm, located in a valley outside of Kunming and run by a local Chinese farmer.”

A major challenge seems to be the historic culture of the Chinese tourist.  Kuo writes that most tourism in China comes from domestic tourists and the Chinese have not typically been interested in a tourism “experience” like those found in socially conscious tourism or ecotourism.  However, with the increase in global eco-friendly practices, China will want to keep up.  Additionally, new generations are more aware of “green” travel.  To wit, there has been an increase in young Chinese backpackers traveling around the country.  While it may be a while before China is the next Costa Rica, there’s no time like the present to begin the effort.

Tags: China, China International Business, Haobao Organic Farm, Lily Kuo, Nature Conservancy, WWF

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 1st, 2009 at 6:29 pm and is filed under Asia, Ecotourism, Socially conscious tourism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.