The Ethics and Politics of Defining Ecotourism: Not Just an Academic Question
Michael Yeo, Linda Piper

Abstract
How ought ecotourism to be defined for the purpose of policy regulation? This question concerns ethics not just because whatever definition is adopted will have an ethical component expressing some normative view of what ecotourism should be but because it will certainly have an impact on various stakeholders – local communities, governments, environmentalists, tour operators, and tourists -- with an interest in, or concerns about, ecotourism. Defining ecotourism for policy purposes is a choice, and because that choice concerns values and engages the values and interests of many stakeholders it is an ethical and political choice. Our aim in this paper is not to add yet another answer to the question ‘What is ecotourism?’ but to clarify the nature of the question. Using conceptual analysis, we argue that the question, ‘what is ecotourism?’ is not one that can be answered descriptively by examining a phenomenon to determine its essential defining features.

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