EarthTalk: How to save the Earth while on vacation
Community-based tourism helps preserve local environments by supporting residents
The sun sets over the Amazon River in Brazil. Areas across South America have adopted sustainable community-based tourism.
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Q: What is “community-based tourism,” and how does it purport to safeguard pristine places?
– Erin O’Neill, Tukwila, Wash.
A: Community-based tourism refers to situations in which local people – usually those who are poor or economically marginalized in very rural parts of the world – open up their homes and communities to visitors seeking sustainably achieved cultural, educational, or recreational travel experiences.
