Ecotourism Assessment Alignment and Coordination Tool

Abstract

Tourism can stimulate economies, promote cultural preservation, and incentivize environmental conservation. The tourism assessment and planning process is a tool for facilitating tourism development at the community level by helping entrepreneurs to:

• Assess the products and services they currently offer • Align their current tourism products with best practices for improving their business’ sustainability. • Coordinate efforts to harness the full benefits of sustainable nature-based tourism or ecotourism.

Extension educators can use this tool to educate, coordinate and encourage tourism entrepreneurs to adopt practices that maximize the cultural, social, economic, and environmental benefits of local tourism by minimizing potential negative impacts.