Ecotourism questioned - Case studies from Belize

Ecotourism has become a buzzword within the tourism, conservation and rural development fields. Significant economic and political resources-have been devoted to ecotourism on the assumption that it achieves conservation and development objectives. This article evaluates the extent to which tourism at case study sites in Belize achieves three ecotourism objectives: generation of financial support for protected area management, generation of local economic benefits and generation of local support for conservation. When using positive net financial impact as a standard, tourism does not achieve the first objective, but could do so with implementation of a modest user Fee. Tourism achieves the second and third objectives. The methodologies utilized are presented to encourage their refinement and application elsewhere. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd