The United Nations International Year of Ecotourism: a critical analysis of development implications

The United Nations International Year of Ecotourism (IYE) of 2002 marked out the rise of ecotourism from new niche market opportunity in the 1980s to being regarded by its advocates as an exemplary form of sustainable development in the rural developing world. This paper briefly situates the IYE in the context of wider ideas on development and conservation. It identifies and critically considers three key themes featured in the documentation from the IYE: community participation, traditional knowledge and natural capital. Further, it is argued that the IYE reflects a diminished and constrained vision of the possibilities for rural development.