Help
alternative tourism — English
A visit to a place or an area without degrading it by mass consumption and without having to endure an overwhelming crowd of other tourists. In order to achieve the two ideals contained in this definition a different type of tourism, called alternative tourism, has developed over the past 30 years. To achieve the first ideal, specific management steps have to be taken to prevent the the more sensitive and fragile tourist sights from degradation caused by too many tourists (see “carrying capacity”). If these managerial steps were not taken, the destination might degrade to a point where its very success would destroy the resource base. The second ideal is achieved by developing alternative tourist destinations. While many people enjoy visiting mass destinations like Disneyland and are not bothered by the crowds and the queues, a significant proportion of tourists feel “crowded-out” and fear being trampled by the hordes of youngsters running after Mickey Mouse. Entrepreneurs realised that there was a huge niche in the tourist market and started to develop various types of alternative destinations to cater for people who want to partake in tourism, but avoid mass tourist destinations. Consequently a multitude of widely varying, lower density alternative tourist destinations have been developed over the past three decades. On a tourist density continuum alternative tourism lies very far from mass tourism, but alternative tourist destinations also form a continuum from relatively low-density destinations to the most exclusive solitary eco-experiences. Alternative tourism will never replace mass tourism, but its existence has grown the tourist market significantly.
