 Remember your last vacation? Perhaps you went to a popular hill station, or hit the coast or even visited a foreign capital. The trip must have been pleasant, even exciting. But while you got back home relaxed, you didn't feel changed by the experience - you came back the same person you were before you left.
Now imagine travelling with a purpose - a personal one and a global one - and returning home revitalized, refreshed and fulfilled. Imagine having seen and experienced things you never thought possible, stretched yourself and left a positive impact on the people and places you visited. By looking at travel from a different vantage point, you will discover the benefits of a meaningful, purposeful travel.
More than 500 million people travel for leisure each year. Most travellers visit the same popular destinations - major international cities, national parks, monuments and ruins, and beach resorts. Statistics tell us that mass tourism has a wide range of effects on the environment, culture and economies of local communities. Eco-tourism offers an alternative to many of the negative effects of mass tourism by helping preserve fragile ecosystems, conserve endangered species and habitats, safeguard indigenous cultures and develop sustainable local economies.
 Eco-tourism is more than a catch phrase for outdoors travel and recreation. It accommodates and entertains visitors in a way that is minimally intrusive or destructive to the environment and sustains & supports the native cultures in the locations it is operating in. Its true meaning bears a weight of responsibility for both travellers and service providers.
No matter where you go or how you travel, you will have an effect on the environment and the people you visit. But travelling responsibly can minimise the negative impact, and, in many cases, can actually help conserve the environment and preserve indigenous cultures.
Most tourists choose a vacation based on where they want to go - the beach, a cultural centre, and shopping destination - not what they want to learn. But eco-travellers organize their trips around a life passion. They travel to learn and experience something very personal and meaningful. Don't concentrate on where you want to go, but on what you want to do and learn, and your travel experience will have a real, meaningful purpose to you and to the people and places you visit.
 Eco-tourism is dedicated to preserving and sustaining the diversity of the world's natural and cultural environments. Hence, making informed, positive, low-impact travel choices is the first step toward the sustainable future of tourism. Educate yourself about the destination, the local culture prevalent, choose an operator who is knowledgeable and understands the various dynamics of eco-tourism.
Eco-tourism also strives to encourage and support the diversity of local economies for which the tourism-related income is vital. With support from tourists, local services and producers can compete with larger, foreign companies and local families can support themselves. Moreover, the income generated by travel taxes helps and encourages local governments to fund conservation projects and training programs.
So, when you travel, seek out locally owned businesses and services and support them. If you spend your travel money responsibly and locally, you will contribute to a viable future for people and businesses struggling to compete in the world economy.
 Speaking out, when you see that there is mass destruction happening because of regular tourism, will make a world of difference. Similarly, supporting eco-tourism groups, nature conservancies, cultural preservation institutions and other organizations also will help build a brighter future even while you are not
travelling.
As a responsible eco-tourist you'll have lots of fun and help save the earth while you are doing it!
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