Definition of Eco-tourists
The background of the rise of eco-tourism is that human beings are in the late stage of industrial civilization. While material wealth and spiritual wealth are extremely rich, a series of global survival crises such as resource problems, environmental problems and ecological problems have awakened human environmental awareness, and green movement and green consumption have swept the world. Human beings think more about their own way of life and development mode than ever before, so the idea of sustainable development came into being. Human beings think more about their own way of life and development mode than ever before, so the idea of sustainable development came into being. With the spread and penetration of the idea of sustainable development, the sustainable development of tourism has increasingly become a concern. Eventually, people gradually changed from traditional tourism to eco-tourists.
Eco-tourists are the product of tourists' increasing ecological awareness, the main body of eco-tourism activities and the key factor for the formation and development of eco-tourism. Therefore, the definition of eco-tourists is very important, but there is no unified view in the theoretical circle at present. Below, I will analyze eco-tourists from three definitions: ① From the market point of view, eco-tourists refer to tourism consumers who go to eco-tourism areas and consume eco-tourism products as the main content of their tourism activities. The advantage of this definition is that it is convenient to count the number of eco-tourists and related indicators, which is conducive to the study of eco-tourism market by tourism enterprises and tourism, and provides favorable data for their market analysis and production and operation. However, this definition is too commercialized to accurately define the real eco-tourists. It only involves the eco-tourism area, which is a fixed place of eco-tourism. The eco-tourism products provided by eco-tourism are all requirements for the activities of eco-tourism operators, and it is impossible to ensure whether tourists have ecological awareness and environmental protection knowledge, whether their activities after entering the eco-scenic area are ecological activities, and whether there are actions to protect the environment. Therefore, this definition has obvious defects. ② From the psychological point of view, eco-tourists refer to those who have certain knowledge of ecology and environmental protection and can reflect ecology and environmental protection at any time in their tourism activities. This definition, as far as I am concerned, is very important for eco-tourists. It fits perfectly. It not only emphasizes that eco-tourists have knowledge of ecology and environmental protection, but also points out that eco-tourists show their actions of ecology and environmental protection in tourism activities, so they are responsible eco-tourists.However, this kind of eco-tourist is very passive in the choice of scenic spots, has no clear ecological requirements, only passively accepts the arrangement in the tourism market, abides by its share, and shows its ecology in itself, and can only be an ecologist in popular tourism activities. (3) The third definition is a synthesis of the previous two definitions, and holds that eco-tourists refer to those who have knowledge of ecology and environmental protection and are willing and able to buy eco-tourism products. This definition of eco-tourists not only avoids the shortcomings of the first definition of whether eco-tourists have ecological and environmental protection knowledge, but also makes up for the shortcomings of the second definition of eco-tourists passively entering eco-tourism areas, and belongs to eco-tourists in a strict sense. However, this eco-tourist has only a small group, and its accessibility is too high, which has a certain inhibitory effect on the development of eco-tourism market. Generally speaking, eco-tourists are different from traditional tourists in mass tourism, paying no attention to the study of ecological awareness and environmental protection knowledge, and only pursuing a lower level of tourism experience; It is also different from environmental advocates who pay too much attention to environmental protection and ignore tourism itself and the tourism experience it brings. At present, there are some commonalities in all the definitions of eco-tourists: eco-tourists must be tourists who have ecological awareness and environmental protection knowledge, deduce eco-tourism products in eco-tourism areas, communicate with local residents actively, have low service requirements, learn local culture and actively participate in environmental protection.
