An ecotourism park is designed to make a specific ecosystem into a tourist attraction.
Princeton University defines ecotourism as "tourism to exotic or threatened ecosystems to observe wildlife or to help preserve nature." An ecotourism park is a park built around a particular ecosystem as a tourist attraction.
Promoting Tourism
The principal function of an ecotourism park is to promote tourism to a specific area; the influx of tourists and their foreign currency creates, in turn, revenue for the country's treasury. Saudi Arabia, for example, is planning to build an ecotourism park in the deserts of the country's Hail province. Prince Abdul Aziz bin Sa'ud, the deputy governor of Hail, confirmed, in April 2010, the government's goal to increase tourism to the kingdom.
Recreational Activities
Activities in ecotourism parks are built around nature. At the Northwestern University Ecotourism Park and Botanic Gardens in northern Luzon in the Philippines, visitors may partake in such activities as bird watching, butterfly watching, biking, hiking and nature photography.
Research and Preservation
A principal function of an ecotourism park is to promote research and conservation efforts. The Tagum Ecotourism Park, in Tagum City in the Philippines, aims to restore the forests to unforested areas of Tagum. The Northwestern University Ecotourism Park plans to use revenue to finance conservation research on the country's flora.
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