Do you want to preserve the earth? Understand the people of other villages, cities and countries? And improve the economy of local communities? Then take up ecotourism. Ecotourism is a form of tourism that has little need for hotels and other associated luxuries. Everyone together, contentedly, lives in a hut for a few days. The place of ecotourism in tourism in Iran, with 4 of the world's 5 climates, the world's most diverse handicrafts, several thousand years of history, and so on and so on, needs more attention so that it can gain some strength and become an arm of the tourism economy.
What is ecotourism; according to The International Ecotourism Society in 2015:
Ecotourism is responsible travel to natural areas that, while conserving the environment, leads to an improvement in the well-being of local people. In ecotourism, education of guest and host is very important, and in this way mutual understanding among different communities can be achieved.
Benefits of ecotourism according to the Society
a) Conserving biocultural diversity and caring for the earth's natural and cultural heritage
b) Reducing poverty and sustainable development in local communities
c) Creating mutual understanding among different cultures and between humans and nature
Principles of ecotourism according to the Society
a) Reducing physical, social, behavioral and psychological impacts on the environment and local communities
b) Respect for the environment and different cultures
Ecotourism in tourism in Iran
Ecotourism in Iran began entirely by chance and without prior policymaking. A little over twenty years ago Maziar Ale Davoud, weary of Tehran, returned to Garmeh, his father's village near Isfahan, and as it happened several French travelers were his guests for a few days. The travelers' good feeling at the end of the trip became Maziar's motivation to expand his business, and from that day until now ecotourism in Iran has grown.
The state of ecotourism in Iran
The first step for developing tourism in Iran is that the people of the world should know that a beautiful Iran exists which, in the shadow of domestic inattention and foreign hostility, is unknown. Iran in 1399 (2020/21) became a member of the "International Ecotourism Organization." Welcome news that can be the key to introducing Iran and its attractions to the people of the world. Now if Iran is introduced and nature tourists come, suitable ecolodges must exist to receive them.
Number of ecolodges in Iran in 1397 (2018/19)
The distribution map of ecolodges shows that all provinces have lodges, and building new lodges may not be the current concern. In fact, qualitative problems are what plague ecotourism in the country; for example, the basis for pricing services is not clear, and qualitative grading of lodges has still not been done properly. As a concrete example, on one ecolodge rental site there are 3 lodges in Mazandaran that all three have 4.5 stars, but the price of one night's stay in them is 100, 300 and 400 thousand tomans per person. Well, what is the basis?
What do officials say?
Vali Teimouri, deputy for tourism of the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization in 1397 (2018/19) (the present-day ministry), announced that ecotourism can eliminate the weakness of tourism infrastructure in the country. So officials are aware of the importance of ecotourism. He introduced the "Professional Society of Ecolodges" as one of the custodians of this domain. Even in 1397 (2018/19), the organization signed a document with the World Tourism Organization one of whose axes was cooperation in the field of ecotourism and rural tourism, and it was arranged that in 2020 a conference on ecotourism and rural tourism would be held, whose outcome was never made clear. In short, one day they say we will create 16 thousand jobs in ecotourism, another day they say we will grade the country's ecolodges, and another day something else. In the end it is the same old story!
Do you have a recommendation for ecotourism? Have you even experienced ecotourism inside or outside the country?
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Machine-translated from Persian by Namafar; the Persian original is authoritative. Read the original in Persian