Ecotourism offers tourists the opportunity to visit, discover, understand and appreciate the natural environment. It is one of the fastest-growing segments in tourism in Australia and indeed the world. It is also a segment that can readily respond to the principles of Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD). Victoria, with its ready access to a great diversity of natural environments and established infrastructure and operators, is an ideal location for ecotourism.1
While an array of recreational activity is undertaken by tourists, one does not have to be a tourist to enjoy Victoria's natural environments and its constituent native flora and fauna. Many people undertake a diversity of recreational activity focussed on the use and enjoyment of native flora and fauna in their local environments.
In this chapter the Committee outlines current ecotourism activity and nature-based recreation in Victoria. Most such activity is non-consumptive of native plants and animals. Related sectors such as wildlife parks and recreational hunting are also covered. Activity in these sectors is consumptive - being reliant on the removal of plants and animals from their natural environment, either by way of killing the animal for sport or for translocation into captivity.
This chapter thus covers the following forms of utilisation:
a) nature-based tourism and ecotourism;
b) wildlife parks and botanic gardens;
c) nature study and other forms of nature-based recreation; and
d) recreational fishing and hunting.
