Sub Sectors of Ecotourism

Different people use different definitions for ecotourism itself, and hence draw different boundaries between ecotourism and relevant sub-sectors like Nature based tourism, Adventure tourism, Wildlife tourism, Cultural Tourism.

Term	Meaning
Nature or Nature- Based	Any kind of tourism where features of the natural attraction provide the primary attraction
Wildlife	Tourism where the main attraction is the opportunity is to watch the wild animals
Adventure	Tourism where the main attraction is an outdoor activity with an excitement- based component
Cultural	Tourism that focuses on exposing or  introducing tourists to different local cultures
ACE	Aggregate  term: Adventure- Culture- Ecotourism
NEAT	Aggregate term: Nature, Eco and Adventure- tourism
Outdoor	All forms of tourism that take place outdoors: essentially the same as NEAT, but including the high impact and consumptive tourism such as motorized vehicles, hunting, etc.

Figure 1: Related product terms: Sub-sectors 

Source: Buckley Ralf, 2009: Ecotourism: Principles and Practices, CABI, Oxfordshire, UK,pp-6,14

Ecotourism as narrowly defined above is part of much broader tourism product sector which includes the nature, wildlife, adventure, cultural and perhaps also farm and rural tourism. It is only the environment management, education, local people economic development and conservation components distinguish ecotourism.