1. The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) defines ecotourism as "responsible travel to natural areas that conserve the environment and sustain the well-being of local people."
2. Responsible tourism observes basic eco-ethical tenets. Fundamental rights like the right to exist or to live in peace, right to pure air and pure water are basic rights even for wildlife, indigenous people as well as for nature as a whole.
3. Nature tourism and wildlife tourism are top priority for most foreign tourists, but in the Indian context, all picnics, nature walks, nature camps, trekking, hiking, safaris, jungle trails, mountaineering, cultural tours, pilgrimages, beaching, water sports, canoeing, boating and game-fishing should all observe eco-ethics. One step forward in ecotourism is to get involved in eco-restoration, biodiversity restoration and eco-development of local people in any degraded tourist ecosystem.
4. India, with her kaleidoscopic ecosystems and a wealth of cultural heritage of great antiquity has immense scope for ecotourism. Constant research to identify newer areas and spots for eco-tourism, preparing brochures on them and on the eco-ethics relevant to each, organising environmental trails and training knowledgeable guides, preferably using the services of the local people are the obligations of the tourism department.
5. This novel concept of ecotourism is so visionary that in the long run, it would be much viable economically, sustainable ecologically, acceptable socially and ideal philosophically rather than traditional tourism.
‘One step forward’ in para 3 refers to :
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → restoring balance in local ecosystems
The passage says that one step forward in ecotourism is to get involved in eco-restoration, biodiversity restoration and the development of local people in any degraded tourist ecosystem. Restoring a degraded ecosystem means bringing back its natural balance.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: switching over from traditional tourism to eco-tourism — Incorrect. Wrong part of the passage: the step is taken within ecotourism; the comparison with traditional tourism comes only in paragraph 5.
Option 2: shifting from nature tourism to wildlife tourism — Incorrect. Not mentioned: nature and wildlife tourism are named as what foreign tourists prefer; there is no shift from one to the other.
Option 4: studying local ecosystem — Incorrect. Too narrow: the step forward is active repair of a damaged ecosystem, not merely studying it.