Ecotourism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ecotourism - Essay Example However, according to the normative definition, ecotourism is centered on three main criteria: (i) 'it should have nature based attractions (ii) visitor interactions should focus on education, and (iii) experience and product management should follow the principles associated with ecological, socio-cultural and economic sustainability' (Weaver and Lawton 2007:170). Prescriptive definitions of ecotourism is preferred amongst experts which include 'value-based dimensions' such as conservation, community involvement and social responsibility.(Weaver and Lawton 2007: 1169). Ecotourism is being promoted by governments and the tourism industry as a sustainable alternative to mass tourism. However, this too has not escaped critics' comments and myths. They have suggested that ecotourism can be damaging to the natural environment. Critics are skeptical that the future of tourism industries can be at risk (Mihalic 2000) with the motivation of ecotourists. There are different types of eco/nature tourists. Lindberg's 1991 typology distinguishes hard-core, dedicated, mainstream tourists from casual nature tourists. Similarly Laarman and Durst (1987) has drawn a distinction between 'hard' and 'soft' ecotourism experiences based on the degree of difficulty in ecotourism. Ecotourism is one of the 'new' forms of tourism based around sustainable ideas. As compared to other forms of tourism ecotourism is small in scale, non-consumptive, ethical/responsible, and of benefit to local people. However, in the absence of an adequate management regime ecotourism is unlikely to be sustainable ecologically by any relevant measure. Most ecotourism destinations are geographically remote and hence ecotourism involves the issue of carbon expenditures with long distance travel and their contribution to climatic changes. Therefore, ecotourism can never meet the parameters of environmental sustainability. Critical Comments The sustainability of ecotourism is a controversial issue. As long as ecotourism serves its purpose as an 'alternative tourism' by satisfying ecotourists and fulfills their mission, it has already achieved its goal and purpose. There is a definite scope of developing ecotourism both at the local and global scales in order to promote tourism industry as such. Critical Reflections Different types of ecotourism have to be formed and developed by the government systems of developing and developed countries. Ecotourism must aim to gain the economic advantages of tourism development causing minimal negative environmental impact. SUMMARY 2 Tourism and Environment With reference to the environmental impacts of tourism from geographical perspective tourism as an industry depends on physical environment. Tourism is associated with environmental benefits although it is not free from negative impacts. Tourism is not free from related pollution problems. Most of these are related to traffic, tourist infrastructure and the activities of tourists. In congested areas emissions negatively influence vegetation, soil and visibility. Heating systems of tourist related buildings emit some

Does the constitution of the united states prevent effective Essay

Does the constitution of the united states prevent effective government - Essay Example Carl Friedrich (1965) similarly defined constitution as a system of efficient, regularized restrictions upon government activities. From this point of view, the key attribute of a constitution is its statement of individual rights, particularly those held against the state. Definitely, a bill of rights at the present form parts of almost all written constitutions, the first Bill of Rights included the ten amendments quickly appended to the American Constitution in 1791, covering such liberties as freedom of religion, speech, the press, and the right of the people to bear arms (Lloyd 2006). The second and somewhat neglected role of constitutions is as power maps, defining the structure of government. Constitutions articulate the pathways of power, describing the procedures for making laws and reaching decisions. As Sartori (1994) wisely observes, the defining feature of a constitution is this provision of a frame of government. A constitution devoid of a declaration of rights is still a constitution, but a document lacking a power map is not a constitution. A constitution is therefore a form of political engineering, to be judged like any other construction by how well it survives the test of time. From this perspective, the United States version, still standing firm after more than 200 years, is a triumph. Procedures for amendment are an important component of the constitutional architecture. Most constitutions are rigid or in other words, entrenched, thus rendering them more acceptable to the various interests involved in their construction (Sartori 1994). A rigid constitution offers the general benefit, much prized by liberals, of predictability for those subject to it. An entrenched constitution also limits the damage should political opponents obtain power, for unless they can clear the amendment hurdle they too must abide by the values embedded in the settlement

Value Creation In E-business in Xtra Company Case Study

Value Creation In E-business in Xtra Company - Case Study Example This is the project plan. The motivation for adopting IS Development is the improvement of efficiency, protecting market share, assisting in innovative activities, and increasing, productivity and profitability. (Wang et al, 2004; Pateli & Giagles, 2004). What the company is selling is a novelty item that catches the attention of Hollywood fans and moviegoers. What they only have to do is to be able to reach a wider market based and the moment that they can establish a wide market, they have to come up new means of reaching it. And the way to reach it is via eBusiness. The transition to eBusiness requires two important aspects of the internal aspect and the external aspect. In the internal aspect what is necessary are the following: effective individual, effective team and an effective organization. In the external aspect what is needed include the basic website, interactive website and e-commerce. These two aspects should converge for the plan to work (Arunatelika & Gigi, nd). Furthermore, of primary importance is the satisfaction of the customers.customers have greatly appreciated the personalized services that they have been receiving in the virtual market (Dubosson-Torbay et al, 2001). And Xtra Company cannot deviate from this trend, this current value creation in e-business (Ahmet & Zott, 2001). With all the important points laid down, the plan is simple, they are going to use the internet to sell their products. As such, they have to create the IT structure, the creation of an interactive website and e-commerce should be undertaken. But it is not only that, they should have good collaboration links with the suppliers, links with the distributor and definitely a good interactive website that can be accessed 24/7. Aside from that, they should have a strong IT infrastructure, Business systems, IT policies, IT security measures and IT maintenance. Likewise, they also have to establish a strong and effective organization who are made up of people who are h ighly motivated, of a team that shares the vision, goals and values of the company.  Ã‚  

Business Plan for Great Barrier Reef Sponge Farm Case Study

Business Plan for Great Barrier Reef Sponge Farm - Case Study Example Based on feasibility studies, the business has targeted two premises, one to be used as its administrative office and the other as its factory location. Rents in the administrative block stand at $15,000 per annum while rents at the factory stand at $16,000 amounting to a total of $31,000 per annum. Initial funding for the project is expected to be $100,000. Of this amount, the principal shareholder has contributed 40%, that is, $40,000 while a bank lone of $60,000 has been secured to cover the remaining 60% of the funding requirements. The proprietor placed his three apartments flat as collateral security for the loan. Sales for the first year are expected to amount to $500,000 and are expected to grow at an annual rate of 10%. Gross profit is expected to be $100,000 against which expenses for rents, depreciation of factory equipment, wages and salaries, overhead expenses and miscellaneous expenses will be charged. Expenses during the second, third, fourth and fifth year are expected to witness increases as the company plans to increase expenditure on advertising, research and development, staff, and office and factory equipment. Constant growth is expected to come from an aggressive marketing strategy that will be adopted by the company. The company also expects to develop a good reputation through the supply of high quality products as well as good customer services. The company will also do everything necessary to protect the environment it which it operates such as improving its waste management activities as well becoming ISO1400 certified. Mission Statement. The mission of Reef Sponge Farm Cairn-Australia is to provide its customers with high quality sponges and to maintain a high reputation in the sponge industry in Cairns and Australia as a whole. Overview SWOT Analysis SWOT analysis refers to the strengths, weaknesses threats and opportunities. Strengths include such things as technical competence of proprietors, enough financial resources, good network of contacts for potential clients, suppliers and target market. Weaknesses include lack of management skills, no business track record, and no current plan for management succession in the short-term. Opportunities include rapidly growing market, poor reputation of existing businesses, large number of old yet valuable homes, availability of casual staff and tradespersons, availability of display and manufacturing premises within the area, high disposable income within the target market, potential for future expansion of the business. Threats include poor reputation of the industry, potential for economic downturn, natural disasters and catastrophes, wars, existence of competitors rising cost of raw materials, rising cost of real wages, government regulation. As far as Great Barrier Reef Sponge Farm is concerned, the main strengths of the company include the presence of scientists with experience in sponge products who have sound technical basis in solving production problems as they arise and in proposing innovative strategies for growth. The company has also has a good management with knowledge of both financial, managerial and marketing skills which makes it possible for it to overcome management problems and thus increases its ability to succeed in the industry. Some of the weaknesses of

Oppotunity cost Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Oppotunity cost - Essay Example The customers may thin k that they are getting a free meal at the cost of a drink and hence more people would be attracted towards the shop. This paper briefly explains the phrase 'TINSTAAFL' in terms of opportunity cost. Opportunity cost is the cost of passing up the next best choice when making a decision. For example, if an asset such as capital is used for one purpose, the opportunity cost is the value of the next best purpose the asset could have been used for. Opportunity cost analysis is an important part of a company's decision-making processes, but is not treated as an actual cost in any financial statement" (Opportunity cost, n. d). Every problem has more than one solution as economics says. While solving problems we normally opt for the best possible solution. But it is not necessary that our decisions would be always the best because of our inability to analyze or evaluate problems properly. If another better option was available, the opportunity cost is the benefits we could have received by taking that option. In the current world, there are lots of investment opportunities. Some of them may be risky while the others might be risk free. For example, consider a person invest his entire extra money in a savings bank account which provides him an annual interest of below 3%. On the other hand, if that person invests his money in fixed deposits, he can earn more than 8% interest. Here the person losing 5% (8 - 3 = 5) and his opportunity costs are 5% In the initial example of the salon owners who offer free lunch, they are not losing any money since they are accommodating the charges of the meals in the charge of the drink. But at the same time they were able to attract more customers because of this business strategy. In other worlds, the salon owners were able to make more profit by selecting an alternate option for selling their drinks. It should be remembered that if the salon owners do not offer any free lunch and function like other shop owners, their sales might be the same as that of the others. But by selecting an alternate option without sacrificing anything, they were able to increase their profit. "Any decision that involves a choice between two or more options has an opportunity cost" (Joanne, 2008)' Characteristics of Opportunity cost Thus the opportunity cost is not restricted to financial costs alone. The real cost of output forgone, lost time, or any other benefit that provides utility should also be considered as opportunity costs. Consider a person with $ 100 in his hand. He can purchase some shirts or some books or even he can invest it in shares or fixed deposits. If he purchases shirts or books for the money he has, the value of the goods may decrease as time passes and he loses his money as opportunity cost. At the same time if he invests the money in term deposits, he may get more money as time passes. In other words the same money yields negative opportunity cost in the first instance whereas it yields positive opportunity cost in the second instance. Opportunity cost is a key concept in economics because of its worth and value in taking decisions. It is capable of describing the economic terms like scarcity and choice and moreover it can establish the relationship between the

Euthanasia, is it murder or mercy Research Paper

Euthanasia, is it murder or mercy - Research Paper Example Finally, I have evaluated the one of the case studies according to the ethics theories of Immanuel Kant and Utilitarianism. I chose this topic because my grandmother in Ukraine suffered from bad health and was hospitalized for eight years before she died naturally. I saw how painful it was for her to live and for my father and his sister to took care of her alone at home. Being a Christian Catholick, I was against euthanasia before i did this research. This research taught me that euthanasia is often mercy rather than murder since it saves the patient agony and the relatives their time, energy and money. The other day, I was interviewing one of my class fellows’ parents. I had heard from my class fellow, Bob, that he had lately lost a younger sister, Maria, after she was badly injured in a car accident. I approached her parents for the interview. They said that as soon as Maria was driven over by the car, she was bleeding heavily. She was immediately hospitalized. Although the operation had been performed, there was little hope that she would survive. Maria was apparently in comma, but the doctors expressed no hope for her survival even if she temporarily recovered from the comma. Three weeks had passed since the accident. Maria’s family kept visiting her regularly. ... However, they decided not to donate. A day after that, Maria died. Overwhelmed with the grief of losing their daughter, Maria’s parents asked the doctor if her organs would still be needed, but the doctors expressed that her organs were dead and were no more useful for Gene. Besides, the law forbade them to retrieve organs from a dead body. The news that Gene had first lost her vision and then died of the kidney malfunction only added to their grief. They felt like they had not lost one daughter, but two! The parents were in shock. I also observed my two friends who work as nurses in the Brooklyn hospitals Coney Island and Maimonides. When I asked their opinion about euthanasia, both of them spoke in its favor. They said they worked with terminally ill people on a daily basis. Their condition is miserable. There are a lot of patients that have been hospitalized for years and years. In the start, their children used to come to see them, but many of them have been abandoned with the passage of time. The quality of medical care, the environment and the room that a patient receives accords with the fee that the patients’ relatives pay. Thus, many patients have been hospitalized by their children in the cheapest rooms available in an attempt to minimize the hospital expenses. The nurses also told me that in some cases, they were left with no option but to transfer the patients to the old house for the children broke all contact with the doctors and never showed up again. I also personally went to the hospitals and talked to some terminally ill patients. The dryness of their speech and look reflected their intrinsic desire for death. Two patients burst into tears as soon as I started to speak to them. I saw numerous patients in comma that had

What is the Buddhist Critique of the Christian understanding of God Term Paper

What is the Buddhist Critique of the Christian understanding of God - Term Paper Example Whatever the case, misconception of religious aspects have elicited debates which tend to prove or disapprove practices that do not conform to the perceived beliefs. The concern is not to discredit the practices observed, but to contend to factors that led to such practices. Recent development in the religious circle indicates a practice, which does not seek to find the truth, but creates competition among the religionists. The suspicions that a given group of religionist directs towards others does not portray the intention of religion in humanity. The aim of this paper is critique Buddhist understanding of the God served by Christians. Christian Understanding Christianity is a religion that traces its foundation from the teaching, death and life of Jesus Christ. The focus on Jesus Christ by Christians point to the God they serve. History of Christianity points various incidents when God revealed Himself to men. Understanding the concept of Christian faith necessitate the understand ing of nature of God they serve. Christians profess to serve a God who is monotheist and posses qualities such as ever presence, exercises control over nature and has the ability of redeeming humankind from its predicament.Human beings feel that it is wrong to commit ill against a fellow human being. Religionists contend that perception professed in religious faiths tend to promote harmony in humanity. Pointing at the Christian understanding, human beings co exists as a family whose head is God. The teaching of Christianity project evil deeds as influences, which distract the moral will of God. Humankind has thus been lost because of the practices, which they do. The road to redemption from this lose is through Jesus Christ. Redemption from the evils in the concept of Christian understanding is to focus on Jesus Christ whose misery in death and resurrection redeemed humankind from all sin3. The concept of Christian faith has the following elements punishment for sins, redemption, fo rgiveness and new birth. Christians’ belief observes sin as a factor that separate human beings from divinity of God. God is a divine creature above other creatures. The explanation of Gods existence transcends thought which argue on His visibility. Redemption is relevant to Christians because of the separation created by sin4. The point in the Christian tradition is to serve a God that redeems humankind from the ills of sin. Forgiveness element bring a Christian back to the fold of God since the stain of sin would no longer influence relationship between human beings and God. Forgiveness of sin can only happen when a person believe in the teaching of Jesus and profess the same faith to others. Not until then, human beings have no power over sin. The concept of new birth differentiates a Christian from other human beings who do not profess the same faith. The nature of God that Christians serve is unique in the sense that God respect life, project love, natural order, and har mony. These aspects influence Christians to develop attitudes, which promote the teachings of Jesus Christ. Respect for human life eliminates all manner of evils that a person would be intending to do to the other fellow. Christian doctrines define life and penalty of sin as death with a meaning that the whole idea behind Christianity is life5. Human life is precious or valuable above all other things. The giver of life is thus creature above ot