Clear up the Mist : Contested Ecotourism Discourses in Protected Areas in China

This paper discusses ecotourism discourses and realities in China. As ecotourism is always related with protected areas (PAs) in China, this paper will focus on the relationship between ecotourism and PAs. Although Government at various levels dictates the course of development of PAs, NGOs are another active force in PAs. Both Government and NGOs advocate ecotourism in PAs because ecotourism is a highly exemplary form of sustainable development. However, the implementation of ecotourism has displayed an unsatisfactory picture in China in PAs. Widespread environmental destruction is frequent. Through a comparative study of the ecotourism discourses, respectively that of the NGOs active in China and that of the Chinese government, using interview materials, internet news and various reports, this paper finds a highly contested ecotourism discourse in China’s Pa, in which NGOs advocate small scale ecotourism along the line of international conservation, whereas the Chinese central government promotes mass ecotourism with the prime purpose of pursuing economic development; in addition, contradictions appear between central government and local government in that central government still recognizes the importance of environmental conservation, which is explicitly left out in local government. The case of Wanglang will illustrate the competition between contested discourses on ecotourism. Ecotourism still faces tough times ahead, because of the highly contested discourse on ecotourism, and, in the absence of compromises between the interests from all concerned parties, a confused and unsatisfactory picture of ecotourism picture will continue to prevail.