Special Issue Volume 32 No.4 - December 2007
ISSN 0168-2601
OPEN HOUSE INTERNATIONAL OHI
Academic Blind Refereed Journal
Ecolodges and Eco-Tourism:
Sustainable Planning and Design for Environmentally Friendly Tourist Facilities
Guest Editor:
Ashraf M. Salama
OHI Website http://www.openhouse-int.com/
Adrere Amellal Resort, Siwa, Egypt
Photo: Ragaei S. Abdelfattah (2000)
Excerpts from the editorial by Ashraf Salama
Whatever the Name is, the Concern is for People and Environments
Increasingly, people are abandoning traditional vacation for a new type of tourism that gives them the sense of nature. Trekking in mountains, bird watching, archaeological digs, desert and photo safaris, scuba diving are some new types of vacation that attract tourists to travel to relatively remote and unspoiled areas. This type of travel is referred to as nature-based travel, ecotourism, or environmentally sustainable tourism. These terms are used interchangeably to reflect the latest trend in travel industry, a newly emerged type of tourism that combines preserving natural environments and sustaining the well being of human cultures that inhabit those environments. The generic concept of environmentally sustainable tourism has emerged in parallel to the realization of the potential benefits in combining people interest in nature with their concern for the environment. It is a responsible way of travel; an alternative to traditional travel, but it is not for everyone. It appeals to people who love nature and indigenous cultures. It allows those people to enjoy an attraction or a locality and ensures that local cultures and environments are unimpaired. As environmentally sustainable tourism industry expands world-wide, well planned, ecologically sensitive facilities are in high demand that can be met with ecolodges: small scale facilities that provide tourists with the opportunity of being in close contact with nature and local culture.
In response to this theme, research papers in this issue of Open House International explore sustainable planning and design for tourism by debating, analyzing, and visioning a wide spectrum of issues, with a focus on the developments taking place in biologically sensitive areas, whether desert, forest, tropical coasts, or rural environments. Interestingly, they cover the planet earth from Australia through the Arab World and Turkey to Argentina and Chile. An important shared aspect in these papers is that emphasis is placed upon integrating people, nature, and local economy into responsive development processes while offering lessons on how such an integration may take place.
CONTENTS:
Editorial: Ashraf M. Salama
Whatever the Name is, the Concern is for People and Environments
Ahmet Eyüce
Learning from the Vernacular: Sustainable Planning and Design
Zbigniew Bromberek
Eco-resorts in Tropical Coasts: Design and Comfort
Rodrigo García Alvarado, Maureen Trebilcock, and Hernán Ascui
Experiencing the Flows of Nature
Ceridwen Owen
Regenerative Tourism: A Case Study of the Resort Town Yulara, Australia
Ashraf M. Salama
A Charette Process for Designing an Eco-lodge in Al Qula'an, Red Sea, Egypt
Aziza Chaouni
Desert Eco-tourism: Investigating Eco-lodges in the Sahara
Yasser Mahgoub
Towards Sustainable Desert Eco-Tourism in Kuwait: Learning from the Regional Experience
Luciana Repiso, Natalia Ravegnini, and Emma Puch Sleive
Sustainable Design in Heritage Sites: An Archaeological Park in Argentina
Sedef Altun, Gülin Beyhan, and Recep Esengil
Sustainable Rural Tourism in Akseki Sarihacilar Village, Turkey.
Ozlem Olgac Turker and Ozgur Dincyurek
Sustainable Tourism as an Alternative to Mass Tourism Developments of Bafra, North Cyprus
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