Local communities and ecotourism: Empowerment or disempowerment?

Ecotourism has been touted as a way to limit the destruction of natural habitats caused by mass tourism, while supplementing income of local communities in developing nations. While good in theory, how successful has ecotourism been at empowering the people who live in the beautiful places ecotourists want to visit? In this podcast, Cindy Pan, Melissa Baldino, and Virginia Pan investigate the impacts of ecotourism initiatives on local communities, with the help of Duke University Marine Lab assistant professor Dr. David Gill.