Abstract:

This article is devoted to the formation of a new view of ecological tourism as a rapidly developing area of tourist activity in the world. The subject of the study were the processes of ecologizing sustainable development of tourism. The methodological basis of the research was the principles of sustainable tourism development, as well as methods of analytical and comparative analysis, expert evaluation. The authors showed that the current understanding of ecological tourism, built on the principles of sustainable development, does not fully reflect the current trends in the development of nature and society. Based on the presented result of the analysis of the genesis of the formation and development of ecological tourism, factors and specific criteria for this type of tourism were identified. Considered the growing motives of the preferences of modern ecotourists. The notion of «ecological tourism» is clarified, the distinctive feature of which, unlike existing ones, is the use of categories of value and attractiveness from the position of the ecological paradigm. The practical significance of the results obtained is the objective necessity of forming new approaches to the development of tourist ecological routes.