August 31, 2009
Ecotourism means travelling to areas of natural beauty that preserve environment and ameliorate the life of the locals.
Moreover, ecotourism can be defined as any tourist activity that causes the least possible damage to the environment.
Based on this philosophy and with the aid of sponsorships and government subsidies in the last few years, we have witnessed the creation of numerous ecotourism guest houses in Crete and the rest of Greece; these are basically constructed following the local architecture, using local materials only, such as wood and stone. These guest houses are small accommodation facilities that employ local residents and serve meals made with local products.
Based on the above, the ecotourism guest houses, frequently referred to as traditional guest houses or traditional hotels, respect the aesthetics of the region, retain the local architectural style and give jobs to local people, both directly (as employees) or indirectly (buying products from them).
Everything sounds great so far, but there is a dark side in all this: the consequences to the pocket of the environmentally sensitive travelers, which is basically emptied in this case faster than in the regular guest houses and hotels, the ones labeled as “bad” or “environmentally indifferent”, the ones built with concrete, in modern lines, that serve jam made whoever knows where, plastic cheese and Danish butter.
I do not know how much more expensive can a building be when built with natural materials, rather than modern ones. I also do not know what the cost of traditional furniture compared to industrial one is. I assume that the cost is higher; therefore some difference in price between the traditional and conventional guest houses could be justified. But what is the real difference? And moreover, is eco-tourism about buildings or people – tourists and their behavior during their vacation time?
In Case You Missed It
In Crete it is still easy to find a simple but clean and furnished room with kitchenette, refrigerator and A/C at 30 € per night, even in July. But I will find nowhere an ecotourism or traditional guest house for less than 60€ per night.
For a vacation time of two weeks, this practically translates to 420€ in the conventional studio, and 840€ in the traditional one. My 2 weeks in a traditional guest house will cost the same amount as spending 4 weeks in a standard hotel.
Personally, during my vacation time I am mostly interested in staying in a quiet and clean place, and in having a better view than the opposite wall.
During my vacation, I want to be out of the hotel as much as possible, exploring and discovering the place I am visiting. I am also not interested in a pool, because I want to swim in the sea feeling the salt on my skin and the smell of the seaweed.
In general I am not interested in anything provided by a luxury hotel and resort, because I know that I won’t be using them almost at all. Therefore, I will choose something cheap but descent and I will save some money to spend it in all the things that will make me happy during my holidays in Crete or elsewhere.
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