Nature tourism: The great outdoors is the next industry to be disrupted

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  Quantumrun Foresight
• February 17, 2022

It used to be that if you wanted to visit a wilderness area to enjoy the spectacle of nature, you’d head for a national park open to the public and run by a land management agency: This is changing. Public land is shrinking and private companies are finding new ways to give the public access to the great outdoors.

Nature tourism context

Nature tourism is very popular and demand keeps on growing. Eco and nature tourism focus on the preservation of natural areas and respect for local communities, with visitors realizing that it’s important to leave destinations they visit unharmed. Nature and ecotourism include adventure tourism as well as cultural and historical experiences.

One of the latest trends is dark sky tourism to remote areas, which offer a view of the night sky away from city lights. Another popular trend is wilderness tourism, which gives visitors access to virgin land.

Disruptive impact 

While the hunger for nature travel is increasing, the areas where people can go to indulge in nature are decreasing. State-owned land is shrinking globally, with fewer opportunities for the public to access them.

Some companies are creating Airbnb-style platforms that rent access to wilderness areas on private properties. Some of them also rent camping sites on public land. Others help consumers find privately owned land for hunting, and Airbnb now lets you sign up for experiences like guided hikes, stargazing, and wildlife encounters on private land.

The question inevitably arises where the privatization of nature will lead to. Will nature become an exclusive commodity only the wealthy can afford? Will public spaces disappear completely as governments cut costs and focus on other priorities?

Most importantly, doesn’t the earth belong to all of us? Should we be paying private landowners for the privilege of enjoying what is ours? Or will nature be better off managed by people and companies with an economic incentive to preserve nature?

Applications for nature tourism

The privatization of nature could:

• Provide private landowners with a new source of income and increase the wealth gap, with well-off landowners adding to their wealth through nature activities on their properties.
• Lead to bigger expanses of land that’s protected.
• Make more nature areas accessible to the public.
• Help protect biodiversity if handled responsibly.

Questions to comment on

• Who should we trust to look after our public spaces? Government institutions or private landowners?
• Can private land be a substitute for public land?