Shared Ownership

An element of ecotourism and sustainable tourism which is often neglected is the ownership and profits generated from eco and ethical accommodation.  One of the main elements of ethical tourism is concept of the improvement and development of the local economy in a way which is beneficial and non-exploitative as a result of tourism.  There are a growing number of eco accommodation providers, but of that number the 

This comes to a wider view of free market capitalism, it is not that most .  But one of the more or less accepted facts of capitalism is that the person or people who either finance of raise the finance for even the idea of of sharing profits with employees is usually reserved for senior management and is rarely rolled out to all members of staff.  In the case of co-operatives, all profits are shared between the employees and there are no share holders outside of the organisation.  

In terms of marketability, shared ownership or sole ownership by a local community is strong selling point for any responsible tourism destination.  A good example of an eco lodge which helping to add to its overall appeal to guests is Sani Lodge in Ecuador which is owned and operated by the local Sani Community.  What is more common among eco lodges is the shared ownership, or a degree of profit share with the local community.  This is often the case as the finance and in some cases the know-how to set up and run an eco lodge is not accessible by the local community.  Although this is also changing as the phenomenon of microfinance is spreading through out the developing world, this is beginning to change.  

In relation to eco hotels in the developed world the concept of shared ownership does not apply.  Usually the hotels are owned either privately or by share holders and are in countries with welfare systems for the population, so the need to provide the local community with a stake in the business is rarely even a possibility and as well as that in theory at least labour laws exist to prevent exploitation of workers.  So as a result most progressive eco hotels in the developed world use their Corporate Social Responsibility projects prove their ethical dimension as a company.