The case studies showcased in this book illustrate that the term ecotourism is applied across a range of activities on different scales. In Korzok, Ladakh, local communities themselves have felt the need to be involved in tourism related activities and desired to have a stake in this enterprise by operating homestays. At the other end of the country, in Coorg, there are homestays being promoted by coffee plantation owners who also provide a local flavour but are very different from those in rural settings. Homestays, in general are initiated and managed by the local community and the benefits go directly to them. There is a strong link to nature in these initiatives since they are by and large, set in wild or natural surroundings. Homestays cater to a range of tourists starting from the low budget tourists to IT professionals from Bangalore who want to spend a weekend on a Coorg coffee plantation.

There are other initiatives like those in Dzongu and Pastanga regions of Sikkim where local communities and NGOs have together developed ecotourism activities ranging from trekking to nature walks. Local communities in the Nanda Devi Biosphere have, through appropriate interventions over a period of time, come to play an important role in regulating and managing tourism in the area.

On another end of the scale is ‘high end ecotourism’, where ‘eco-friendly’ resorts are being promoted by entrepreneurs, who may or may not be local.