If you are planning a hiking holiday which will contain some or all of the following elements which will focus on local cultures, wilderness adventures, volunteering, personal growth or learning new ways to live on our vulnerable planet, then hiking holidays in National Parks can be classed as ecotourism friendly.

Most hiking holidays in National Parks will fall into the wilderness adventure category, but others like personal development and appreciation of the wider environment are more difficult to include when you are simply talking to a travel agent about hiking tours and hiking holidays to, for example, the Yellowstone National Park.

It would be a more worthwhile ecotourism related hiking holidays in National Parks, if some contact with the local population were made and an effort made on your part for example, to record the ecotourism impact on the development of local cultures. The easy answer is that your incoming "dollar" is having a beneficial (or detrimental) impact on the growth of the local economy. But is it having a beneficial impact on the people who live there ? There are many ways to include this in your hiking holiday and make it more ecotourism friendly - (see recording local cultures).

Other things you could do for example, are to use the hiking holidays in National Parks holiday experiences and record all your sights and findings for submission to some educational, training or self development programme. Visit your local training College and discuss the possibilites with them as soon as possible.

Whatever you decide, when talking to your travel agent, please ask them to consider including some or all of these ecotourism options into your hiking holiday wherever possible - if they say no, use another travel agent !

Take nothing but photographs, kill nothing but time and leave nothing but footprints

hiking holidays in National Parks hiking tours

Enjoy your hiking, trekking and walking holidays in New England, Scotland, Andalucia, Dolomites and in Cornwall.

Some other excellent online sources of information

Worldwide National Parks - mainly US National Parks

National Parks in England and Wales

Hiking and walks in USA Hiking in Glacier National Park, Montana Hiking in the Grand Canyon Arizona

Hiking safety tips incuding Introduction, Boots and Socks, Bugs, Clothing & Keeping Dry, Day Packs and What to Put in Them, Medical Emergencies, Warm Weather Walking and Winter Walking

hiking holidays in National Parks

Hiking holidays in National Parks