Many people are curious about what is meant by the word “ecolodge”. The word came into being in the 1990’s and was coined to describe a type of lodge that was distinguished from others by the way it was either constructed or operated, or both. Since then there have been many different notions and strongly defended opinions of what constitutes the right to use the “eco” word.

The ecotourism concept is to operate the enterprise of tourism so that a fair share of the monetary benefits stick in the local host community while reducing the environmental impact and providing the visitor with an enhanced nature based experience. Ecotourism is strongly linked to conservation and interpretation of the natural world, so it is distinguished from the more general concept of sustainable tourism.

Many countries and regions have embarked on creating certifiable green or sustainable tourism standards, but only recently has there been any collective agreement on an international basis. This certification standard has been applied generally to all accommodation facilities in order to raise the level of environmental and social responsibility and so there is still a gap in defining and classifying an eco-lodge as opposed to simply a “green hotel”.  I have set out our criteria and have also categorized and described different types of ecolodges.