Exploring the Role of Ecolodges on the Culture Domain

The growing desire of tourists to gain authentic cultural experiences has created unique opportunities for the tourism industry and in particular ecotourism. The growth of ecotourism has brought challenges to the local communities and destination management organizations. Thus, securing the interests of stakeholders and managing cultural impacts has become an inevitable necessity for the preservation and development of cultural assets and manifestations. This study aims to investigate the role and effects of ecolodges in regenerating culture, using the thematic analysis method. Purposeful snowball sampling procedure was used to find out and explore the experts’ opinions. Data were collected through interviews and continued until saturation and coding reliability. Finally, the pattern of the effect of ecolodges is recognized from the cultural aspect. Findings showed that the effectiveness of ecolodges begins with the promotion and preserving of the culture of host communities and through certain steps, leads to the destination sustainability. Ecolodges have positive cultural impacts on the host community and guests due to adopting a cultural approach in planning and management of tourism activities, and negative impacts of ecotourism. Therefore, the management of this socio-economic institution needs a deep understanding of indigenous culture and a master plan. Also, the ecolodges have a significant difference with other tourist accommodation facilities, because they manage impacts on the indigenous communities and destinations. Therefore, their quantitative development require the observance of the principles of ecotourism, strict and comprehensive supervision by the government, associations, and ecolodge founders.