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Welcome to ESOK

The Ecotourism Society of Kenya (ESOK) was founded in 1996 to provide a unique forum where members would comprehend the concept of ecotourism and use this knowledge to improve performance in line with the principles of ecotourism. In particular, it was envisaged that ESOK would provide leadership in development of standards for best practice tourism, especially ecotourism, and ensure that equity is achieved among all stakeholders. Founded on strong principles and with enormous industry support, ESOK was thus charged with a dual role of providing the required support for the development of ecotourism and promoting sustainable tourism practices.

Our Aim
Promote tourism practices that will conserve Kenya’s natural environment and improve livelihoods of associated communities

Our vision
To provide leadership in knowledge of ecotourism in Kenya

Our mission
To bring together tourism, conservation and communities in order to achieve equity in distribution of resources

PRESS RELEASE: 2005 NATIONAL ECOTOURISM CONFERENCE

14th November 2005

At a just concluded National Ecotourism Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, it was unanimously agreed that ecotourism in Kenya was on track compared to competing destinations. The conference learnt that Kenya was in its third phase in ecotourism development, where community involvement was the main focus. While acknowledging threats associated with ecotourism, it was the general view of participants that ecotourism is the way forward for Kenya’s tourism.

On the age-old debate of what differentiates ecotourism from conventional tourism, the conference noted that whereas there are variations in the definition of ecotourism, the essence of ecotourism is good business with social, cultural and ecological responsibility operating in an ethical environment where legislative framework is a necessary but not sufficient requirement. This conceptualisation of ecotourism elevates it to more than just an activity- it is a tradition.

It was reiterated that the ESOK Eco-rating scheme, Kenya’s pioneering voluntary certification scheme, was the way forward in branding ecotourism as a distinct product. Apart from branding, the scheme also helps ecotourism practitioners to continuously improve their standards towards best practices. This is because unlike similar schemes that award labels based on process and intention, the ESOK scheme is performance based. The participants were optimistic that scheme would will help to address the problem of “white-washing” where conventional tourism uses ecotourism in its promotion material without regard to ecotourism principles. There was concern that this can damage the image of a destination.

The conference also concurred that Kenya has some of ‘best practices’ in environmental conservation, product innovation and community participation. Notable among the ‘best practices’ include; contribution by tourism businesses to conservation of species and ecosystems and widespread use of sustainable technologies like solar power, wind energy and dry toilets to reduce environmental impacts. Others are the introduction of a new brand of activities for the ecotourist as an alternative to the mini-bus-game-viewing image, emphasis on quality interpretation through training, certification and employment of local guides, and the preference of community/private partnerships to empower communities to benefit from tourism.

In concluding, the more than 100 ecotourism stakeholders from Kenya and beyond reaffirmed that ecotourism gives guarantee to visitors seeking a close encounter with nature that they can do so without impacting negatively on the environment and local communities. This guarantee came with additional costs to ecotourism practitioners. Tour operators and marketing agencies were challenged to find means of transforming the costs of “best practices” to value products and package them to give Kenya an edge over its competitors in the global tourism market.

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