Eco-tourism fades away in Hong Kong

[dArKeR]

AFP , Hong Kong

Five years ago, nature-tour guide Martin Williams would witness hundreds of foreign visitors taking organized tours around Hong Kong's little-known ancient villages and hidden natural gems.

These days, however, the tours take just a handful of people.

"The last time I saw one of the tours, they were having trouble filling a mini-van," Williams said.

At the same time, tiny uninhabited islands -- of which Hong Kong has hundreds -- are being inundated by pleasure boats disgorging visitors onto often fragile ecosystems ill-suited to such invasions.

For Williams and Hong Kong's small band of like-minded tour operators, eco-tourism here is in a mess.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2004/06/12/2003174809