**3. Ecotourism sustainability**

Natural habitats are naturally occurring places of value that should remain unchanged due to people's activities. These include mountains, plains, valleys, forests, lakes, rivers, seas, and natural monuments, and the geological conditions of each habitat vary with climate and landscape. These habitats are covered with natural assets. The number and diversity of such natural assets within a country are the major factors contributing toward attracting tourists to that country. Therefore, the natural environment and assets, a continuous flow of travelers to these destinations, and raw materials are indispensable factors for the tourism industry. However, without assessment, these natural assets provide no economic benefit. In order to learn about the natural environment and the local people's lives, tours are carried out in these natural areas, either for individual tourists or for small groups [1, 9, 13, 14, 20].

The principle of sustaining the natural environment, however, refers to protecting the natural environment from degradation during these tours. This kind of tour involves implementation of certain plans and programs within the framework of the chosen route, following predeter‐ mined rules, and involving trained experts serving as guides [21, 22].

Ecotourism also requires that the overall tourism policies, regulations, and plans are available. However, in order to avoid repeating the mistakes of mass tourism, a number of goals must be established. These goals include the protection of the natural and cultural heritage of the site and improvement of local people's living standards. Furthermore, when promoting ecotourism, the natural, cultural, and recognized local characteristics should be promoted, protected, and adopted to help guarantee sustainability in the long term. The methods and techniques of disseminating tourism information should generate greater credibility and carry the certification of quality systems in order to generate greater competitive significance. Additionally, the involvement of society, politicians, as well as institutions and organizations in ecotourism will all be very beneficial in terms of ensuring sustainability in tourism. A prerequisite to ecotourism development is that the natural areas should be protected and that the tourism should contribute to the sustainable development of the society. The specific policies and strategies surrounding ecotourism should be developed at the national and regional level, and an absolute determination of specific policies and strategies should be discussed within the applicable local area [22–24].

To be considered an ecotourism activity, an event must involve the development of environ‐ mental ethics, protection of leisure areas, and use of balance regarding which area is open to tourism, taking into account the maximum capacity of an area, in order to prevent erosion or damage by consumers. The main goals of ecotourism are to provide tourists with a look into the culture and natural resources, and as ecotourism is about people participating in nature and cultural environment, such tourists would not want to be responsible for damaging or destruction of the site. Displaying the natural environment in an ecological and culturally sustainable way and educating the tourists at the same time are the cornerstones of ecotourism that provide economic benefits at the local level. National parks and protected areas are the main sources of ecotourism. Ecotourism can have important consequences on rural develop‐ ment through the effective management and understanding of sustainable tourism promotion. Various policies must be created that result in sustainable tourism, the specifics of which will depend on the nature of tourist accommodations. These policies might involve the meals at ecotourism facilities, transportation that generates the least amount of pollution, especially noise and air pollution, in the environment. Building materials, furniture, and decoration should be in accordance with local regulations and should utilize such types of energy that create less pollution. Ecotourism should promote creation of sustainable job opportunities for the local population, which should include a large part of the indigenous people's income, and the purpose of protecting the environment should be explained to the tourists. To participate in all ecotourism potential stages of the local community, ecotourism activities should provide planning, monitoring, management, and supervision in making the ecotourism potential areas. These areas to be managed in accordance with ecotourism principles are also valid for sustainable ecotourism in the country [1, 13, 20–24].
