The point and future of ecoenergy tourism

Dávid, Lóránt – Baros, Zoltán – Bujdosó, Zoltán

Keywords: renewable energy sources, ecoenergy tourism, environmental education, social acceptance

Investments and projects connected to renewable energy sources are becoming tourist attractions in many parts of the world, primarily attracting an expert audience. Beyond providing experts with an excellent opportunity for further education and an introduction to the latest technological innovations, site visits and tours also introduce those concerned with teaching the subject and lay people to the opportunities for using renewable energy sources.

It is important from the point of view of environmental education, to mainstream knowledge about renewable energy sources into elementary and secondary education curricula. It is also important that children graduating from these schools understand the point of these innovations and their main advantages. One day visits to these investment projects and week-long themed camps held there, can help in effective transmission of the necessary knowledge, while professional courses and further education can assist in teachers’ work.

Informing, in the broadest sense, the above-mentioned groups, lay people, communities affected by the projects and decision-makers (for example about energy efficiency, energy-saving, or the types of grants available for these kind of developments), can greatly contribute to popularising renewable energy sources and thereby to their wider utilisation

In the summative regional situation evaluations, based on the small region development documents available for the North-Alföld Region, the utilisation of renewable energy sources is shown to be in a rather unfavourable position, compared to other priorities. This situation can be improved by the integration or connection with developments in tourism, of ideas targeting the implementation of short and medium-term renewable energy investments. The establishment of ecoenergy tourism, however, requires the realisation of a number of tasks (the development of individual renewable energy sectors as target areas and pilot projects, the development of a methodology for information and education materials tailored to the requirements of the target groups, etc.).

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