This is a commonly accepted definition, and the one used by The Ecotourism Society. Ecotourism holds that the integrity of the host country should never be sacrificed for the sake of any development and that the local economy should be the primary beneficiary of tourism.
Boat trips on the river offer viewing of manatee, jaguars, tapirs and a vast array of sea birds.
One clear example of ecotourist dollars influencing government policy is the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve in the Amazonian rainforest. The original boundaries of this park were violated in the early 1980s by Ecuador's growing oil industry. The local citizens and tour operators objected to this destruction and pressured the government to stop the drilling. In response to these concerns, the government changed the borders of the park, excluding the land that was being developed by oil companies and replacing it with a much larger area of pristine rainforest. In this exchange, the size of the reserve increased from 635,000 acres to 1,507,500 acres and the government vowed that the park will never be developed.