Conversely, some large tourism businesses offer nature tours that are highly profitable but that include little or no community partnership or conservation assistance. Consequently, very few nature tourism projects can meet all three criteria. This model illuminates not only what is ecotourism, but what could be ecotourism. It allows individual or specific projects to weigh their strengths and weaknesses. They can figure out in which areas they need assistance.
Successful ecotourism demands inter-sectoral alliances, comprehension and respect.
These three components of ecotourism are difficult to accomplish individually, let alone as a package. Moreover, they are difficult to measure or quantify. For example, the Ecotourism Society does not certify a member's compliance, nor does it endorse any member product or organization. While this ethic is admirable and the self-regulatory system boasts the best of intentions, missing are any type of audits. In each case, the first challenge has been uniting energies of the tourism and environmental departments.