Founded by Dr. Nicolas Hetzer in 1956, and officially incorporated in the State of California in 1965, our special emphasis is on environmental integrity, social responsibility, human health and fitness in their widest sense, and the synergy among them.

We feel that:

TOURISM SHOULD provide a unique, fascinating, intensely personal yet shareable experience of the natural, cultural, and ethnic treasures that exist in our world and that make it such a wonderful place. Travel should be transforming, enriching, rejuvenating, and fulfilling. Travel is not a luxury any more but a healthy and rewarding necessity in our fast-changing "global village."

TOURISM IS an integral part of the total net of interrelations of social, economic, environmental, cultural, physical, and spiritual factors that make up our world "ecosystem." Tourism entails not only rewards but also obligations towards our environment, other people and cultures, and even towards ourselves.

TOURISM MUST be respectful and responsible.

In 1965 we coined the word "ecotourism," ‘wrote the book’ (so to speak), and posited the Four Pillars of Ecotourism:

1. minimum environment impact
2. minimum impact on -- and maximum respect for -- host cultures
3. maximum economic benefits to host country "grass roots"
4. maximum re-creational satisfaction to participating tourists: come back a new person!

For a complete overview of the original concept, check out the original article that started it all.