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Tourism is one of the most rapidly developing industries world-wide and offers a clear illustration of why the integration of the environment and development makes sense. However, it exerts dramatic pressures on natural and cultural resources and therefore needs to be managed in a way that can substantially relieve some of these pressures.

Bio-tourism, as promoted by B.I.O. since 1985, encourages environmental and cultural appreciation in tourism, as well as an international exchange of experiences on the basis of environmental preservation. It focuses on informed travel choices and supports local economies. In bio-tourism, travellers come into intimate contact with the environment and culture of the area being visited in a manner that is not destructive, but constructive. Cultural diversity, tradition, history and local tradition are the cornerstones of bio-tourism. As environmental solutions are long-term goals, travellers are also encouraged to fully claim their role in preserving the natural and cultural assets of their destinations for the future welfare and shared prosperity of the region and the world.

For B.I.O., bio-tourism is not just a conventional travel plan. It is a way for all peoples of the world to explore humanity’s natural and cultural heritage, and to achieve cooperation and mutual understanding. For her pioneering contribution to the promotion of tourism as a vehicle for peace, the B.I.O. President received the “Peace through Tourism Award” by the World Association of Travel Agencies (WATA) in 1998. A comprehensive volume on “Bio-Tourism” is published in Bio-Syllabus for European Environmental Education, an 880-page textbook available in print and electronically (CD-Rom). Based on this pioneering material is B.I.O.’s e-learning course on “Environmental Tourism,” which will soon be available online as part of our e-learning programme in environmental education.

MICROTOURISM I started off on a lengthy journey and found myself in the cell's stat I was afraid lest I feel desperate but instead I was startled with joy What an incredible world is working day and night with so many machines in such harmony that cannot even be found in the most lavishly decorated churches To pass through the gate I had to go through a terrible control guards, lipids, proteins, receptors all of them check whether you will pass the entrance As soon as you enter the State of the select you will face thousands of machines each one working separately but in a magic way

all of them contribute to the effort which coordinates this world Even the most trivial electrons know when to pass through the membranes they get energy from sugar within the mitochondria and thus, all the parts can move Even if the code is hidden in the dark abyss of the nucleus again wisely the secrets pass to the cytoplasm by a mysterious trail They carry a code secretly copied in letters reaching the endoplasmic reticulum network and follow the pathway to the home dressed in red colours and magically we call it ribosomes

Quickly the code's tangled words are assembled in order with secrets they untangle they synthesise the proteins for life Workers come and go the hormones in the nucleus, the cytoplasm, the golgi, and everywhere as though they are asking from all the other parts to obey only them But here there is harmony and very deep mystery nature decorated with a magic crown knits happily a web which knows billions of aims every minute and to compose the cell's most melodic tune A. Vlavianos-Arvanitis, 1982 (Collection of Poems Roots)