Ecotourism In Phuket

[MaaSawng]

Can anyone offer up some of the best and worst ecotour providers on Phuket?

By "best" I mean those who operate their tours with as little disruption to the environment as possible, provide education about local habitat and do as much as they can to respect the culture of local communities.

By "worst" I mean those who perpetuate the surface-over-substance approach to conducting business and generally do the opposite of the "best" providers.

Also, any thoughts on ecotourism as it relates to Phuket would be greatly appreciated. Is this just another niche in the market to be exploited? Or can these operators lead by example while making a positive impact on the island?

[donna]

not sure why you are asking, but paddle asia is a great tour operator on phuket. i highly recommend them for kayaking. they are up on the 'best' category.

under worst - if you count styrene packaging of lunch boxes, leaving rubbish around, and being general cowboys, then you could pick any number of speedboat operators. not ALL of them are the same, but i have seen some dodgy ones for sure. i am not willing to name them here, however.