When it’s summer, the tourist migration to the Mediterranean’s famed beaches is at its height. However, there’s an older guest who has lived here for the past 95 million years and needs our help: the marine turtle. Saving the marine turtle just may be one of the few things the international community can agree on these days, especially steps taken toward turtle conservation through tourism.

Barra de Potosí is a small coastal village at the mouth of a lagoon, part of a complex and interdependent system of lagoons, which runs along the coast of the Municipio de Petatlan in Mexico. The people of Barra de Potosí are now confronted by and opposing a development project that they believe will destroy the existing ecosystem. The fight is proving to be a difficult one, and the people can use all the help they can get.

That’s a hawksbill turtle. With its namesake hawk-like bill, it is considered one of the most beautiful of the five marine turtle species encountered in Brazilian waters. It is a superb animal and can live more than 60 years. Unfortunately, already critically endangered, it will one day be extinct if people continue to kill them…

Off the Caribbean coast of Venezuela lies Los Roques, a remote paradise, where stretches of picturesque beach meet a crystal-clear sea teeming with schools of colourful fish. Over the centuries, this near-utopia archipelago has seduced many tourists into full-time residence with its isolation, charm and stark beauty. It was even once described by Christopher Columbus…

In April 2001, John and Silvana Nicholls, today owners and operators of Vanuatu Hotels, arrived in Vanuatu to launch and manage a resort on the island of Tanna. They immediately declared it a bird sanctuary. They also banned coconut crab from their menu. The resort became the island’s de facto animal refuge.