|
|
|||||
|
ISSN 1108-8931 |
INTERNATIONAL ECOTOURISM MONTHLY |
Year 5-Issue 58, Mar. 2004 |
|||
|
Both Sok Kwu Wan and Yung Shue Wan are famous places for seafood restaurants, and business thrive in this area as visitors come here for seafood after completed the short hike. After leaving Sok Kwu Wan visitors can see many mysterious "wind caves" that goes far beneath the hills. As the trail began to climb up one reach the community of Lo So Shing, merely a small village where elderly lives and sell drinks and snacks to hikers. It also has some old historic village houses. As the trail began to reach the top of the hill, one can see a farther view of the island and a power station that locates in the north-west of the island. For those who want a better view, pavilions are available. As the trail began to descend it reaches the community of Hung Shing Ye, which translate as "Hung the godly grandfather". There lie pristine beaches. A small organic farm is also located there, called "Herboland". Herboland was started by two farming enthusiasts. They claim to use only natural fertilizers like peanut shells and cow-bones. Around this community are snack shops and restaurants that provide local delicacies like fish-balls, soya beans milk and "To Fu Fa", a pudding make of soya beans extract. Many of these are family businesses and some of these local businesses have been here for over thirty years, providing visitors a refueling station for the hiking journey. After passing through Hung Shing Ye, the path converges into Yung Shue Wan, after passing through two major roads in the island. These two roads are the only roads in Lamma Island that allow auto-transports. Both of these roads link the power station to the fuel port and are used only for fuel vehicles. In other words, Lamma Island basically traffic free for its local residents and the visitors. Finally the hiking trail arrives at Yung Shue Wan, the largest community in Lamma Island. Visitors may again treat themselves a seafood meal before heading for the pier for the ferry back to Central. About
the Author:
The following guidelines were provided by Ms Hilary Kuhn in response to an Expert Enquiry on how to go about planning an Ecotourism Venture: 1. Conduct a natural and cultural resource inventory where you outline all the natural and cultural attractions on a map preferably with qualifications of the features in attached text. 2. If it is a community based development, you need to ask the community in workshops, through surveys (for the record): - if they want to do tourism development, 3. Then you need to ascertain the skills and possible training required in the community for tourism through a simple survey asking if they have worked in tourism before, where, how, what skills etc. Keep in mind that there is a spectrum of tourism jobs: from the artist who creates products for sale but who never has contact with tourists to tour guides and staff in accommodation with regular and direct contact with tourists. (This may reduce your capital requirements if you have local residents with the necessary skills, particularly management, instead of importing personnel.) 4. Conduct market research from existing data (secondary sources)
on: 5. Then start to create a site plan based on the collection of the above data and in terms of the requirements of your target market. This is your creation (with your community) and I cannot tell you how to do it. It will evolve from the collection of above data and the consultation with other community members and existing Ecotourism/Tourism operators. However if you design and plan your Ecotourism to be sustainable operations within the limits of acceptable change to the environment and using local resources building materials, local skilled personnel etc.), then you may require less capital for the project. 6. Then you need to cost all the components of your Ecotourism
Plan: 7. From the above costs, you will develop: Then you need to commence operations. Please keep in mind that it is very important to develop a promotions and marketing strategy. For instance, if you are dealing with airlines, bus companies and other tour operators, they need to have information on your Ecotourism to include in their promotions at least a year in advance as they have to go to travel shows and publish brochures etc. You will need to find out what the commission structure is for Booking Agents/Travel Agents in Fiji and if you have dealings with packaged tour operators, you will need to understand how to construct a net charges per visitor for your Ecotourism (that is, total charge less commissions). About
the Author:
There it takes place an indiscriminate hunting of animals in order to have these living beings as pets, eat their flesh or sell their skin. The white-faced monkey (Cebus capucinus), the jaguar (Panthera onca) and the collared peccary (Tayassu tajacu) are some of the victims that suffered a big reduction of their natural populations due to hunting. According to the Costa Rican biologist Eduardo Carrillo (in an interview published in newspaper La Nación in March 14, 2004), there are only 30 jaguars (10 years ago there were 150 individuals) and 300 peccaries (a decade ago they were 2000) in the park. On the other hand, plants are also not safe from this barbarity: usually you can see of trucks transporting huge cuts of trees coming out from a supposedly protected area. A lot of ecotourists have come out of the park feeling impotent towards this grotesque show. Costa Rican government promotes the country as an ecological destiny, but it makes little to honor that image. The Ministry of Energy and Environment knows about the situation in Corcovado, but it has few funds for hiring more guard parks. The huge park only has about 25 employees and less than $25000 per year for covering operative expenses (a ridicule quantity for preserving so many acres of forest). A lot of hunters (with guns in hand and radio equipment) enter the park and search for peccaries. The meat of these mammals is sold in bars or taverns of near towns. In consequence, the jaguars have less food and have to hunt domestic animals; rural habitants shoot the felines because they fear them. Even though, not everything is lost. Several habitants of the area have made alliances in order to pay the salary of some guard parks and for patrolling the area. This is the kind of initiatives needed to protect a natural treasure that is more worthy than all the gold existing in the world. About
the Author:
The following guidelines were provided by Mr Douglas Trent in response to an Expert Enquiry on how to go about implementing a sustainable community tourism development project: There are few good examples of community-based ecotourism worldwide…no wonder you are having a hard time finding examples. There are many things to consider should your work be successful. I can provide a short outline, but you will need on-the-ground consulting and development help unless you already have the team and experience. This will be a complicated, multi-faceted program, if it is to be successful in both helping the local people, preserving the environment, and having a financially viable community-based ecotourism business. Here is a rough outline of what you need to do, without going into detail. If any item does not work, the following will not lead to success:
Several steps have been left out here, and each of these has many details that must be followed. You need to keep in mind that what will make this successful is profits – it is a business. Existing city based tour companies are more your competition, and client, than partner. They will perceive the community-based ecotourism program as competition, so you do not want them influencing its development. The business should have a plan where each person that works in it earns a fair salary, but the profits go to the community and a conservation partner. You will still need community development programs, so that all in the community will see that the ecotourism is helping them, thus getting allies in biodiversity preservation. Increasingly, ecotourism funders want to see that their projects succeed, and are in fact more that just tour companies. There are far too many examples where projects failed do to a lack of professional planning and assistance. About
the Author:
|
|||||
|
The opinions expressed in each article belong to their respective authors and are not necessarily those of ECOCLUB S.A. |
|||||
|
Home|Ecolodges|Experts|News|Shop|Community|Chat|Library|Events|Advertise|Join|Recommend |
|||||
|
Copyright © 1999-2004 ECOCLUB S.A. All Rights Reserved. |
|||||
ECO
FOCUS
Many scientists consider that Corcovado
National Park in southeast
Costa Rica is one of the places with more biodiversity in the whole
planet. There live more than 140 species of mammals, 350 of birds and
6000 of insects, plus an exuberant variety of plants. When you hear
this, probably you would imagine a paradise that welcomes hundreds of
ecotourists and which is protected like a big treasure. But the crude
reality is other.