ECOCLUB.com Ecotourism News, Issue 43, December 2002

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ISSN 1108-8931

the International Ecotourism Monthly™

Year 4, Issue 43, Dec. 2002

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Special Report: Bulgarian Ecotourism Conference-Click here

"Al-Qaida has relaunched itself", this time against tourism, states security expert Peter Bergen in the Washington Post. Bergen believes tourism and economic targets are now top of al-Qaida's list as an easy and effective target. The industry in Bali, for example, accounted for 6m jobs, welcomed 1.4 million visitors a year and earned an estimated $15 bn per year. Indonesian tourism minister Gede Ardika predicts that by the first six months of 2003 there will be at least 2.7 million people unemployed all over Indonesia due to the Bali attack.

Kaus Toepfer, Director of the UN Environment Programme, addressing the Fourth International Conference of the International Alliance of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples of the Tropical Forests, said studies carried out by UNEP and its partners had found a firm link between cultural and linguistic diversity and biodiversity. "On a global level we have less than 7,000 languages and of those up to 2,500 are on the 'Red List' of endangered languages," he noted. "If you correlate this to biodiversity - the wealth of animal and plant life on the planet - you see that where you are losing cultural diversity, you are losing biodiversity, and visa versa." "Genetic resources and indigenous knowledge are too often treated as a common public good," Mr. Toepfer said. "This has to be re-considered and UNEP will do all it can in its power to see that happen." !! (source un.org) So, is UNEP advocating the privatisation of genetic resources and indigenous knowledge, or was the reporter taking a nap?

The Hawaiian Ecotourism Society organised an informational briefing for state legislators featuring Gershon Cohen, an Alaska Expert on environmental impacts from the cruise ship industry. Cohen wrote the legislation to regulate the cruise industry that passed in special session last year in Alaska. Meanwhile Kauai (Hawaii), residents and special-interest groups, as well as representatives from the other islands, are part of a $1.2 million "sustainable tourism" study that's seeking ways to balance Hawaii's culture and natural resources with the tourism industry and the dollars it generates. The state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism is coordinating the project, which includes public meetings and eventual recommendations and an economic model. A preliminary report to the Legislature is due this month. The project arose from the tourist industry's success in attracting nearly 7 million visitors to Hawaii in 2000. To find answers, DBEDT and the consultants identified three key tasks: "measure tourism's impact, analyse the consequences and develop an economic model in response to the findings". Cynics would add the fourth task, "then keep on regardless to the 10 million mark".

Agha Igrar Haroon, President of the Ecotourism Society of Pakistan, stated the following as a part of Tourism Concern's (a UK-based group that is peculiarly a fierce critic of ecotourism) Campaign, "Trekking Wrongs: Porter's Rights Campaign". Mr Haroon said: "Porters are poor people and the majority work without proper insurance and without proper clothing. They get next to nothing if they are injured or disabled while working, and they receive no proper training. Foreign tour operators can play a great role in protecting porters' rights. They should ask the ground agents about the facilities they provide to porters before giving them business, and not just give business to the cheapest ground agent. Tour operators shouldn't try and keep costs down at the expense of basic human rights." Tourism Concern announced that in a "radical move", following their campaign, 39 out of 80 UK trekking tour operators now have porter protection policies. Was it so easy then?

S. Africa's Kruger national park started removing border fences between borders of South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, formally kicking off the creation the world's largest game park, the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park (GLTP). According to a treaty, the process of managing the park will be done through a joint monitoring board and ministerial committee. Among things on the ministers' agenda, are little details such as the removal of landmines and the control of poaching. It is hoped that the park will be a model for other 21 parks planned across Africa. A trans-frontier park linking the Kalahari across the borders of South Africa and Botswana was also opened recently.

Thirty percent of the wolves and cougars on Vancouver Island, Canada could by culled by the provincial government. Environmentalists say the policy aims to maximise deer hunting opportunities for the powerful sport-hunting lobby in the Canadian province of British Columbia (BC), and comes on top of the reopening of trophy-hunting of BC’s declining bears by grizzly hunters against the advice of many bear biologists.

The Travel Industry Association of America (TIA) and the World Tourism Organization (WTO) announced a Working Agreement to promote and expand... tourism. Under the agreement, both organisations make a commitment to "share information and work more closely together in the key functional areas of research, marketing, communications and strategic planning". We irrelevantly note here for the confused reader that the World Tourism Organisation is a United Nations Body with a mandate to represent every country.

Costa Rica has launched an advertising Campaign as the "Leading country in Sustainable Tourism" (My grandmother said don't blab). The Costa Rica Tourist Board (ICT), is promoting Costa Rica's Certification for Sustainable Tourism (CST) as a brand by launching an advertising campaign that portrays Costa Rica as a country that protects its natural resources and its people. "The CST is an excellent tool to assist in the growth of the country's tourism sector and at the same time will motivate tourism and industry executives to increase their usage of environmentally safe resources, resulting in financial and environmental savings," said Ruben Pacheco, Costa Rica's Minister of Tourism. The advertising campaign includes the CST logo, an artistic rendering of half a face and half a leaf, probably with a cryptic meaning.

After more than two years of a ban on the sale of mineral water at the Base Camp on the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal, and along its route, the sale of locally filtered and boiled water has shot up. Consequence to the imposition of the ban, tourists now quench their thirst with available local water, boiled and filtered. This has become standard practice in all the shops, restaurants and hotels of the area. Whilst the number of tourists visiting the snowy valley is calculated to be about 10,000 a year, the disposed mineral water bottles and beer bottles had become almost unmanageable and in fact had proved disastrous to the environment as well.

Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL), the owners of Taj group, will be signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with CC Africa and the Chaudhary group of Nepal, for the hotel chain’s venture "into eco-tourism and wildlife resorts" in January 2003. The MoU will "cement the Taj’s intention of setting up a subsidiary and sub-brand to look into its environmental tourism venture"...The choice of the word "cement" is rather worrying.

The International Institute for Peace through Tourism chose ...Roger Moore, best known from the 007 James Bond movies, as the keynote speaker at the "The Second Global Summit on Peace through Tourism" to be held at the International Conference Center, Geneva (CICG), February 5-8, 2003. By the way, the recent 007 movie, featuring Pierce Brosnan, has already created protests from North Korea, for depicting Bond being tortured by North Koreans and from South Korea, as Bond is shown procreating in a Buddhist temple. BBC reports that advertisers have already dubbed the movie "Buy another day" as 20 brands have paid up to $ 70 million to be featured therein.

The 8th Annual Ecotourism and Adventure Tourism Conference was held November 14-16, 2002 at the Leslie M. Frost Natural Resources Centre, Dorset, Ontario, Canada. The keynote address was given by Megan Epler Wood, Director of The International Ecotourism Society, who "examined the global trends in Ecotourism and outlined some of the unique challenges Canada faces as a result of its northern location (citing that most people associate ecotourism with warmer southern climates) and competition from its well established National and Provincial Parks system" as we read in the official press release. ECOCLUB tried to obtain more information about this important Conference, but the Organisers told yours trully we had to purchase the transcripts, (probably implying we were not TIME magazine). Don't worry though, please find below a detailed report from the Sofia, Bulgaria Ecotourism Conference, prepared by our Associate, Mr. Stephen Mak who attended.

Understanding Techniques in Managing Eco-tourism Sites through Sofia's Ecotourism Conference, Oct. 2nd - 4th, 2002 -
by Stephen Mak, ECOCLUB.com Volunteer Associate

The ecotourism conference in Sofia was the first National tourism conference held in Bulgaria. The main objective of this conference was to provide a national strategy for Bulgaria's eco-tourism development, through examples from various international organisations as well as eco-tourism business from around Europe and around the world. This conference was organised by the Bulgarian government through the sponsorship from the United States Agency for International Development. (USAID). Representatives from the many international organisations such as the WTO, WTTC, the International Eco-tourism Society as well as UNESCO were re presented as well. The Ecotourism conference was divided into four themes: ecotourism planning and policy, legislation and regulation, product development, ecotourism marketing and promotion and monitoring costs and benefits of ecotourism.

Folk Dancers in Rila National Park, Bulgaria

(1) Ecotourism Planning and Policies:
Speakers talked of the importance of these four themes in ecotourism, as they all combined together to create a framework for ecotourism operation and management. Brian White, speaker for WTTC in British Columbia, Canada, mentioned a few important aspects when deciding on planning and policy issues, which include what works best for the specific national park, and whether the policies and regulations would lead to sustainable tourism. He also mentioned the problem regarding a lack of infrastructure and financial drains as foreigners own many ecotourism businesses. Most importantly, most ecotourism jobs are also extremely local and low level and there is also a threat to mass tourism. Moreover, speakers also mentioned the frequent conflicts between national policies and planning of development to that of environmental protection. There is also a lack of hard-information on ecotourism. As a result, there is a need of ecotourism professionals in order to assist with the planning and policies of ecotourism, as well as to empower the local community to participate. In order to make people participate in ecotourism, and most importantly not to disturb the culture and the natural environment, there is a need of community support, encouraging joint venture and partnership and most importantly, communication, education and awareness. Branding of ecotourism, such as that of ecological accommodation, is also important in order to create professionalism towards this business. Many speakers also mentioned auditing, licensing as well as providing liability insurance to ecotourism business is also a way to measure success in the business as well as providing a safety net as well.

(2) Ecotourism Legislation, Regulation and Institutional Frameworks:

Ecotourism was discussed in four different ways: Conservation of biodiversity in key ecosystems, environmental education of travellers and hosts, participation and benefits to local communities, as well as a focus on small and medium enterprises. Speakers mentioned the importance that ecotourism is not simply a charity but a sector that involves in large-scale policies and development. During the World Ecotourism summit in Quebec earlier this year, it was realised that ecotourism works and benefits the local communities, enhance conservation efforts as well as a sustainable way of tourism development. Moreover, it also has a political value and it enhances the nature and protecting it from misuses. With the establishment of the International Year of Ecotourism, problems of ecotourism were discussed and it was realised that there is a need of money for protected areas. It was also realised that networking is also important and is a powerful way to enhance local community. Furthermore, ecotourism guidelines have also become more enhanced, and networks of ecotourism professionals have been also established. Most importantly is the ability of co-operation and commitment of governments towards this sector. Lastly, speakers also mention the importance of certification and labelling of ecotourism businesses. As it creates a marketing purpose allowing those who have the certificate to sell their products better.

(3) Product Development, Marketing and Promotion of Ecotourism

It is also important for ecotourism businesses to understand and listen to the market of ecotourism. Networking and partnerships are also important in establishing a stronger market as well as promoting fair trade in tourism. Marketing techniques are diverse as one can use different ways to achieve and promote ecotourism. Of the many are trade shows as well as a forum. A familiarisation trip to invite local providers could also be a good marketing technique as well. Certification and labelling is also a suitable way to promote local products. Lastly, with the advancement of technology, electronic marketing by using the Internet has also become a popular way of market promotion. When involving in marketing of ecotourism, businesses should focus on the distinctive feature of ecotourism itself, which includes the ability to share culture, providing learning opportunities for the visitors, giving volunteering opportunities as well as providing a base for biological and cultural research. The money generated from ecotourism should also help to finance local development projects as well as contributing the lives of the locals. Most importantly, ecotourism should be aimed as a "fair tourism" that aim at improving living conditions of the local people.

(4) Monitoring cost and benefits of Ecotourism

Eco-tourism projects needs monitoring in order to enhance its development. Monitoring involves in using quantified data to find out the effectiveness and the usefulness of a project that is taking place. Speakers mention two techniques include the Threat Reduction Assessment (TRA) and the Site Assessment. Threat Reduction Assessment (TRA) involves in tracing and understanding the real causes of a problem and finding the solutions for it. Art Pedersen, consultant for UNESCO, mentions an example of illegal hunting in National Parks. Tracing to the original problem, the main causes of illegal hunting are due to lack of professional training in other kinds of jobs available in the parks. As a result, a solution such as providing training courses for nature guides as well as providing micro loans to entrepreneurs to kick start their business could turn illegal hunters into nature guiding professionals and therefore reduce illegal hunting and also conserve the natural ecology. Site Management involves in using quantitative methods to analyse the statistical data of a nature site before, during and after the project is involved. Indicators include tracking changes in human awareness, behaviour and supports as well as economic pattern of the nature site. Also, utilising local development indicators such as economic benefits, knowledge and attitudes before and after the projects could also be useful in monitoring the result of a project.

Conclusion: Implications for Bulgaria and the World

Bulgaria has large amount of natural resources and beautiful sceneries. Its many National Parks such as the Rila National Park, Pirin National Park as well as the Central Balkan National Park are prime destination for hiking and ecological and cultural tourism development. However, its ecotourism development is still in its infancy and lots have to be learnt from the world. Generally, I believe that the more forums are planned, the more we can learn from one another and hence create more understanding. It is important for countries to unite and co-operate together in issues regarding management and planning of ecotourism, so more expertise, knowledge and experiences can be shared and can be learnt.