A SOLUTION IN SEARCH OF A PROBLEM
Another serious shortcoming is that most stakeholders
have been left out of the process, including indigenous people,
community representatives and owners of travel businesses. When
invited to participate, many of these leaders opt out, reminding
organizers they have other priorities. Stakeholders around the
world confided during the International Year of Ecotourism confided
that certification does not enhance business.
In fact, some leading tour operators believe certification
and accreditation schemes are a scam
that creates a cottage industry for consultants.
Ralf Pina points out that differentiation is the dominant competitive
strategy in the generally low-margin tourism industry. He writes:
"Being 'ecolabelled' with a certification that is shared
by every other business, including your competitors, is anathema
to marketeers in pursuit of differentiation in the market."
Institutional funders have no idea that certification is a
such a hornet's nest and they continue to fund projects with
little support. According to consultant Megan
Epler Wood: "It has been suggested by the new InterAmerican
Bank MIF project for a Sustainable
Tourism Certification System that certification for sustainability
of tourism will increase competitiveness and market access of
small and medium sized enterprises in Latin America. However
a thorough review of existing reports on this topic shows that
there are no market demand studies available to justify this
assumption.
Item. Australia's NEAP
program is respected by professionals, but poorly known by the
public. Part of the problem seems to be the fact that it took
more than five years to consider marketing NEAP. In a 2003 survey
of 100 customers of tourism operations which have 'NEAP accreditation',
not one client indicated that they had chosen the tour because
of the accreditation of the product.
In short, ecotourism certification has not been a "market-driven"
option.
HEADLINES
The January 2006 issue of Green Hotelier Magazine included
an essay by Xavier Font in which he explains how sustainable
tourism certification programs were under the spotlight at a
consultative meeting sponsored and convened by the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP).
"There is still little quantifiable data available on
the ability of these schemes to promote change. Consumer recognition
is low, and industry intermediaries are only beginning to consider
certification as a tool for due-diligence and preliminary selections
of suppliers ... As it would be misleading to promote certification
as a way of directly increasing occupancy and sales, it was
felt that other marketing strategies should be used."
GREENWASHING
Proponents of certification suggest that it provides a way
to distinguish among tour operations, to 'separate the wheat
from the chafe.' The question to ask is why are only tour operators
evaluated in this manner? How do we distinguish among NGOs or
among academics? These players use the 'eco' language, often
without the criteria of either ecotourism or responsible travel.
ALTERNATIVES
Said Costa Rica-based tour operator Michael Kaye of Costa Rica
Expeditions during the Ethical
Marketing of Ecotourism Conference: "First get consumers
to care, then worry about rating and certification. Doing it
any other way is not only putting the cart before the horse,
it is putting the wheel before the cart, the spoke before the
wheels. It is one of relatively few unbreakable marketing laws:
First consumers care. Then ratings and certification. Only large
grants from foundations could cause normally intelligent well-intentioned
people to not see this self-evident truth."
Much more effective are industry awards.
They are conducted in the public eye and cost a fraction of
formal certification programs. Likewise, an investment in Google
Ads pays better dividends.
And finally, could we find ways of greening
the tourism events themselves?
IMPROVING THE DIALOGUE
In 2006 Planeta.com invited tourism professionals -- particularly
those at the forefront of ecotourism -- to participate in a
candid review
of tourism promotion. Respondents have given government marketing
campaigns around the world a low mark. Comments indicate that
in country and outbound travel operators either do not know
the PR agencies that represent the country.
On a scale of 1-5 (1 being the least, 5 being the most)
please rate your level of satisfaction with the official tourism
website in the county where you operate tours.
Promoting your tours - response average: 1.0
Promoting tourism overall in your country - response average:
2.0
On a scale of 1-5 (1 being the least, 5 being the most)
please rate how satisfied you are with official government tourism
campaigns in the country where you work.
National promotion - response average: 1.5
International promotion - response average: 1.75
ANALYSIS
These are alarming results for those interested in ecotourism
and responsible travel as it indicates that rather than promoting
what's available, the promotion departments are seen as an obstacle,
particularly for in-country small and medium businesses.
If our collective goal is to improve the marketing of ecotourism,
the solution is simply to improve the dialogue among operators
and national tourism campaigns. The reality is that the most
'eco' and the most 'community-focused' services receive the
least promotion. If local and national tourism promoters could
get on the bandwagon of promoting already existing services,
this would go a long way into making such services more eco-friendly
and people-friendly.
While little or no consumer demand may exist for certified
'eco' vacations, we should not accept the status quo. Emphasis
needs to be placed on evaluating the industry and offering training
and promotion for everyone working toward sustainability and
ecotourism.
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