Introductions
My interest in sustainable tourism financing comes about having
developed an online portal focusing on sustainable travel and
ecotourism and from having participated in numerous events in
which tourism is considered an option for community development
or environmental conservation. Missing, however, is a frank discussion
about how tourism operation itself is financed or maintained.
This conference, I hope, will provide an opportunity for us to
share lessons learned and resources that can assist entrepreneurs,
communities, and policy-makers.
Desmond Kaplan/Israel
Over the years I have been involved in numerous tourism and related
projects. I act as a consultant to tourism operators and bodies
like the Ministries of Tourism and Agriculture and lecture on
sustainable and eco-tourism. Current projects include planning
and development of an ecologically sound wellness centre with
some 40 cabins plus central facilities located in the Central
Galilee.
My interest in financing tourism comes from my early days in consultancy,
dealing with European Union funds for Regional Developement. This
was was one of my first jobs, and many experiences came from that
proccess, starting about 1991. I now find myself working in a
totally different environment, in a country -- Chile , in which
public funding for tourism is scarce, and the opportunities for
starting new businesses are less attractive that the ones detailed
before.
I am an environmental consultant/advisor/researcher/writer/editor
with a central focus on parks and people now and into the future.
I have tackled many of the different facets of the ecotourism
finance equation: developing business plans, managing a small-grants
program, applying for grants, evaluating programs, training &
facilitating, and writing about the experiences. From the Ecotourism
Financing Conference, I particularly hope to learn more about
the experiences of individual entrepreneurs. One of the key activities
I have NOT done is to be an ecotourism entrepreneur by personally
investing my own money in a nature-based tourism operation. So
while I can speak to the big-picture side of the ecotourism finance
equation, I appreciate the reality check offered by the brave
private entrepreneurs participating in this conference. One colleague
told me that he had developed a stark new understanding of the
challenges facing the small ecotourism operator, based on the
experience gained from "five years and two family savings accounts."
Ed Sanders/United States
Although I only backed into ecotourism five years ago, it is now
my primary interest. My previous career involved twelve years
in public finance in the President's Office and Budget in Washington
DC and then co-founding two small international business consulting
firms. As I got interested in ecotourism and started preparing
business plans and feasibility studies, I became frustrated by
the lack of any empirical data on the actual financial performance
of ecolodges. The result was the report by The International Ecotourism
Society on the Business of Ecolodges. A few key findings from
that study were presented in the Survey
of Ecolodge Economics and Finance.
To the extent permissible under the Securities and Exchange
Commission's broker-dealer restrictions, I have helped clients
raise money for ecolodge financing. I am also a partner in a
multi-faceted 7,600-acre ecotourism and conservation project
in Southern Belize. It will formally open this November, but
it has taken almost five years to get to this point, with a
number of false starts. It required a combination of strategic
and financial Belizean, American, European, and NGO investors
to make it happen. Lots of painful lessons learned but I certainly
have a more personal appreciation of the challenges in financing
ecotourism projects as a result.
I live in Russell, a small community on the shores of the beautiful
Bay of Islands of New Zealand. Russell is filled with history,
heritage and character, and also is on the brink of something
big. I am CEO of Enterprise Russell, a charitable trust. ECOtourism
is a natural for NZ with its wild, open spaces, people who are
said to be "friendly, informed and informative". After all we
all grew up surrounded by Nature, all of us close to forests,
oceans, and mountains, so we should know how it works. If you
haven't visited our country, you'd be astounded at the spectacular
beauty. Funding for our group and others is always a struggle.
To assist with disseminating knowledge about sustainable tourism
in this region, our trust is organising a conference to be held
in October. I am on the look out for funds and sponsors for this
conference, so will be putting into good use any tips I pick up
here!!
My specific interests for this conference are to "listen and learn"
about various ways of financing sustainable tourism - so that
I can help communities, and our own province (in my role on the
Tourism Minister's Advisory Council) to explore new and innovative
ways of financing new tourism enterprises. The agricultural economy
which comprises a large part of southern Manitoba's land and economic
base, is going through major transformations (lower yields, higher
costs, health concerns with use of chemicals, consolidation, turbulent
and unpredictable climatic conditions from year to year, and competing
subsidies in the US and in Europe). The rural land base has the
potential to generate unique and wonderful travel experiences
- if rural operators understand how to operate tourism businesses
in a business-like way.
Andrew Hurd/Tanzania-United States
Until very recently, I was the Technical Advisor for the Coastal
Tourism Working Group under the Tanzania Coastal Management Partnership
(funded by USAID through University of Rhode Island) where I had
the opportunity to work with hoteliers and local communities in
creating synergistic relationships though eco-tourism activities
(with mixed results, I must say - more on that later). Prior to
coming to Tanzania, I was working with the World Bank in Washington
DC for three years on environmental projects in Brazil and tourism
initiatives in the Caribbean, with a focus on St. Lucia.
Now I am working with a local private investor in developing
an eco-lodge in the Amani Nature Reserve, part of the Eastern
Arc Mountains in Eastern Tanzania. We are at the beginning stages
and are looking for ideas on how to link with other groups that
would also like to get involved in this exciting project. Based
on my experience here in TZ and the World Bank, I am trying
to identify ways for the investor to be able to focus on running
the hotel while other partners work with local communities to
establish nature trails, village tours and the like. One of
the biggest problems I've seen here is that we expect hoteliers
and investors to be able start and operate a successful business
AND assist the local communities to develop AND conserve the
local natural resources. A lot to ask of an investor when decades
of international aid and development experts have not really
been all that successful (and haven't had to invest their own
money) ...
It seems to me that donors, international conservation NGO's
and the like are very interested in sustainable tourism but
do not take that very important step of partnering with actual
investors - they continue to limit themselves to working with
government, local communities, local NGO's, etc. in developing
management plans and strategies, but stop short of linking with
the people (the investors) that can put the ideas and words
into action.
Greetings from Johannesburg, South Africa, where I operate an
ecotourism/nature travel advisory and broking service for the
Wildlife & Environment Society of SA (WESSA) -- this country's
oldest and largest, non-profit, environmental conservation NGO.
There is a desperate and growing need to finance conservation
projects in Africa and, increasingly, funding has to be raised
from non-governmental sources. Ecotourism is one of the fastest
growing sectors in international travel, yet it is ironic that
conservation organisations - which have been so instrumental
in the fight to preserve the wildlife sanctuaries that attract
the visitors - enjoy little direct financial benefit from tourist
spending. This is what motivated us to set up a service to assist
fellow wildlife enthusiasts from around the world plan and enjoy
trips to Southern Africa, and to earn commission by acting as
the middleman between travellers and commercial operators.
I am working in the field of ecotourism for 10 years now, after
a degree in psychology and several years of experience in the
hotel business up to management. I am co-founder of ACTA, Associazione
Cultura Turismo Ambiente of Milano, Italy, italian "branch" of
Ecotrans. For several years now we are working on environmental
quality and certification in the tourism business, doing a pilot
integrated audit on a small-medium hotel enterprise in a structurally
weak area in northern italy (ISO 9001, ISO 14001, HACCP and italian
security laws), following Camping sites in an effort to bring
them up to EMAS -- http://www.ecocamping.net)
-- working together with Italian environmental institutions on
creating a label for environmental quality in tourism.
A strong interest sustainable development and Latin American issues
led me to Ecuador where for the past couple of years I have been
working with a community ecotourism initiative, Santa Lucia, a
former agricultural cooperative, whose member families collectively
own around 700 hectares (over 1700 acres) of nearly virgin montane
cloud forest on the Andes slopes northwest of Quito. The area
is perfect for ecotourism -- a beautiful natural setting with
incredible diversity of tropical plants, birds and other wildlife,
friendly people, and only a short distance from the capital.
The community has been able to build a 20 person ecolodge
- done over a period of three years, in phases - thanks to a
combination of donations and project funding from conservation
organizations, and self-financing. The latter is largely a result
of attracting volunteer vacationers, people interested in helping
a community, and willing to pay lower rates to stay in less
than polished lodgings and ready to pitch in to help finish
construction, build trails, plant trees, etc. Of course, we
are not talking here about investments in the millions of dollars,
but rather thousands or tens of thousands. But even these sums
are very far out of reach of the typical community in poor countries
like Ecuador. Santa Lucia was fortunate in many ways to attract
the attention and interest of conservation-minded folks and
in having community members with some training in critical skill
areas.
I work at Ecotrust Canada, a non-profit organization working with
people and communities along the coastal temperate rainforest
zone of British Columbia. My background is in Community and Regional
Planning, and I have worked extensively on community development
issues in Southeast Asia and here at home. I also teach two core
courses at Vancouver's Native Education Centre in the Aboriginal
Tourism Management Program. This college serves Aboriginal students
interested in post-secondary work. Much of my work at Ecotrust
Canada focuses on community based ecotourism and assisting private
entrepreneurs and First Nation communities to develop tourism
development and management plans, market-ready products, and to
acquire the related skills, knowledge, etc. needed for companies
or the local tourism sector to succeed. Ecotrust Canada also lends
money to conservation entrepreneurs in all sectors, including
ecotourism. I am very interested in learning more from other locales
about mobilizing different kinds of tourism investments -- whether
through debt, equity, cooperatives or other mechanisms--- to finance
community tourism infrastructure, training and capacity building
efforts, as well as small and medium size tourism enterprises.
I look forward to the discussion!
I am the Director of Research and Development with the International
Institute of Tourism Studies at the George Washington University
(GW). I've been involved in tourism for about 10 years, with my
primary focus being destination management and community development.
At IITS, we have been involved in various donor/aid funded
projects involving sustainable tourism, however, we are were
particularly interested in participating in this conference
because of its relation to work we are currently undertaking
which looks at current and future donor-funding of tourism projects
in less developed countries. In an effort to summarize and highlight
what is already being done and what is planned for the near
future, we have developed a database of tourism and tourism
related projects currently in progress or being planned by various
donor/aid organizations. The project data will allow for more
detailed information about the projects, including: (1) tracking
completed projects considered development "models or best practice
cases" to evaluate their outcomes and to get information on
lessons learned; (2) documenting the "performance" of donor
activities and their social, economic and environmental impacts;
(3) following active projects and projects in the funding pipeline
to illustrate and describe what the donor's are doing or where
their future interests lie. We are currently in the process
of validating the project information we have currently have.
At present, we are particularly interested in projects that
involve a strong public-private partnership component.
In addition to the database, IITS in partnership with Conservation
International hosted the first Sustainable Tourism Development
Roundtable where we invited a group of Washington, DC based
donor agency representatives (World Bank Group, UNDP, IADB,
USAID, OAS, among others) to come together to begin an inter-organizational
conversation on sustainable tourism as a development option.
This November, CI and IITS will host the Second Sustainable
Tourism Development Roundtable to continue this discussion.
We also hope to hold similar meeting in Europe in March, as
well as Asia later next year. Additionally, as part of this
project, IITS, in partnership with IIPT, will prepare a Portfolio
or Manual of Guidelines for future projects based on the information
gathered to be highlighted at the 2nd Global Summit on Peace
in Feb. 2003. We'd be happy to share further information about
the donor database or project in general with anyone that is
interested. We'd also like to invite you all to share any information
you might have on tourism or tourism-related projects funded
by bilateral and multilateral donors.
I am a biologist and I've worked in ecology and rural development
since 1976. Since 1993 I've been selling solar technologies in
Mexico. Between 1995-2000 period I was working in Secretaria de
Medio Ambiente, Recursos Naturales y Pesca (Semarnap) where I
was in charge of environmental and planning areas in the state
of Hidalgo. Later I was responsible for social participation,
training, information and communication in General Direction of
Regional Programs, working with people of 18 states and 30 rural
and indigenous regions of the country, promoting, financing and
supervising the execution of regional and community programs and
sustainable development projects , many focusing in ecotourism.
Since 2001 I have been working in Red para el Desarrollo Sostenible
de Mexico an environmental NGO in Mexico City. There, I'm a
consultant, researcher and moderator of several internet list
of discussion related to environmental themes (one of them the
ecotourism) , like Foros Sustenta and Ecos. In my current work
at RDS I'm interested in developing sustainable tourism, and
particularly ecotourism. So, I hope to share my experience and
conceptions about the ecotourism, learn more and establish a
lot of relations with people working in this matter. I'm sure
this will be a very good a fruitful conference. So, let's go
to work!
Graeme Brown/Cambodia-Australia
Greetings from northeast Cambodia and greetings from an Australian
male of 40 years of age. I have now been in Cambodia, in the northeast
for just over three years, working with indigenous "hill tribe"
people who are attempting to regain control over their natural
resources. In this regard, ecotourism is seem as both a threat
and an opportunity. The difference will be whether indigenous
people will receive the support and training that will allow them
to take a significant role in the management and direction of
tourism.
It is for this reason we have been working with communities,
NGO's and government agencies to develop strategies to manage
tourism to ensure that negative effects are minimized. Our program,
at this stage is limited. There is a massive amount of capacity
building and governance building to do and all this will require
funding. Private funds are problematic - the situation in Cambodia
is still somwhat risky with regard to security of investment.
Long-term, initially low-return investment will be required
in order to undertake the empowerment and training work necessary.
Other options and combinations will need to be found. I look
forward to the conference and sharing ideas with people as we
enter a stage of financing tourism development and management
in Ratanakiri.
I'm half -Mru (one of the 'tribal' communities of the Chittagong
Hilltracts) and half-Canadian. I've been involved in ecotourism
professionally for about 8 years by trying to run 3 very small
ecolodges in the hills and one ecotour group and by consulting
to several small-scale indigenous community tourism efforts in
Bangladesh. Ecotourism in Bangladesh is probably one the least
developed of any country on the planet. So far we've not been
able to mobilize any real financing, or know how to go about it.
So we are unable to invest much from our own limited resources
and make the projects on a scale or in a manner that we'd like.
The government and local investors know nil about ecotourism and
are not eager to invest or participate. That is my main reason
for participating and trying to learn from others' experience
and advice. Chokra en chenchu.
Michael McColl/USA
My practice has focused largely on clients in the internet travel
space. Among other roles, I served as Director of Marketing for
Adventureseek.com, one of the early attempts at promoting active
vacations and ecotours via a central internet hub. Other clients
include Ticketplanet.com, Worldisround.com -- http://worldisround.com
-- and Hostels.com -- http://hostels.com
Unfortunately, Adventureseek and Ticketplanet were unable
to survive the dotcom crash. Worldisround.com and Hostels.com,
however, are thriving. The lessons I've learned from my internet
travel clients are straightforward. Among them: online businesses
do best when both site design and business model naturally encourage
word-of-mouth. Also, growing organically (over time, out of
cashflow) is a much safer strategy than spending wildly and
hoping for the best. These ideas would seem to transfer pretty
directly to the world of sustainable tourism. Personally, I
am both a travel writer and a whitewater raft guide. (Though
I rarely get out on the water these days.) I have successfully
raised seven-figure funding rounds for two of my internet travel
clients. But things are, ehem, different now. I look forward
to learning how fundraising is done in the post dot-com world.
I am currently the Director of the African Conservation Center,
a Kenyan NGO actively involved in community based conservation,
in which Ecotourism is a valuable tool. A graduate of the Cornell
Hotel School, I have over 12 years experience in the mainstream
tourism world in Kenya, UK, and the US. I have over five years
experience in the nuts and bolts operations of various types of
ecotourism businesses. I have a keen awareness of the power of
tourism to develop and create, but also to destroy and corrupt.
In my current position, I have "crossed over" from the private
sector to the NGO world, in part to help develop the various tourism
projects people have been experimenting with through the African
Conservation Center. These include the Il Ngwesi project in Laikipia,
Kenya. This was the first community owned ecotourism project in
Kenya, established in 1995, with the support of Dr. David Western
and the Liz Claiborne Art Ortenburg Foundation.
Another more recent development is the Shompole project, which
opened its doors to clients in December 2001. Between these
two projects, we have developed a body of knowledge in the development
of ecotourism projects.
In our view, the issue of sustainability is critical to the
entire ecotourism movement. If we cannot demonstrate and ensure
sustainability, then the investments in ecotourism, regardless
of the source, will be a waste. At its core, any enterprise
must be sustainable. If the business is not capable of generating
a positive cash flow, it will become a white elephant - regardless
of the source of funding. This will impact negatively on the
communities, and on the biodiversity, we are all trying to protect.
The great draw of the industry lies in its apparent simplicity
- this belies the reality of operations.
One of the realities of the business world is that money follows
money. Perhaps the reason ecotourism financing is so challenging
is due to the low levels of financial return on investment?
The return is often measured at the community and biodiversity
levels - and not at the financial level. Is it not time to consider
this and its implications?
Deborah McLaren/United States
I'm director of the Rethinking Tourism Project and participating
on behalf of approximately 200 Indigenous Peoples throughout the
Americas and other places who helped organize the first International
Forum on Indigenous Tourism in Oaxaca, Mexico in March 2002. A
Declaration from that Forum can be found on our website and might
be of interest to those working with Indigenous and rural communities
on ecotourism projects. Of particular interest is financing to
support community-controlled, autonomous projects and developing
partnerships that are equitable. We are also in the process of
developing Indigenous technical assistance teams to work with
ecotourism developers, consultants and NGOs.
So while some financing of lodges, tours, etc. is helpful,
we are most interested in funding for community education and
technical assistance. Financial assistance that helps protect
community resources (biodiversity and cultural diversity), and
helps communities continue to have access and management of
those resources is also very important. As has been pointed
out earlier, some of the basic skills (such as financial planning
and business plans) are important and often community representatives
do not have the needed skills. Therefore, it is important to
support the development of regional Indigenous technical teams
to assist communities and others in the process.
I am Walter Bishop V. from Durango Mexico, I have been working
for more than 12 years in adventure tourism, operating Excursiones
Pantera S.A.de C.V. which I own. During all this period I have
been made conscious of the importance of timely financing and
the big difference it can mean to an operator such as myself.
Because of the tremendous social role that nature plays in Mexico,
sustainability in tourism is a must for all of us. being that
the public has not responded responsibly towards this goal, how
it will be financed is another matter. I also work in two other
ventures, a promotional effort for alternative tourism Ecoadventuremexico,
and a conservation one, Fundacion Vida para el Bosque where we
promote sustainabilty. I am looking forward to the opinions of
the financing experts in the forum and will be happy to welcome
any of the participants in Durango
For the past six years Ive been working with Tanzania Cultural
Tourism Programme The programme provided support to the local
people in the nothern part of Tanzania to establish small scale
tourism projects in their villages and communities and benefit
directly from tourism. Tanzania attracts about 600,000 foreing
tourists annually and only 1% of the total tourists to Tanzania
combines the activities of cultural tourism programme together
with other attractions such as visits to game parks, climb Mount
Kilimanjaro and go to the island of Zanzibar. The visitors to
the cultural tourism activities pays an average of USD 20 per
visit to the local communities and villages. At the villages this
amount is divided amongst the service providers based in the village
and some portion goes to support the social development projects
that benefits the whole villagers. The amount of money going to
the villages appears small in relative terms compared to what
other players in tourism chain gains. But still with this amount
of money the local people have managed under diffucult conditions
to finance their own development activities such as schools construction.
Currently there is a growing demand for these types of initiatives
in the country like Tanzania where always financial alternatives
have to be mobilsed by local people to suppliment the merger
and unreliable resources from the government. CTP was subsidised
by donor funding especially from the Dutch NGO SNV -- http://www.snv.nl
-- but the support has now ended since last December. The support
was mostly used to provide needed skills through training to
the local people to ensure their active involvement in tourism
activites, it was also used for marketing activities for the
started products and services. These small projects are now
seen as village tourism enterprises that are comfronted by challenges
such as marketing and quality assurances.
Tour operators buy this product because it is in demand by
tourists. The demand of the tourism industry are also growing
and varied and therefore not most local people are able to continually
adapt and meet the requirements of the tourists in terms of
quality of services. In order to meet this requirement it means
building the capacity of the local people. There are at present
no local institutions in Tanzania that can finance these local
people tourism entreprises in the form of credit or loans. Donor
can provide support for the development of the entreprises but
not for long enough to ensure long term sustainability for these
initiatives.
Most development organizations are still very reluctant to
get involved into supporting tourism largely because of their
limited knowledge on the potential of tourism, especilly if
its assisted to develop sustainably, to address and support
many developmental issues in the poor countries. The challenge
is therefore to access finances for supporting local people
to get engaged in tourism in an active manner and benefit out
of it.
I work at than Mexican Nature Conservation Fund (Fondo Mexicano
para la Conservacion de la Naturaleza - FMCN). As some of you
already know, the FMCN funds green conservation projects of all
kind, including ecotourism. Within the FMCN I work in the Mexican
Learning Conservation Network (IMAC) that is a program fostered
by the FMCN, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and PACT an institutional
strengthening NGO with its headquarters in Washington DC. We have
promoted three communities of practice after a Organizational
Capacity Assessment that helps each organization to identify their
strengths and weaknesses to share and exchange them amongst peers
with specialized technical assistance when needed for the whole
community. We are interested in forming a Ecotourism community
of practice in the future, where one of the main thematic groups
will be for sure ecotourism financing. So all of your ideas will
be of great help.
I have been working in the tourism industry for over 16 years
in operational roles with large mainstream tourism organisations
(such as Qantas and Coach Tour companies) as well as niche market
operators such as ecotourism and heritage tourism operations.
I started off working in Germany and then migrated to Australia
14 years ago.
As a result of my exposure to the mainstream tourism industry
and my commitment to using tourism as a tool for sustainabile
development, my husband (Simon McArthur) and I have set up a
consulting business that specialises on working in the interface
between tourism and the environment, 'Missing Link Tourism Consultants'.
We specialise in ecotourism and sustainable tourism planning
worldwide. Our most recent projects have seen us undertake ecotourism
planning in the Arctic, Venezuela and Australia. I have an interest
in the Financing Sustainable Tourism conference, as we have
been involved in a heritage tourism project over the past four
years that is attempting to overcome financing challenges by
leasing one of Australia's largest heritage sites within a protected
area to a tourism operator to run the site as a tourism destination.
You can imagine the amount of controversy in this process!
I'm a Peruvian freelance journalist, living currently in Lima,
and contributing mostly for El Comercio daily, the biggest newspaper
in Peru. I've been writing about tourism and travel for the past
5 years, and have submitted contributions to other minor publications
inside Peru. Currently I'm in the process of publishing in the
bimonthly magazine "Americas" of the Organization of American
States, in which I'll be writing mainly about touristic and environmental
subjects.
Despite my limited knowledge in ecotourism specifically, I've
travelled thoroughly around Peru and have met a lot of people
involved in ecotourism, specially in the jungle areas of Madre
de Dios and Loreto. As most of you might suspect, financing
projects in the jungle is not an easy task, unless you have
the sponsorship of an NGO or some type of organization. Very
little financial aid, if none, is given by Peruvian government
to local initiatives in order to develope ecotouristic projects.
As an example: some days ago, I came back from Huaraz, in the
Callejon de Huaylas (for those who know the place, there's no
need to explain...for those who don't, it's good enough to know
that the highest tropical mountain range in the world is located
in this incredible spot in the Andes, aprox. 350 kms northeast
of Lima). The place is highly interesting because the Mountain
Institute, among other NGOs, is working with local communities
to develope conservation projects of sustainable tourism in
the sorrounding outskirts of the Huascaran National Park. One
of these projects is called "Proyecto Integral de Conservacion
y Desarrollo Cuyaquiwalli", and it aims to give localers the
opportunity to work their own circuits, inviting tourists to
participate of sowing, harvest and other aspects of their peasant
life, without disturbance from the outside world. These people
share part of their revenues with the community, making improvements
and reinvesting the money in their project. Particularly I think
I have a lot to learn from most of you and will be contacting
some of you for specific insight on your work. Nevertheless,
feel free to contact me for any information you might need from
Peru and its ecotouristic infrastructure and experience.
I'm the executive director of the Ecuadorian Ecotourism Association
ASEC, which started in 1991 as a private non-profit organization
with a specific mission: "to foment the harmony between the Society,
the Tourism and the Conservation." Currently ASEC has 80 members
that represent all the social actors of ecotourism in Ecuador:
indigenous and local communities, private tour operators, NGOs,
universities, local governments, the Ministry of Tourism, clean
energy companies and private persons. Our statistics show that
together these members manage approximately 75% of the incoming
tourism in Ecuador.
One of the main objectives of ASEC is to generate a process
that contributes to the sustainable development of ecotourism
in the country. At the same time ASEC generates tools that strengthen
the daily work of its members. At the moment we are in Costa
Rica, with a group of people from the Ministry of Tourism, Ministry
of Commerce and private tour operators knowing the process of
CST Certificacion de Turismo Sostenible. For that reason I'm
not going to be very active in this forum, but every two days
I'm going to check my email.
Hitesh Mehta/United States-Egypt
Hello!! I am an ecotourism landscape architect, environmental
planner and architect based out of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. I
sit on the Board of the International Ecotourism Society and am
the main editor of the International
Ecolodge Guidelines book which has a whole chapter on Financial
Considerations in the development of ecolodges. It's a "how to"
book and presents a step by step approach to financial issues.
In my daily work, I get into situations all the time where
clients are looking for funding for their respective ecotourism
facilities and it is always good to know where to look for this
grants/loans etc. I have over the years carried out research
and met with officials from the World Bank, IFC, IDB, CI and
GEF. This information is shared with participants who attend
the Ecolodge Development and Design Workshop that I conduct
from time to time. I would like to be current in my knowledge
as regards funding opportunities and am looking forward to hearing
what other participants have to say. Ron, thanks for organizing
this MUCH NEEDED virtual conference.
I am an ecotourism consultant and writer based in Calgary, Alberta,
Canada. I am the author of the book, The Business of Ecotourism,
a planning guide for people operating businesses in the nature
and cultural travel fields, and the Teacher's Edition of The Business
of Ecotourism, a teaching tool for colleges and universities offering
ecotourism programs.
Through my company, Kalahari Management Inc., I have been
working in the field of ecotourism since 1991. My work has focused
mainly on ecotourism business planning and feasibility studies
for communities and businesses in North America. In that time,
I have seen much more interest in ecotourism as a form of economic
development in many rural communities. Unfortunately many of
these businesses and municipalities struggle to get start-up
financing; and as well, do not make the time commitment necessary
to establish a tourism destination. I have a strong background
in financial management (I was a professional accountant in
a previous lifetime) and I am interested during the conference
in hearing more about business models that have worked for ecotourism
organizations in the US and Canada. Kalahari Management also
publishes a quarterly newsletter "Ecotourism Management" that
provides information on developing successful ecotourism businesses
and profiles tourism operators and the challenges and victories
they encounter.
Greetings from the Russian Far East. This area of the world contains
vast territories covered by forest and tundra and is considered
one of the last untamed wilderness areas of the world. It is surrounded
by water starting in the far north where Yakutia, one of the ten
administrative regions in Eastern Russia touches on the Arctic
Ocean. The Bering Strait divides Alaska and Chukotka and the Pacific
Ocean straddles Kamchatka, the Kuriles, Sakhalin Island and the
Primorski Krai, while the Sea of Ohotsk washes both the west coast
of Sakhalin and the Khabarovski and Primorski Krais.
Initial successful ecotourism development i.e. expedition
cruising focused on these maritime borders giving access to
unique, otherwise inaccessible wilderness areas inhabited by
abundant wildlife and reindeer herding indigenous cultures.
These self policing, educated travelers are usually the first
ones to express an interest and a desire to travel to otherwise
difficult to access destinations with a deep understanding of
limiting their social impact and maximizing passing the experience
on to other interested travelers. Regretfully, however, financial
impact because of the limited time factor is usually negligible.
Other tourism activities in the areas concentrated on hunting
and fishing, Kamchatka has the largest brown bear population
in the world and large taimen is found in many of its rivers.
Part of the volcanic Ring of Fire, Kamchatka also offers a volcanic
landscape few other places on earth can match. Large wilderness
tracks in the Primorski and Khabrovski Krai still harbor the
Amur Tiger, all though the species is threatened by poaching
from Russians and the Asian population alike.
Other efforts to develop specifically ecotourism have not
been so successful as there is no financing available even for
the barest infrastructural support. As other regions that have
entered the world market economy recently, this region also
is hampered by a poor financial image, which limits the availability
of funds necessary to protect, nurture and preserve this vast
natural territory. More over, our western expectations related
to "ecotourism development" might not always be compatible with
what our counterparts, in this case Russians, are able to achieve
because of social, cultural and economic implications. This
impedes the possibilities of obtaining financing for small and
large projects. The potential for ecotourism development is
huge in Eastern Russia, so is the need for protection and conservation.
I work at Universidad de Especialidades Turisticas (UCT) -- http://www.uct.edu.ec
-- where I am Director of a Community Tourism Project that UCT
has been promoting for nine months. The idea is that our graduated
students may choose to work with a community in a process called
Development of Strategic Tourism Planning for Communities -- http://www.strom.clemson.edu/publications/Potts/.
Nine months ago I finished a workshop with Tom Potts, Director
of the Developing Naturally Program. This workshop is run with
communities in order to enhance their resources. At this time
we have five e-books developed by the students in five communities,
and we can give our view with fresh experiences in financing.
Luigi Zanini/Cape Verde-Italy
Since 1997 I have lived on Fogo Island, Cape Verde. I have worked
in the tourism sector for 40 years. First, I worked with Big TO,
(similar to Club Med), and then I worked as an independent tourism
provider. I started a private microfinancing system to help rural
people offer accommodations for tourists. This fund is financed
with 1% of my receipts, and I work together with a European travel
agency on this project. This project began when I came to Fogo
Island in 1997. Tourism was starting in Cape Verde, mostly on
the lsland of Sal, where the international airport is located.
Fogo, with its wonderful volcano, was almost unknown in 1997 when
about 600 tourists visited. Last year more than 4000 visited.
From the start, my idea was to work in the line of sustainable
tourism. (I am beginning to dislike the terms, "ecotourism" and
"tourist".) Based on my experience in Casamance, Senegal where
in 1971 I was working to start and build a community lodge in
the village, no one had heard of ecotourism.
Back here in Fogo, I work with tour operators as an incoming
liaison with the Cape Verde Tourism Office (CVTS). I suggest
tours in Fogo and have also developed walking and trekking tours.
In 1998 little existed for the traveler in Cha das Caldeiras.
There were some extremely basic accommodations available from
some of the locals. I rented a house and started bringing groups
of people who wanted to walk and trek. A local family takes
care of the house and provides good meals. Other people heard
about this and wanted to improve their homes and offer rooms.
I helped them in their endeavours and this was the beginning
of the project. Currently, there are 7 Casa de Campo and more
in the making. I handle the reservations, marketing, etc. For
my services, I take 100 Cape Verde escudos which is about one
dollar. 50 escudos go toward marketing and administration and
the other 50 go to the microfinancing fund. The Microfinancing
Fund (Fogo Solidar) is principally financed with 1% from our
agency and from my earnings; from the contribution of the Owner
of the Casa de Campo and from one German Travel Agency. (See
ReiseTraeume.de -- http://www.reisetraeume.de/kapverden/reisefuehrer/spende.html)
Owners don't always ask for help, but if they need financing,
I look to see what is needed, give recommendations and the buy
whatever materials or furnishings are needed. Repayment is made
little by little. There is no fixed repayment schedule, but
the borrower pays each month according to the income they derive
from accommodating guests. I make certain that the repayment
amount leaves the family enough for living expenses. Of course,
I don't charge any interest on the loans.
Up until now, we have given out about 2500 Euros for the projects,
which include a restaurant and 4 Casas de Campo. The fund is
not only for economic projects, but also for social and cultural
development.
I co-direct Balam Consultores in Mexico. Four months ago Balam
finished developing the infrastructure of El Chico -- Mexico's
first National Park.
We created more than 25 kilometers of multiple use trails
and two camp sites, the main one has place for 50 people, five
tent cabins with technology designed by Balam, (this light infrastructure
is similar to a yurt made of wood), common areas, a network
of trails and trained rangers. Prices: 4 people/night costs
200 pesos ($20 US) including wood for fire and the use of hot
water. Since the opening the site has been practically full
every weekend giving work for six forest rangers. Total government
investment is less than $100,000 US or a Mexican Million. This
concept has proved to be a good business for conservation while
helping local individuals develop a a wonderful park with infrastructure
not seen before though "big elephant" projects that tried to
imitate mass tourism failed years ago.
The fact is -- at least in third world countries -- initial
government investment plays a vital role, since private sector
won't build the park infrastructure. While the government can
do this, it needs to focus efforts on local ownership. Unfortunately,
we have seen the reverse. Government usually promotes expensive
eco lodges and resorts. At this top end we find "eco ghettos"
due to the poor social and community involvement. The question:
How can we promote in the third world the culture and business
of ecolodges without creating "Eco Ghettos" that do not benefit
the locals. In our opinion the best investment for Mexican ecotourism
is the combination of light infrastructure combined with community
training.
Rachel Dodds/Canada
For the past three years I was working for the Green Tourism Association
in Toronto, Canada, which looked at urban ecotourism and developing
private/public partnerships to raise awareness of conservation
and wildlife and also to promote existing sustainable businesess
and best practices. I was the Marketing and Business Development
Manager and finding funding, applying for grants, developing partnerships
and sponsorship was a big part of building this organization (http://www.greentourism.ca)
and many of my consulting projects since then have been focused
on not only the marketing but the financing of these ventures.
Lately I have been working on two projects in Guatemala of which
the main reason ecotourism ventures are starting up is to find
alternatives to the plumeting prices of coffee or for job creation.
Sometimes new ecotourism ventures are financed by BID or IFC,
(BID offers quite large marketing loans for new ventures) however,
I have found that the lodges and tours that are having the best
luck have had private financing as the owners are usually existing
land and company owners and have existing business experience.
I'm coordinator of UNEP's Tourism Programme. A comment by Deborah
MacLaren's requests us to look at the ways to finance community
education, and technical assistance that helps protect community
resources (biodiversity and cultural diversity), as well as supports
community-based access and management of those resources. More
precisely, the question is why is it so hard to find investment
pipelines for these ideas? A few provocative and preliminary thoughts
...
1) Who are the potential providers of resources for these
ventures? The biggest financer of ecotourism ventures, by far,
is direct investment, either by agents such as banks and credit
cooperatives, or directly by interested investors (how often
it is family and friends...). These important partners, though,
will probably be more inclined to find feasible (i.e. economically
sound and well managed) ventures than fair and far-reaching
development projects. This is changing, as some "fair" and green
investment groups accept rates of 10/15% ROI (still very demanding
for most ecotourism businesses...) with a sustainable face,
but as we know it's still very restricted. Also, as these investors
are very concerned with control and safety of their principal,
they are often not willing to take any risks with the complexities
of community-run processes. On the whole, they probably will
not change the current scenario - although they could be very
efficient once an "enabling environment" is created, where incentives
for sustainable tourism investment are operational. This "enabling"
economic and political environment, to change the face of ecotourism
funding at least at destination level, is probably the realm
of institutional funders, who may either subsidize loans to
governments and NGOs (like the IFC, the WB/LIloans, or most
of the pipeline projects from IDB or bilateral agencies) or
provide full grants altogether.
2) What moves these institutional funders? A quick and honest
look: - they react to a need to implement their guidelines and
objectives (the missions as defined by bylaws and plans). These
objectives are very often politically motivated, resulting from
negotiations constantly changing over time, and require constant
follow up, "cultivation" of donors, and getting inside information
from a group of qualified service providers close to the court.
There is usually very little chance of community networks influencing,
or approaching, these main pipelines by themselves. To participate,
POs and IP groups usually have to negotiate with national NGOs,
local government, etc. - geopolitically, many bilaterals and
some multilaterals also aim at disseminating its national know-how
and technology, improving international relations, developing
markets for some of their products, and stabilizing social and
economic regions important to donors. To fine tune any funding
requests and proposals to these constantly changing winds, you
have to stay tuned, and be ready to negotiate your proposal
to accomodate some of their goals, explicit or implicit... The
ability to compromise, flexibility, and on-the-spot negotiating
power are needed - things difficult for community and IP organizations
with complex consultation procedures essential to their credibility
and representativeness. - most often, being "country-driven"
is a characteristic of investment pipelines for development
agencies. The kind of guarantees (payback and management) that
most international development agencies require creates a need
for local governmental backup, so most pipelines run through
national cooperation agencies. This means that national governments
often play a defining role in shaping the objectives of institutional
investments - the essential point here is how much local government
is open to needs and participation of local communities, and
to the particular stakeholders of ecotourism: traditional and
indigenous communities, protected areas managers, small and
medium local entrepreneurs. Some agencies, NGOs and foundations
are changing this, accepting reputable and well-structured NGOs
and even POs as a partners, but the scale is still limited.
Obviously, this shows some of the reasons why it is difficult
for Deborah's constituents to access suitable funds. Others
have to do with the capacity of most POs and IP bodies to prepare
(and lobby for) proposals under the guidelines of agencies -
and even implement projects.
I still think the IYE is a good opportunity to help increase
the amounts of funds committed to the ultimate goals of ecotourism,
as defined for instance in the Quebec Declaration. What we need
are political and practical mechanisms to ensure that private
and public decision makers in ecotourism/community-based tourism
development can access funds to create or support really sustainable
small-scale tourism, whether it's called fair, equitable, community-based
tourism, or ecotourism. I propose that we can use the political
momentum generated by the discussions around IYE to: - use the
Quebec Declaration (or another such document - the important
point is that it represents the goals of sustainable community-based
tourism, and that it is widely accepted by development agencies
willing to engage in negotiation) as a platform for approaching
foundations, development agencies and other potential donors;
- set basic, practical criteria (based on the documents above)
for projects, so that good, solid projects can be selected that
implement the principles we want to see applied; - discuss ways
to create (or adapt/increase existing) more durable investment
pipelines directed at these criteria. One way to expedite access
to resources would be to create an umbrella inter-organizational
system that would funnel resources directly to a set of projects
chosen for their application of the standards. Such a body should
both represent the particular stakeholders, and be capable of
managing resources, ensure proper project setup, monitor implementation,
account for the use of funds, etc.
Would these funds, allocated to community-based ecotourism
businesses, be commercially competitive and have attractively
low risk factors? Probably not as much as traditional business
development funds. But, on the other hand, if the triple bottom
line philosophy is used, social and environmental benefits would
be much greater. A combination of seed grants and revolving,
low-ROI loans would be the best. IFC has experimented with the
idea in its SME loans, and in some cases it worked well.
Maybe in this way the coming years can see more of these projects
funded and working ... Here at UNEP we have a few ideas on how
to do this over the coming months. Quite ambitious, possibly
unfeasible, but it's worth a try. I look forward to hear your
views on this.
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