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Last Updated
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Leading the Pack
A Conversation with Michelle Kirby and Andres Hammerman
by Ron Mader
In 1995, Michelle Kirby and Andres Hammerman founded the Black
Sheep Inn in Chugchilan, Ecuador.
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| Michelle and Andy are long time friends who took
part in developing the collaborative
white paper on ecotourism. They took part in the following
conversation conducted via the Internet between June and August,
2005. This was updated in July 2006. |
| What are the
core values of your inn?
At the Black Sheep Inn we have developed specific green building
principles by using local natural materials, designing for efficiency,
preserving the landscape and creating resources by trying to make
structures have multiple functions.
We also have standards for how we run our business: paying legal
salaries with benefits, transparent prices, encouraging longer
stays, offering services only to guests and limiting the size
of group reservations.
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| What has been the positive
impact of starting the inn?
We pioneered tourism in this area when we started the Black Sheep
Inn in 1995 in the rural village of Chugchilan, Cotopaxi, we pioneered
tourism in this area. Ten years later, the village is on the tourist
map.
Chugchilan has two other thriving hostels owned by local families;
several guides who work regularly with tourists, both walking
and leading horseback rides; a women's co-op that sells hats,
sweaters and scarves catering to a tourist market; and a transportation
co-op. The village is listed positively in more than ten guidebooks
and tour agents now sell this area.
Tourists have made donations to support the local schools, health
clinic and various community projects, including a Public Library/Learning
Center with several computers. Black Sheep Inn is also a leader
in sustainable ecological practices. Is it an overwhelming success
story? Yes, and yet there are negative side effects to tourism
development.
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| Who stays at
your inn?
The Black Sheep Inn's target clientele are Free and Independent
Traveler (FITs). Their age and income vary greatly, but they enjoy
traveling on their own schedule.
Luckily, we have been able to fill our guesthouse
with FITs. We often refuse reservations from agencies that only
want to stay one night with large groups (ten or more people).
Agents typically ask for discounts, arrive late (after dark or
after dinner) and demand an early breakfast, treating us more
like a motel than a guesthouse. Their clients arrive uninformed
about where they are staying and are surprised that we do not
have private bathrooms or that all bathrooms are composting toilets.
FITs, with whom we have direct contact via email, arrive well
informed and love the style of the Black Sheep Inn. FITs book
for three nights and often extend their stay. They take photographs
of the view from our composting toilets.
What are some of the negative impacts?
Because of the desire for economic growth, and pressure from tour
agencies the future development of Chugchilan is being accelerated.
Hostel Casa Mama Hilda and Hostel Cloud Forest (the new locally-owned
hostels in Chugchilan) have successfully copied some features
of the Black Sheep Inn. They have built with mostly local native
materials, maintained traditional architecture, planted trees,
and provide local employment. When we refuse tour agency or group
reservations; they often book with local hostels in Chugchilan.
These same tour agencies have been pressuring local hostels to
build more rooms with private baths (water flush toilets), and
to give discounts. Chugchilan's two hostels are located right
next to one another and, although neighbors, they often quarrel.
Owners of both hostels seek out tourists and bargain with them,
lowering prices in order to win clients.
What relation do you have with neighboring
businesses?
We do not feel we compete with local hostels. Our prices are fixed,
and we offer various clearly stated discounts if guests are eligible.
Hostel Casa Mama Hilda and Hostel Cloud Forest have added more
rooms. Yet every day they are both in the street, waiting for
the daily bus to arrive in order to bring tourists to their facility.
Supply and demand is driving their prices down, whereas at the
Black Sheep Inn, supply and demand is driving our prices higher!
Any recommendations for a solution to these issues?
We feel the local hostels should not be competing with their rates,
but competing in the quality of the services that they offer,
that they should agree upon a minimum amount to charge, and never
go below that amount. They should only build if they know they
can fill the rooms.
At the Black Sheep Inn, we do have the need to build more, because
at times we turn people away. However, we are hesitant to expand;
we want to maintain quality for guests, and sustainability to
the community and environment. We also want to maintain our own
quality of life. Turning clients turning clients away ends up
helping the other hostels.
As rural villages grow, there is often a desire for better roads.
We moved away from the United
States to the rural Andes to get away from traffic and the
hustle. The Black Sheep Inn thrives on providing a comfortable
alternative to urban living. We have a "back to the land"
type philosophy that tourists enjoy.
Here we have an awareness of what it takes to sustain
us. One reason that guests extend their stay is that it is difficult
to get here and it is very comfortable to stay. We know that improved
roads not only provide easy access for tourism, shipping and transport,
but they provide access to development.
Do you then see development as detrimental?
Not necessarily. Development is inevitable. We have already witnessed
that in a country like Ecuador, sustainable development is difficult
and rare.
The irony is that we moved to Ecuador to get away from the heavy
bureaucracy that controls building and development in the United
States , and now we wonder how we can implement these controls
in order to preserve the historic and cultural qualities of the
village of Chugchilan. Cultural and architectural conservation
usually come from wealthy communities and societies.
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| Local culture is quite strong
in your area of Ecuador? Can you tell us about local arts?
There are many painters in this area selling traditional Tigua
artwork. Historically, the indigenous peoples painted on sheepskin
drumheads for festivals. The paintings were brightly colored and
depicted age-old festivals, traditions and folk legends. This
artwork started in Tigua, an indigenous community near Zumbahua
and Laguna Quilotoa in the Cotopaxi Province of Ecuador. Because
of the arrival of tourism, painters began to make their artwork
available to tourists by painting on rectangular sheepskin canvases.
Some of the painters are artists who paint original artwork signed
and dated; other artists paint the same image over and over again
and sell the paintings as craft.
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| What is the difference between
'art' and 'craft'?
Art is in the eye of the beholder. Craft is often less expensive.
Arts and crafts compete with each other for tourist dollars in
the Tigua/Quilotoa area.
We often tell guests at the Black Sheep Inn that if a certain
piece appeals to them, they should buy it. By the time they bring
it back to their home country, it has become a superb piece of
valuable artwork! It is important to buy significant souvenirs
while traveling. Souvenirs help one remember places and tourist
dollars help the local economy.
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What is it like being evaluated
for an ecotourism award?
We have mixed feeling about the 'prestigious' awards being offered
for ecotourism around the globe. We know that we are doing something
good here at the Black Sheep Inn and we love to be recognized
for work well done, but sometimes the process of entering into
award programs can be tedious and anxiety-ridden.
Each application takes several days to fill out. At times questions
do not apply to the work we are doing. Yet sometimes during the
process of filling out the award applications we are able to clarify
our best practices and realize our short-comings.
In 2005 the Black Sheep Inn and the Village of Chugchilan were
finalists in the Destination Category for the World Travel &
Tourism Council' Tourism for Tomorrow Awards 2005. We were impressed
that a qualified inspector was required to make a site visit to
each of the finalists to verify and collect data.
We were extremely anxious waiting for the results of the awards,
because of a lack of transparency and communication during the
judging process. If winners, we were to be flown from Ecuador
to India to attend the awards ceremony. The notification would
be sent less than ten days before the event. We had to prepare
ourselves to travel, with or without the knowledge of whether
we had won.
This made us think that these awards are geared towards large
corporate tourism projects and businesses, ones that have executives
available for last-minute travel. The Black Sheep Inn is a small,
grassroots operation where we, the owners, are essential to everyday
operations. If we had won, we would have also had to find someone
to cover for us and keep the Black Sheep Inn open in our absence.
What awards have you won?
In 2006 BSI won ECOCLUB.com Ecolodge Awards' first prize and last
year we won Smithsonian Magazine/Tourism Cares for Tomorrow Sustainable
Tourism Award 2005 in the Conservation Category. That said, we
have yet to attend an awards ceremony!
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What is the value of an award?
Awards mean free publicity, especially for the winners and finalists
and, on a small scale, for all applicants and the countries they
represent. Potential clients view the list of awards won as a
type of certification: "Black Sheep Inn must be good if they
have won so many awards!"
Also, judges become exposed to ecotourism projects around the
globe. Some awards offer monetary gain, but most of them simply
offer prestige and recognition. Yet, we do not mind being judged
in the awards, because we have nothing to loose. Even if we do
not win the award, we usually learn something in the process.
Entering the contest is voluntary; if someone nominates an establishment,
the establishment chooses whether or not to 'go for it'.
We are amazed that Black Sheep Inn has been chosen
as a finalist (and now has several wins) for these 'prestigious
awards' because this really means that we are competing with the
'big guys': large scale tourism, institutions, NGOs, World Heritage
Sites, National Parks and major funding.
But we also wonder what these awards mean to the
general public; do they care about award-winning hostels? What
is it that drives the consumer? Price? Quality? Press Coverage?
Service? Awards? Reputation? Eco-Certification?
We continue to enter ecotourism contests. If you don't try; you'll
never win!
It is always good to get free publicity, especially as a grassroots
operation with literally no funds designated to advertising.
How do you advertise the inn?
We advertise by maintaining a high quality of service
and reputation, by maintaining an informative, up-to-date Web
site and by sending happy clients away with handfuls of business
cards.
Are you satisfied with the inn?
The Black Sheep Inn will never be a finished product; we are always
challenged by new situations and growth. We are looking for ways
to work with the community so that it develops and grows sustainably.
We are hoping to establish regular meetings with town officials
and anyone who works directly or indirectly with tourism here
in Chugchilan. Hopefully through open discussion the village can
have a say in its own destiny. Small villages like Chugchilan
could be considered microcosms of the rest of the world.
After more than ten years of hard work at the Black Sheep Inn,
we have created an excellent example of sustainable ecotourism.
We wonder how we can take the next step to ensure that the community
of Chugchilan also can provide for itself in a sustainable way.
We hope that other community members can share in
our vision and therefore provide for themselves and their children
in generations to come. We hope that they too value the charm
and cultural character of their own rural Andean village that
attracts thousands of tourists each year and have the integrity
to not sell short. |
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