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What level of request and interest has there
been in developing sustainable tourism projects within USAID,
its missions and field offices?
In the past four years, USAID has incorporated sustainable tourism
into 98 projects in 72 countries. This is the equivalent of
about half of our missions. So interest is high. Interest comes
from the USAID Missions. The missions are responding to interest
from the countries and are recognizing that sustainable tourism
can put other needs in context -- particularly sustainable economic
growth.
What is the Sustainable Tourism Working Group
and how is it operating within USAID?
Two years ago, several in the natural resources office were
fielding questions about tourism from the USAID Missions. Here
the job is technical assistance, and we felt that there was
a high level of interest, and 3 different offices in the Bureau
for Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade (EGAT) offices bureau
were responding, but there was no one stop shop. So, an ad hoc
group of a few interested people was formed. We met a couple
of times, and invited folks from other technical offices, and
regional bureaus. There are now 30 on an email list that share
information, and meet when there is interest, and sponsor presentations.
We are being contacted regularly regarding advice.
Folks from outside institutions are now joining
our internal group, including Dept of Commerce, World Bank,
U.S. State Department, and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
We don't meet regularly, perhaps once a month. But I send
out information weekly. The most recent presentation was from
Noel De Villiers of Open Africa. December the presentation will
be on agrotourism.
Is there a strategic analysis taking place
of where sustainable tourism can be most useful in meeting USAID's
goals?
The analysis taking place is to see where sustainable tourism
has been useful to USAID missions in the past and to identify
best practices in order to inform future efforts. If one mission
sees how another has been successful, that example provides
the best opportunity for learning. The overall goal is to meet
larger goals of USAID through sustainable tourism. We will want
to provide assistance to missions and provide a framework for
sustainable tourism. How can this be approached, and what is
the entry point for them? Should they enter tourism from the
point of view of transportation, infrastructure, or capacity
building, for example? We will recommend that missions look
at what entry points work best for them.
Will there be a consolidation of effort based on a strategic
analysis, and how will oversight of sustainable tourism be managed
in future?
The Washington offices will provide examples, information and
tools. It will provide training. And it will provide cross-sectoral
information. Oversight will be at the USAID missions.
Can you anticipate the level of effort expected, in terms
of budget, for sustainable tourism in future?
It is not possible to anticipate the level of effort, because
it will be managed by the USAID Missions. The analysis happening
at present does not allow us to look at tourism funding separately,
because it does not appear as a separate budgetary item. USAID
will continue to look at sustainable tourism as a cross-sectoral
activity.
Will USAID establish a benchmark and monitoring system for its
sustainable tourism projects in future? How?
Yes. We will provide performance indicators, for example with
a training program; the mission will pick and choose the performance
indicators (sustainability indicators) appropriate to that aspect
of the program. In the USAID Namibia project, tourism was incorporated
into a natural resources project and communities are engaging
in sustainable tourism activities. It is possible to measure
the economic benefits, the protection of wildlife, and social
indicators as well.
Will USAID require advance competitive market analysis and
study how local tourism projects can best achieve improved market
access, in advance of support?
USAID recommends risk assessment and opportunity analysis as
best practice for the missions in their approval process. One
of the objectives of the Sustainable Tourism Working Group was
to bring in the economic growth office more fully to ensure
that it interacts with the project formulation process, and
that the goals related to both natural resources and economic
growth are met.
Will USAID review and evaluate the tourism policy environment
within specific countries and review optimal approaches to achieving
sustainable tourism development?
Policy review being important to tourism is another best practice,
and it is recommended.
If it is too cumbersome to invest in tourism projects, due to
the policy environment, tourism projects have less of a chance
of success. One reason to work with the World Bank is to help
with this policy review process – through their Doing
Business report.
How will USAID work to assist its field offices with technical
analysis of sustainable tourism in future?
USAID is putting together a framework. As a matter of interest,
World Bank, IDB, Commerce, State will work with USAID on this
process. Everyone wants to understand what the entry points
are. We will also share our ideas with European development
agencies.
Will USAID seek to involve and consult local tourism SMEs
and local communities in the development of its sustainable
tourism policies during this current period of evaluation?
Development activities work best when all stakeholders are involved.
Mozambique's decision to use sustainable tourism as an economic
growth program was motivated in large part by SMEs, which will
continue to interact with this process. Economic growth approaches
will also look at microeconomic barriers and factors.
There could be more stakeholder involvement in establishing
the framework at an international level. WTO could be one of
the forums for that.
Has USAID learned from any mistakes in tourism funding in
the past that will inform future policies?
USAID never got into massive tourism infrastructure. Initially,
sustainable tourism was used to support alternative livelihoods
in natural resource projects. Some of the early projects did
not have enough economic focus and expertise, and were more
supply side.
The need to understand economic feasibility, and increase capacity
for business administration and market has been recognized.
Also, we need to be sure there is an integrated approach. Governance,
economic growth, social, and environment analysis are all important.
We are really looking at all aspects. We need to have good baseline
data to inform decisions, and solid performance indicators,
and thorough post-project monitoring. Then the foundation of
projects can be solid.
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