IIPT 3rd Global Summit
for Peace through Tourism
Summary of Best Practices: Community Tourism Forum, 2nd October 2005
Facilitated by Mr. Peter Bently,
Executive Member IIPT Community Tourism Network,
Khun Potjana Suansri, Project Coordinator, Responsible Ecological Social Tours
Project,
Mr. Peter Richards, Marketing Manager, Responsible Ecological Social Tours
Project.
Background and Frame of Reference:
The participants first discussed the goals of local communities and tourists for Community Tourism.
The participants then discussed tools which are used by Community tourism Practitioners to achieve these goals:
|
Goals: Hosts Communities |
Tools |
Goals: Guests Tourists |
|
Improved Quality of Life Sustainable Development (Social / Cultural / Environmental / Economic) Community Cooperation / Unity Local Pride Project Ownership Equal Partnership Cultural Exchange Fun Activity |
Frames of Definition Policy / Law / Regulation Preparation Co-management Training Education / Awareness Marketing Funding Monitoring & Evaluation |
Experience of Culture / Nature Happiness Satisfaction New Information / Knowledge Hygiene Safety Value for Money |
Best Practice:
Subsequently, each participant chose a specific tool depending upon their expertise and experience, and shared their examples of best practice. Below is a summary of best practices suggested by each participant, together with additional examples offered by other participants during feedback:
Community Tourism Forum, 2nd October 2005: Summary of Best Practices:
Synopsis:
The Forum discussed the experiences and expectations of local communities involved in tourism and those of the tourist who visit these communities and identified the several key tools necessary to link these groups in a healthy and equitable manner.
The forum identified seven key tools for effective community tourism development then discussed examples of best practices from the wealth of experience and knowledge assembled.
A wide range of inspiring examples from individuals and smaller organizations provided an expansive body of experiences and lessons in how tourism is enhancing livelihoods, supporting intercultural exchanges, and promoting peace in many smaller communities throughout the world. While there is not enough time to discuss each of these important tools in detail here they will be made available through the IIPT website in the coming days. However, it was clearly evident that it can be done; tourism is a viable and important agent to positive change.
|
Tool |
Best Practice |
Examples? Where? |
Contact for information |
| Frames of Definition |
Above all, tourism should be viewed as a system, rather than defined
as a purely economic activity. This will allow practitioners to develop an
appropriate holistic frame (e.g.: social, cultural, economic,
environmental, psychological) for measuring the true costs / benefits of
tourism. When defining the economic benefits of tourism practitioners must analyze the whole supply chain, rather than focus just on the tourism business. The level of community involvement in community tourism should be defined by the community. Because communities are dynamic and tourism is difficult for communities to understand, CBT frames need to be continually re-visited and developed as communities’ experience increase. |
Conceptual examples | Dr.
Trevor Sofield Technical Director, Sustainable Tourism, Asia Pacific trevors@grm.com.au |
| Policy / Law / Regulation | Devolved legislation creates a good enabling environment for successful
community tourism Policy support is essential for sustaining community tourism |
Nepal
– Authority devolved to local Village Development Committees (VDC) Vietnam Tour Guiding Laws |
Dr.
Trevor Sofield Technical Director, Sustainable Tourism, Asia Pacific trevors@grm.com.au Douglas Hainsworth |
| Preparation | To
optimize opportunities for project ‘ownership’ and sustainability,
Communities’ decisions of if and how to
participate in Community Tourism should be based foremost upon community
defined needs. Community Tourism activities should be defined by the community, according to their own perception of local strengths, and supported by primary information from participatory Community Studies. Communities should understand that Tourism takes time to develop, and be committed to patience. Participatory Community Studies, Study Trips, SWOT, and training on the positive and negative aspects of tourism are very useful preparation tools. |
Thailand: Koh Yao Noi Community based Ecotourism Club, Phang Nga Province; Baan Huay Hee, Mae Hong Son Province; Leeled, Surrathani Province | Khun
Potjana Suansri, Project Coordinator, Peter Richards, Marketing Manager, Responsible Ecological Social Tours Project (REST) rest@asiaaccess.net.th
|
| Co-management | Encourage broad stakeholder participation, including the private sector Engage all stakeholders early Agreements should be documented and formalized To increase senses of ownership and responsibility, encourage contributions from all stakeholders All partners, not only the community, should receive needs-based capacity building training Equality of partners must be formally acknowledged Co-management requires sufficient time to succeed M & E is essential: both formal (e.g. surveys, feedback) and informal (experience sharing forums) |
Lao PDR – Muang Sing: 15 year formal contract between community and tour
operator
Vietnam: Process engaged wide stakeholder participation from very start. |
Mlike
Mumm GTZ Ecotourism advisor, Muang Sing District, Lao PDR mmumm@gmx.de Douglas Hainsworth |
| Training | Following CBT Product Development "Advanced Capacity Building" is essential
to ensure quality and satisfy tour operators and tourists Training interventions should be needs based, broad-based and stakeholder specific Training should place equal weight on developing participants’ knowledge, skills and motivation All training materials should be available in the local language Training materials should be interesting, colorful, and genuinely accessible to local people. |
Nepal
Mobile Training Team –hygiene, housekeeping, activities and facilities
management, and guest-host relations. Lao PDR – Luang Nam Tha, Vieng Phu Ka, Savannakhet, Champasak – training documents in Lao language |
Chhaya
Sharma Director Nepal College of Travel & Tourism Management ncttm@ncttm.com Mr. Paul Eshoo, Small-Medium Business
Development Advisor, Pro-poor component, Dethxayfeng Oulovanhdine, Khammuane Chueataklong |
| Education / Awareness |
For Guests: Cultural awareness information resources need to be developed by communities to manage guests’ expectations and prevent shock, surprise and potential culturally inappropriate behavior. Guests can contribute to community education by participating in educational activities together with local people and donating books to local schools Do’s and Don’ts should be phrased in a positive way to be as sensitive as possible to guests’ feelings. For Hosts: As communities are often inexperienced managing money, education should include: accounting; household economics; and understanding advantages and disadvantages of credit, debt, and investment Education must include holistic analysis of the costs / benefits of tourism – including plotting ‘possible futures’ together with community members.
|
USA: Chinese New Year Project encourages guests to donate educational
materials and hosts and guests work together to use materials Lao PDR: High quality ‘Do’s and Don’ts’ & other cultural awareness information Vietnam – Credit & Debt Training |
Libre Broussean Event Organiser libre@deepblueripple.com
Mr. Paul Eshoo, Small-Medium Business
Development Advisor, Pro-poor component, Douglas Hainsworth |
| Marketing | Know your product and know your markets: Be
ware that both are alternative (i.e.: non-mainstream) CBT Markets are niche markets – attracting the wrong markets can bring very inappropriate tourists to the community and risks undermining CBT. Creative and unconventional marketing is required to reach appropriate niche markets Partnership, networking, coordination and linkages are crucial elements of successful CBT marketing. Community tourism product includes ‘ideological’ elements (e.g. environmentalism / people participation) CBT Marketing practitioners should identify and utilize ‘similar-ideology’ networks who will often assist promotion for free. CBT stakeholders who are providing marketing assistance to communities should assist communities to reflect upon and answer these Q’s: What exactly do you want to promote? What market do you want to promote to? How do you want to be promoted? How often do you want to promote? Ongoing feedback / reflection / change is essential |
Greece: ECOCLUB Ecotourism Internet Network Highly successful International Ecotourism network building Thailand – Participatory Marketing Planning Leeled Community, Surathani Province |
Antonis
B Petropoulos Director, ECOCLUB.Com a@ecoclub.com Peter Richards, |
| Funding | Divide projects into different components to attract ‘non-tourism’ funding
to ‘non-tourism’ components. Be creative – look for alternative sources of funding, e.g.: local private sector or inside the community Community contributions will create ownership and attract greater chances of funding support. ‘Community Funds’ can be built into CBT prices (e.g. 10% / 15% of price) and contribute towards ongoing funding needs. Co-ordinating with funding experts saves time |
Vietnam: Community contributions to project Vietnam: CBT Community Fund International Perspective on finding appropriate funding |
Douglas
Hainsworth Tourism Advisor SNV Vietnam douglas@snv.org.vn Dr. Trevor Sofield
Technical Dirctor, |
| (The Art of…)Monitoring & Evaluation | Monitoring should take place on multiple levels (e.g.: Individual, Family,
Group, Village, District, Province) Monitoring tools should be simple and accessible Local people should participate in the development of monitoring indicators and M & E tools Monitoring and Evaluation should be transparent NB: All participants agreed that it is important to develop more self-monitoring and evaluation tools. |
Lao PDR: "Monitoring Protocol" including quantified income, job creation,
gender, guest satisfction, impacts and changes Tools: formal and informal meetings, structured and semi structured interviews, surveys, questionnaires and feedback forms |
Mr. Paul
Eshoo, Small-Medium Business Development Advisor, Pro-poor component, pauleshoo@yahoo.com Dethxayfeng Oulovanhdine, Khammuane Chueataklong |