1. Ecotourism
a) comprises diverse approaches that lie on a spectrum from hard to soft ecotourism
b) limitations include uncertainty over continuity of efforts in conserving nature and involving local communities
2. Community-based tourism
a) innovative small-scale tourism managed by local communities including homestays and agricultural tourism
b) limitations include the potential loss of local culture and competition from larger-scale tourism operators
3. Pro-poor tourism
a) focused on improving livelihoods of the poor through training and access to micro-finance
b) limitations include the inability to significantly reduce poverty as compared to direct investment in social services
Stakeholders can use a few approaches to achieve sustainable tourism development.
Ecotourism
Community-based tourism (CBT)
Pro-poor tourism (PPT)
What is ecotourism and how does it contribute to sustainable development of tourism?
• Ecotourism is a form of sustainable tourism that often takes place in natural areas which are scenic and allows for tourists to experience nature.
• It aims to conserve the natural environment while benefiting the local community, thus ensuring environmental, economic and social sustainability. .
• Ecotourism often involves many stakeholders depending on the projects undertaken.
Educate and increase tourists' appreciation of nature.
• Tours take place within natural areas for tourists to experience and interact with nature.
• This increases tourists' knowledge and appreciation of nature, which encourages tourists to take action to conserve and minimise damage to the environment. This ensures environmental sustainability.
Put in place measures to minimise the negative impacts on the environment.
• Tourism revenue is channelled into the conservation of the natural environment such as by hiring local park rangers.
• Park rangers ensure laws set up to protect the environment.
• Damage to the environment is minimised, ensuring environmental sustainability.
Example:
The Galapagos Islands in Ecuador attract many tourists for their unique flora and fauna .
To conserve this unique biodiversity, 97% of the islands’ total area was declared a national park with only 3% for humans. Authorities implemented some rules and regulations to protect the environment, such as:
Only a limited number of visitors is allowed in the park at any given day to minimise disturbances to the wildlife.
Tourists are required to pay an entrance fee of USD$100 when visiting the park, and the revenue earned is used to fund conservation projects.
Tourists are not allowed to explore the islands on their own. A guide, who educates tourists, is required at each site.
Locals are also involved in the ecotourism industry by offering day tours and homestays to small groups of tourists.
Limitations:
Uncertainty over the continuity of efforts in conserving nature.
● Ecotourism does not work when ecotours are overwhelmingly popular with tourists.
● The presence of many tourists interacting with nature may destroy the very environment they seek to protect.
● There may be a strong desire to earn profits from ecotourism which may lead to some aims of ecotourism being compromised, and nature may not be conserved.
Example:
● In the Galapagos Islands, where ecotourism is practiced,
● an increase in the number of tourists has resulted in erosion along some trails, and also caused disturbance to wildlife and plants.
● Oil spills from many boats have resulted in serious water pollution.
Uncertainty over involving local communities.
● Demand for manpower to meet the needs of tourists may cause some tourism-related businesses to hire non-locals.
● This is especially so when locals are not sufficiently equipped with the
● Skills and knowledge required, and authorities or businesses do not put in place measures to train locals.
● Hence, the benefits to local communities are not maximised.
Example:
In Kufri, India, it was found that economic leakages occur when locals do not have the necessary skills, resulting in jobs going to non-locals.
How does ecotourism help to contribute to sustainable tourism in Thailand? Watch from 4.49
What is Community-based Tourism and how does it contibute to sustainable tourism?
● Community-based tourism (CBT) is a type of innovative small-scale tourism experience is managed by local communities
● This includes homestays and agricultural tourism. It aims to maximize local communities’ involvement and the benefits to them ensuring economic and social sustainability.
Encourage the local community to participate in decision making on tourism development in their community
Local communities have greater knowledge of their economic, social, and environmental needs.
Hence, their decisions can help to ensure these needs are met in a sustainable way.
For example, local communities can suggest cultural and nature-based experiences that can be developed without disrespecting their heritage and damaging the local environment.
This ensures that locals continue to support and be involved in the tourism industry, and the environment continues to thrive and attract tourists, ensuring sustainable tourism development.
Put in place measures to increase economic and social benefits to local communities.
Economic benefits:
Locals are encouraged to innovate, set up businesses (e.g. restaurants) and offer tourism experiences (e.g. homestays) to cater to the needs of tourists.
These businesses and tourism experiences provide employment to locals, minimise leakages and benefit locals economically.
In agricultural tourism, tourists visit local farms to purchase local produce, and to participate in activities for education and enjoyment purposes such as farming using local techniques, harvesting crops and cooking them.
As such. local farmers benefit economically from higher incomes generated.
As locals continue to support and be involved in the tourism industry, sustainable tourism development is ensured.
Social benefits:
Revenue generated from tourism can be directed to community projects such as funding schools and clinics.
This improves the social well-being of the local community as they receive better education and healthcare.
Educate and increase tourists' appreciation of local cultures and protection of the environment.
Promote interactions between locals and tour; to develop respect for local cultures and the environment.
Example:
Through traditional homestays in the Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary, tourists can live with a local host family, and participate in daily activities related to local cultures and traditions.
This helps them appreciate the local cultures and environment more, which motivates locals to preserve their heritage and environment.
This ensures cultural and environmental sustainability.
What are the limitations of other community-based tourism (CBT)?
The effectiveness of community-based tourism may be limited by:
The loss of culture.
competition with large-scale tourism developments.
1. Loss of culture
Without sufficient measures. when local communities offer tourism experience out of their culture .
It may result in the loss of authenticity of their cultures.
Example: . .
● In community-based projects in Kyrgyzstan, the commodification of local traditions to suit tourists' preferences has been observed.
● Traditional yurts have been modified, such as the inclusion of beds and modern furniture. This 1s meant to increase tourists' comfort and meet the standards that they expect.
2. Competition with large scale tourism developments
● Often, local communities lack some of the necessary skills and finances to further develop the local tourism industry.
● Many face difficulties in communicating with tourists and are ill equipped to undertake marketing campaigns in order to compete with other tourism developments. especially the large-scale ones.
● They may lack the finances to start new tourism experiences or tourism-related businesses. Large-scale tourism developments such as hotel resorts on the other hand, often have greater finances to undertake marketing campaigns (e.g. advertisements) and therefore attract more tourists.
Example:
● The Thanh Ha Pottery Village in Vietnam has been successful in attracting tourists who are keen to learn more about local culture and pottery practices.
● However, it faces competition from other more established pottery villages in Central Vietnam in attracting tourists, especially because they do not have enough highly-skilled pottery artisans.
How does comunity-based tourism help to contribute to sustainable tourism in Thailand?
Another community based tourism in Vietnam at Yen Duc. Read more about this project which started in 2011 and helped the poor in the village as well.
What are the key features of pro-poor tourism?
How does pro-poor tourism contribute to the sustainable development of tourism?
Pro-poor tourism (PPT) is an approach to tourism development that focuses on improving the livelihoods of the poor through training and access to micro-finance.
It aims at generating net benefits (economic. social and environmental) and improving the livelihoods and well-being of the poor.
Training
With training provided, locals will be able to learn new skills which they can then use to gain employment in the tourism sector. .
For instance, locals can learn how to bring tourists around or how to manage a tourism business.
Increasing access to micro-finance.
Access to micro-finance enables the poor to set up businesses such as home stays and restaurants, thereby benefiting economically from tourism.
Communication materials may be designed so that locals are able to understand how they can go about applying for micro-finance.
Example:
● Pro-poor tourism can be found in the villages around China's Three Parallel Rivers Region a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site.
● Tourists are attracted to visit to enjoy the scenic views offered by the mountains an drivers as well as to experience village life.
● With the financial assistance offered by the authorities, many villagers here have set up tourism businesses such as homestays and restaurants.
● Some put up cultural performances for tourists for a living.
● As a result. the local community has experienced an increase in income and standard of living.
However, the effectiveness of PPT may be limited by:
1. The inability to significantly reduce poverty as compared to direct investment in social services.
2. The economic benefits may be highly unevenly distributed, with most of the benefits being channelled to non-poor locals.
1.The inability to significantly reduce poverty be difficult to channel benefits to the compared to direct investment in social services.
● It may be difficult to channel benefits to the poor as compared to if there were some direct investment in social services.
● The poor may be reluctant to participate in PPT or may lack the skills finances and to sustain their businesses.
Example:
● In the tourism destination village of Abr, Iran, PPT has not resulted in significant economic benefits for the poorest locals.
● many lack the self-confidence to undergo training provided by the authorities
● some of the training classes may require participants to pay a small fee many of them refrain from paying as they do not see a bright future for themselves in the industry.
● Hence, many continue to lack the necessary skills to participate in the tourism industry, resulting in low participation among the poor
● In contrast, the non-poor locals are dominating the training and employment in the local tourism industry.
2.The economic benefits may be highly unevenly distributed, with most of
the benefits being channelled to non-poor locals.
● These non-poor locals may have greater access to micro-financing or financial grants used to support the local tourism industry as they are seen to be more reliable by banks, donors and authorities.
● Hence, the non-poor become wealthier while the poor benefit marginally, widening the income gap between the poor and nonpoor.
● Hence, the benefits of PPT may not be substantial enough to significantly improve the lives of the poor.
● This might be more effective if authorities and NGOs choose to priorities directly providing social services such as education and healthcare.
How does pro-poor tourism help to contribute to sustainable tourism in India?